Angel Plaza

Dr. Plaza has worked at NASA for 38 years. He assumed the role of Senior Environmental Health Officer (SEHO) within the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) in 2016. His duties involve oversight of environmental health programs and carrying out measures for protecting public health, administering and enforcing legislation related to environmental health and providing support to minimize health and safety hazards. Other focus areas include epidemiological surveillance, occupational disease prevention, radiological health, industrial hygiene, food safety, injury prevention and education, implementation of the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) Total Worker Health program and emergency preparedness. He also represents NASA on the ANSI z136 Standard Committee for the Safe Use of Lasers and the SAE G10T Laser Safety Hazards Committee.

Prior to becoming the SEHO, he was an Occupational Health Specialist at Johnson Space Center (JSC) and led occupational health programs at White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). Prior to these positions, he was an Experiment Systems Manager at JSC involved in research on the health effects of space environment on astronauts by designing and developing hardware and experiment systems, including testing, training and data collection.

Dr. Plaza holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University, a Master of Science degree in Environmental Health from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and a Doctoral degree in Public Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake since 2000, teaching courses on Environmental Toxicology, Biology and Industrial Hygiene. He has received many awards from NASA and the American Industrial Hygiene Association.