Member Details

Health Equity/Research Interest

As a community nutrition researcher, I am driven to find effective community-focused strategies that address health equity through increasing the capacity of mothers with infants disproportionately affected by obesity and chronic disease to establish healthy dietary patterns. More specifically, I am interested in conducting community-informed research with Latino immigrant communities to create culturally relevant nutrition-education interventions that improve maternal and child health. Latino immigrant mothers and infants are disproportionately affected by nutrition-related chronic disease. Most recently, immigration policies have targeted low-income immigrant’s access to nutrition-related services, such as the Special Supplemental Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), deteriorating efforts to improve health. This relates to the Cornell Center for Health Equity’s focus on multiple vulnerabilities (namely, maternal and infant life stages, immigration status, income, and immigration-related policies) to health disparities. My research is also in line with the Center’s aim to engage the community in the research process, as I am committed to working with the Latino-immigrant community to create culturally relevant nutrition education.