Immigration Status as a Social Determinant of Health
This area of research studies how immigration status affects health outcomes among immigrant groups, for both those with legal status and those without. This work utilizes theories of stress and coping as well as sociological theories of “illegality” to understand how undocumented status becomes a social determinant of health for both Latino and Asian immigrants. Some of this work is the result of amazing research teams, such as the UCPromISE study (PI: Laura Enriquez) and the BRAVE study (PI: May Sudhinaraset). These teams have been funded by the UC Multi Campus Research Programs and Initiatives and the NIH National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. My work in this area has been funded by the Russell Sage Foundation.
Undocumented Immigrants’ Health Care Utilization
This area of work uses patient records from Southern California health systems to study the health care needs of undocumented immigrants. My research takes a sociological approach to health services research and seeks to understand how a population that has been systemically excluded from health care access transitions into regular contact with the formal health care system. I explore how they utilize care and how factors at the political, institutional, interpersonal, and individual levels shape engagement to care. This work has been funded by the UCI Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy and the UCI CRAFT COVID committee.
Structural Racism and Birth Outcomes
I have an NIMHD R01 with Nancy Fleischer (University of Michigan) examining the impact of transgenerational exposure to structural racism among Black mothers in South Carolina. This project uses linked birth records to consider how intergenerational exposure to multiple dimensions of structural racism (educational quality, residential segregation/housing, income, and criminal justice) accumulates over generations to affect low birth weight and preterm birth. This area builds off of my earlier career work on discrimination and health, but with an emphasis on measuring and quantifying exposure to structural racism over time using multiple administrative data sources.
Social Risk Factors and the Health of Racial/Ethnic Groups
The last area of my work examines social risk factors among marginalized populations generally. Much of this work has been done with my very bright PhD, MPH, and undergraduate students who care about health equity and do great public health research in this area.