About

Dr. Mona Arora is an Assistant Research Professor at the College of Public Health, specializing in environmental health sciences. She holds a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in Tropical Medicine from Tulane University and a doctorate degree in Geography from the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on building the public health system’s capacity to address global 'wicked problems' such as pandemics, disasters, and climate change. She leads the ADHS-CDC COVID Disparities Initiative at the Arizona Center for Rural Health, which aims to advance health equity and address social determinants of health-related to COVID-19 health disparities among higher risk and underserved populations. Dr. Arora has extensive experience in emergency preparedness, workforce development, and community engagement, with a particular emphasis on rural and tribal communities. She has served as a lead curriculum developer and trainer for the Mountain West Preparedness & Emergency Response Learning Center, a CDC program dedicated to building community resilience for disasters. Her expertise includes GIS, program evaluation, survey design, and implementation, and she has conducted a national workforce assessment on the public health system’s capacity to protect against the health consequences of climate change. Dr. Arora has served on several national committees, including the Lancet Countdown U.S. Policy Brief Working Group and the National Adaptation Forum Program Committee. She currently co-chairs the University of Arizona Mass Clinic Planning Committee and facilitates the development of the university’s Mass Dispensing Plan. Her research interests encompass climate change action planning, resilience development, public health emergency preparedness, decision support systems, environmental literacy, and science communication. She teaches courses related to environmental change, public health preparedness, and global health, and continues to support pandemic response and recovery efforts through her active involvement in university and community initiatives.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Nursing
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Intensive care medicine
• Pediatrics
• Medical education
• Social psychology
• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Environmental health
• Immunology
• Public relations

Selected publications

• Resilience Informatics in Public Health: Qualitative Analysis of Conference Proceedings

  JMIR Formative Research · 2024-11-06 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: In recent years, public health has confronted 2 formidable challenges: the devastating COVID-19 pandemic and the enduring threat of climate change. The convergence of these crises underscores the urgent need for resilient solutions. Resilience informatics (RI), an emerging discipline at the intersection of informatics and public health, leverages real-time data integration from health systems, environmental monitoring, and technological tools to develop adaptive responses to multifaceted crises. It offers promising avenues for mitigating and adapting to these challenges by proactively identifying vulnerabilities and fostering adaptive capacity in public health systems. Addressing critical questions regarding target audiences, privacy concerns, and scalability is paramount to fostering resilience in the face of evolving health threats. OBJECTIVE: The University of Arizona held a workshop, titled Resilience Informatics in Public Health, in November 2023 to serve as a pivotal forum for advancing these discussions and catalyzing collaborative efforts within the field. This paper aims to present a qualitative thematic analysis of the findings from this workshop. METHODS: A purposive sampling strategy was used to invite 40 experts by email from diverse fields, including public health, medicine, weather services, informatics, environmental science, and resilience, to participate in the workshop. The event featured presentations from key experts, followed by group discussions facilitated by experts. The attendees engaged in collaborative reflection and discussion on predetermined questions. Discussions were systematically recorded by University of Arizona students, and qualitative analysis was conducted. A detailed thematic analysis was performed using an inductive approach, supported by MAXQDA software to manage and organize data. Two independent researchers coded the transcripts; discrepancies in coding were resolved through consensus, ensuring a rigorous synthesis of the findings. RESULTS: The workshop hosted 27 experts at the University of Arizona, 21 (78%) of whom were from public health-related fields. Of these 27 experts, 8 (30%) were from the field of resilience. In addition, participants from governmental agencies, American Indian groups, weather services, and a mobile health organization attended. Qualitative analysis identified major themes, including the potential of RI tools, threats to resilience (eg, health care access, infrastructure, and climate change), challenges with RI tools (eg, usability, funding, and real-time response), and standards for RI tools (eg, technological, logistical, and sociological). The attendees emphasized the importance of equitable access, community engagement, and iterative development in RI projects. CONCLUSIONS: The RI workshop emphasized the necessity for accessible, user-friendly tools bridging technical knowledge and community needs. The workshop's conclusions provide a road map for future public health resilience, highlighting the need for scalable, culturally sensitive, community-driven interventions. Future directions include focused discussions to yield concrete outputs such as implementation guidelines and tool designs, reshaping public health strategies in the face of emerging threats.

  PublisherDOI

• Resilience Informatics: Role of Informatics in Enabling and Promoting Public Health Resilience to Pandemics, Climate Change, and Other Stressors

  Interactive Journal of Medical Research · 2024-08-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Climate change, local epidemics, future pandemics, and forced displacements pose significant public health threats worldwide. To cope successfully, people and communities are faced with the challenging task of developing resilience to these stressors. Our viewpoint is that the powerful capabilities of modern informatics technologies including artificial intelligence, biomedical and environmental sensors, augmented or virtual reality, data science, and other digital hardware or software, have great potential to promote, sustain, and support resilience in people and communities. However, there is no "one size fits all" solution for resilience. Solutions must match the specific effects of the stressor, cultural dimensions, social determinants of health, technology infrastructure, and many other factors.

  PublisherDOI

• Resilience Informatics for Public Health

  Studies in health technology and informatics · 2024-01-25 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Resilience research is attracting increasing attention as stressors such as pandemics and climate change impact normal life worldwide. Informatics tools can play an important role in enhancing resilience of people, communities, and organizations. We present Resilience Informatics as a sub-discipline of resilience research and propose a conceptual framework for Resilience Informatics to aid in the development and effective deployment of informatics systems for resilience.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Preconception, Prenatal, and early infancy exposures to extreme temperature and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in childhood

  ISEE Conference Abstracts · 2024-07-31

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Coproducing Opportunities to Advance Heat Resilience in Southern Arizona

  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society · 2024-09-24

  articleOpen access

  Located in the desert of the U.S. Southwest, the City of Tucson and the counties around the metropolitan area have a long history of engaging in heat-related issues. Tucson Water has hosted 14 annual Urban Heat Island workshops, disseminating knowledge on the latest best practices and resources to address extreme heat to city agencies. Leaders in Southern Arizona have also worked with regional and state coalitions to share information and resources on heat management and mitigation. Following the record-breaking heat in the summer of 2023, Arizona Governor, Katie Hobbs, declared an extreme heat emergency and issued an Executive Order to prepare a plan outlining specific lines of action to address extreme heat in the future. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHSs) held a summit quickly in the fall of 2023 in Phoenix to understand statewide gaps and prioritize action items. While open to all state participants, the meeting attendance from Southern Arizona partners was limited due to the increased travel distance and limited timing. In response to state-level planning efforts and to advance the city and county’s own ongoing heat planning efforts, the City of Tucson, Pima County Health Department, and the University of Arizona mobilized to organize the Southern Arizona Heat Planning Summit.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Promoting Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccinations in Rural and Underserved Arizona: Experiences From Three County Health Departments

  American Journal of Public Health · 2024-08-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Promoting Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccinations in Rural and Underserved Arizona: Experiences From Three County Health Departments, an article from American Journal of Public Health, Vol 114 Issue S7

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Launching the Southwest Center on Resilience for Climate Change and Health

  ISEE Conference Abstracts · 2024-07-31

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Retail Businesses’ Commitment to Public Health: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Business & Society · 2024-12-20 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  This study investigates how essential retailers responded to the COVID-19 pandemic through stakeholder communications. Based on a comprehensive text analysis of the corporate websites of the 20 largest U.S. essential retailers during the first 19 months of the crisis, we categorize the public health measures communicated by these retailers and assess how these retailers adapted their messaging to address the concerns of different stakeholders over time. This analysis allowed us to create a framework for understanding the flow of retailer/stakeholder communication during a health crisis, highlighting the important role businesses can play in alleviating stakeholder concerns when public health is on the line. We discuss the implications of our findings for retailers and public policy, aiming to enhance preparedness and response for future health emergencies.

  PublisherDOI

• Resilience Informatics: Role of Informatics in Enabling and Promoting Public Health Resilience to Pandemics, Climate Change, and Other Stressors (Preprint)

  2023-11-18

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  <sec> <title>UNSTRUCTURED</title> Climate change, local epidemics, future pandemics, and forced displacements pose significant public health threats worldwide. To cope successfully, people and communities are faced with the challenging task of developing resilience to these stressors. Our viewpoint is that the powerful capabilities of modern informatics technologies including artificial intelligence, biomedical and environmental sensors, augmented or virtual reality, data science, and other digital hardware or software, have great potential to promote, sustain, and support resilience in people and communities. However, there is no “one size fits all” solution for resilience. Solutions must match the specific effects of the stressor, cultural dimensions, social determinants of health, technology infrastructure, and many other factors. </sec>

  PublisherDOI

• Assessing climate and health curriculum in graduate public health education in the United States

  Frontiers in Public Health · 2023 · 13 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Public relations
  • Medical education

  = 46) are focused on this climate change and health. These courses cover a wide array of topics with an emphasis on conveying fundamental concepts. In-depth assessment revealed a need for integrating learning opportunities that build practical skills useful in a hands-on public health practice environment. This assessment indicates the limited availability of climate-health course offerings available to graduate students in accredited schools. The findings are used to propose an educational framework to integrate climate change into public health curricula. The proposed framework, while rooted in existing directives, adopts a tiered approach that can be readily applied by institutions training the next generation of public health leaders.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Kacey C. Ernst

  University of Arizona

  5 shared

• Ladd Keith

  University of Arizona

  5 shared

• Maiya G. Block Ngaybe

  University of Arizona

  4 shared

• Sabrina Helm

  4 shared

• Myla Gonzalez

  University of Arizona

  3 shared

• Melissa A. Barnett

  The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

  3 shared

• Brian Mayer

  University of Arizona

  3 shared

• Sriram Iyengar

  University of Phoenix

  3 shared

Education

• PhD, Geography

  University of Arizona

  2019

• MSPH, Tropical Medicine

  Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

  2005

• BS, Molecular and Cell Biology

  University of Arizona

  2004