Overall Research Program
My overall research program seeks to understand how genetic and social factors are associated with adverse health within vulnerable populations in the United States. Additionally, I am interested in understanding if/how the social environment is embodied to produce adverse health outcomes using epigenomics. I conduct my research using a mixed-methods approach, employing theory and methods from genomics, sociocultural anthropology, biocultural anthropology, medical anthropology, public health, and epidemiology to better contextualize health outcomes. My research and results are intended to be both shared within the scientific community to broaden our understanding on these topics and used as leverage to advocate for basic human rights within public policy and grassroots organizing spaces.
Postdoctoral Research Project
Title: The Latiné Immigration and Health Study (LIHS): A longitudinal study exploring immigration, embodiment, and health within Latiné immigrants/refugees in the United States
Project abstract: Immigrants and refugees are arriving in the United States at an unprecedented rate, with variation in experiences of adversity during and following immigration to this country. Such adverse social experiences have been linked to the development of poor health. Understanding and addressing the impact of immigration-related and politically-related adversity on the health of refugees is, therefore, imperative to become an equitable society. My post-doctoral project will therefore investigate how the process of immigration and assimilation are associated with mental health and biological aging within a group of Latiné immigrants/refugees in the United States that arrived within the last 5 years. I will do this through a longitudinal study following 100 Latiné immigrants/refugees across one year. I will investigate two questions: 1) Are there differences in baseline levels of health based on perceived stress associated with migration experience, immigration policy changes, and political climate? And 2) How do variations in access to structural and informal systems of support relate to differences in mental health and biological aging between baseline and follow-up visits?
Dissertation Project
Title: Noventa Millas: Genomics, migration history, and health disparities within Cuban Immigrants and Cuban-Americans in South Florida
My dissertation seeks to dispel the myth that Latinx people are a homogenous group through understanding how immigration histories and sociopolitics influence patterns of genomic diversity and health outcomes. For my dissertation project, I am working with my community of individuals of Cuban descent to understand these topics as it relates to their experiences (or their ancestors’ experiences) of immigrating from Cuba to the United States from the 1950s to the 2000s.