I am currently the Associate Director for Research and Professor in the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. In addition to directing IBACH, I direct SDSU HealthLINK, an endowment from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. I have an MA in Experimental Psychology (1997), an MPH in Health Promotion (2002) and a PhD in Clinical Health Psychology from the Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at San Diego State University-University of California at San Diego (2002). This combination of degrees reflects my interest in teasing out what factors are associated with health behaviors and testing strategies for improving them and the social and physical contexts in which they occur. I have led the development of numerous evidence-based interventions, including multi-component interventions addressing several levels of influence simultaneously. This has involved working with Latino grocery stores to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among store customers through social and structural changes; preventing and controlling childhood obesity through a policy/system and community changes; and working with restaurants to promote healthy child menus through social and structural changes. My closest collaborator is Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, Inc, a federally qualified health center in Imperial County, CA. In collaborations with colleagues and students, this research has yielded 165 publications, including several systematic reviews. On a personal note, I enjoy traveling, working on mosaics, swimming, dancing, and hanging out with my husband Dane and our dog Rex.
Email: ayala@mail.sdsu.edu
Selected Research Projects
- An Ecological Approach to Addressing Childhood Obesity Issues in Imperial County (Our Choice/Nuestra Opcion)
- El Valor de Nuestra Salud/The Value of Our Health
- Examining Contracts and Relationships Between Small-Scale Food Retailers and the Food Industry (Slotting Study)
- Introducing Child Menus in Restaurants to Improve Access to Healthier Foods
- Hispanic Community Children’s Health/Study of Latino Youth (SOL-Youth)
- Obesity Prevention and Control in the Latino Community (Familias Sanas y Activas/Healthy and Active Families)
Curriculum Vitae
Click to Download (PDF Version)
Publications
For an up to date publications list see Google Scholar