Global Environmental Health LAB Co-Founders

Japanese

Chicago, United States

English and Japanese

B.Sc. in Health & Hygiene from Azabu University, M.Sc. in Environmental Health & Safety from the University of Miami, Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Environmental Engineering Emphasis) 

Dr. Shibata has been passionate about making a difference locally and internationally ever since 1986 when he visited the infamous landfill slum, called "Smokey Mountain," in Manila, Philippines. With his multidisciplinary knowledge (e.g., from Health Sciences to Environmental Engineering) and practical research skills including fieldwork, the wet lab (e.g. chemical and microbial analyses), health evaluation (e.g., epidemiologic approach and quantitative risk assessment), and modeling (e.g., empirical and stochastic) skills, he has conducted many interdisciplinary research projects and hosted workshops in the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, and Myanmar. Dr. Shibata and Heidi West have co-founded the GEH LAB in order to provide engaged learning and research opportunities for students and junior professionals from the world, especially those who don't belong to universities with Global Environmental Health Programs.  As an Executive Director, he will work to create safe, healthy, and sustainable environment together with communities, governments, NGOs, and private sectors. 

Currently, he works for Northern Illinois University as a Professor in the Public Health Program as well as Faculty Associate in the Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy and the Center for Southeast Studies.  He is also Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Veterinary Scinece at Azabu University. 

Co-Founder & Director of Programs and Operations

American

New York, United States

English

Bachelor's in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, Master's in Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs from American University, Graduate Certificate in Global Health from Drexel, and Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management from University of California, Los Angeles 

As a passionate and resourceful international program director with over 10 years of experience, Ms. West has dedicated her life to the realization of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to building an informed global community in support of multifaceted development issues. The foundations of her programmatic and global health policy expertise are based in her research, which focuses on the complex challenges of conflict-induced migration and how refugees and displaced persons utilize dialogue, narrative, and community building to reconstruct home and identity. She has examined these issues through multiple different lenses and translated the research into concrete tools and direct work with refugees, immigrants, and survivors of trauma. She is a consultant for Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) and prior to that she served as the Director of the Office of International Programs at Drexel University. 

Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Science at California State University, Long Beach. 

Director of Programs

American

Benson, North Carolina

English

BS Health Science, Liberty University 2024

MPH Global Health, Liberty University (Dec 2025)

Allyson is a Master of Public Health student specializing in Global Health at Liberty University. She has spent the last two years working in clinical research and is continuing her work as a clinical trials assistant at ICON in Raleigh, North Carolina. Allyson loves spending time in nature, playing pickleball, and exploring the city with her husband Bradley. Allyson has spent the last few years investing her time into and building her passion for global health. She is dedicated to global health and using social media to bring light to health disparities worldwide.