I am a PhD student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Global Health – Public Health at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of Preventive Medicine, and San Diego State University, School of Public Health. I earned my MA in Latin American Studies and MPH from the Graduate School Public Health at San Diego State University. My research centers on health disparities related to cardiovascular disease and cardiometabolic risk factors such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity among high risk groups including Latino/Hispanics (HL). I have over 13 years’ experience working in public health research and have assisted on numerous investigations and health interventions among vulnerable and under resourced populations in the United States and Mexico. I currently serve as the Program Manager for the Integrating Data for Analysis, Anonymization and SHaring (iDASH) study which focuses on understanding genetic research literacy among Hispanic/Latino study and the Building Research Integrity and Capacity (BRIC) project evaluating the effectiveness of responsible conduct in research education for community health workers. I also serve as Project Coordinator for Nuestra Cocina- Mesa Buena, Vida Sana which aims to increase individual-level breast cancer health literacy among Latina Spanish-speaking patients attending San Ysidro Health Center. I assist in overseeing intervention implementation and study protocol, guiding program process evaluation components and overseeing the subcontract award, overseeing research staff, among other related research responsibilities. I have also been member of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) networking group for the past three years and am currently leading two papers under review and coauthoring 19 papers under review by the HCHS/SOL Publication Committee. My international work has focused on examining pathways that influence chronic disease prevention and management among underserved populations residing in the Mexican states of Baja California, Oaxaca and Yucatan. Specifically I am interested in exploring structural, psychosocial and sociocultural aspects of Latino health that influence diabetes risk and management.
Email: reespinoza@mail.sdsu.edu
Current Research Projects: