Malembe Dumont Copero is an incoming PhD student interested in researching the intersections between urban planning and public health. She holds a masters in City and Regional Planning from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy (Rutgers University) as a Fulbright fellow. During that time, she worked at MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) and as a project coordinator at a research institute part of the University of Oregon. Malembe's research agenda focuses on understanding the impact of infrastructure on the multiple determinants of environmental health equity; and in how community-led infrastructure (social and physical) - that advance environmental justice and climate adaptation - can also improve community health. She is especially interested in contexts of urban informality, and eventually hopes to help advance healthy communities across the Global South and North. She holds a second master's in international development from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and a bachelor's in political science from the Universidad Autónomo de Madrid. She has worked with communities in Colombia, Mozambique and the U.S.
