Disaster risk management and wildfire research
Intro
Jay Balagna (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. His research interests include disaster studies, disaster risk management, wildfire (especially wildfire in the American West), post-disaster migration, and the intersection of disasters and health.
Prior to joining RAND, Balagna was a wildland firefighter in Nevada and Montana, an emergency medical technician in Los Angeles, and a political journalist working in the United States and Chile. He has an MPhil in policy analysis from Pardee RAND, an M.P.H. from Emory University, and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno.