Dr. Palmer is the Associate Director of the UAHS Center for Health Disparities Research and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Broadly, her research seeks to understand sociocultural influences of health behavior and to design and implement culturally informed interventions to achieve health equity for vulnerable and underserved populations. Her desire is to understand how to better engage these populations- particularly Black women in research, chronic disease screening, and cardiometabolic risk reduction interventions. Her work is centered on how experiences and perspectives impact cardiometabolic related health outcomes using community and asset-based approaches. She employs qualitative inquiry to solicit comprehensive personal accounts and contextual information from individuals that can help to improve interventions and health care delivery in populations experiencing disproportionate burden of cardiometabolic disease.

View Dr. Palmer's publications here.

Dr. Garcia is an Associate Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. He has extensive experience in short and long-term intervention trials in the areas of physical activity, diet, and weight management. He received his training from leading institutions and mentors in the field. Since 2006, Dr. Garcia has worked on numerous funded research projects, including research funded by industry, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and foundations. This includes working as a lifestyle interventionist/exercise physiologist in several clinical trials with overweight and obese adults, morbidly obese adults (Class II and III obesity), and individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Since arriving at the University of Arizona, his research has focused on the development of gender and culturally-sensitive weight-loss interventions for Hispanic males. To support this effort, Dr. Garcia established “Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud -Committed to Your Health”, a program developed to support research through community service and partnering with underserved Tucson residents. Dr. Garcia is currently examining the burden of obesity-related disease and cancers, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma, in Mexican-Origin adults.

View Dr. Garcia's publications here.

Dr. Hingle is an Associate Professor, School of Nutritional Sciences and Wellness at the University of Arizona. Dr. Hingle is a nutrition scientist, public health researcher, and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with experience and training in medical nutrition therapy, health promotion, behavioral sciences, and related research methodologies. Her work is conducted at the intersection of nutritional sciences research and public health practice, where I seek to understand predictors and consequences of behavioral risk factors associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes and apply this knowledge to the design and delivery of lifestyle behavior modification interventions for children and families at risk of diet-sensitive disease. Dr. Hingle is committed to interdisciplinary and team science, and her collaborations and work reflect this commitment. The overall goal of her research is the prevention of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders, with an emphasis on youth and families. Three aims focus her research program activities: (1) understand predictors and correlates of the lifestyle behaviors associated with energy balance and diabetes risk, including diet and physical activity behavior; (2) develop and test new approaches to support participants in modifying lifestyle behaviors associated with diet-sensitive disease risk; and (3) integrate research findings with clinical and community practice, while identifying and addressing potential barriers that impede implementation at scale.

Dr. Flores grew up in Midland, Texas and was avidly curious about the natural and social world. Her undergraduate research experiences at The University of Texas, Austin and early community work in behavioral health spurred her interest in social dynamics and health. She continued her education at The University of Arizona where she graduated with a Ph.D. in Family Studies and Human Development and a formal minor in Biostatistics. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in The Department of Psychology at The University of Arizona working with Dr. John M. Ruiz. As a developmental scientist, she aims to understand both social and structural factors associated with the persistence of health disparities in Latina/o/x populations using a resilience-focused lens. She is interested in novel and advanced quantitative methods to model complex, social environments as they relate to cardiovascular disease. Dr. Flores is enthusiastic and committed to strengthening the academic pipeline for diverse scholars. She is currently an active mentor across several academic domains spanning middle (6^th-10^th grade) to graduate school.

Dr. Crocker is an applied anthropologist, folklorist, and engaged community advocate and formally served as a postdoctoral fellow in the UAHS Center for Health Disparities Research at the University of Arizona. She is currently working as a Scientist - Cultural Anthropologist at Varian Bio. Dr. Crocker has studied Latin American immigration for the past 25 years and worked hands-on in immigrant communities in California, Arizona, and North Carolina as a public-school teacher, violence prevention organizer, and certified language interpreter. She takes a multi-disciplinary and action-oriented approach to studying the relationship between migration and health amongst Mexican immigrants, with a focus on contextual factors that influence the heavy burden of chronic disease and related complications affecting Latino communities, community levels sources of stress and resilience, the emotional experience of migration, traditional healing modalities, and binational barriers to medical care access.

Rosi is a Senior Program Coordinator for Dr. David Garcia’s Nosotros Comprometidos a Su Salud -Committed to Your Health” program. She graduated from Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City from the College of Business Management and Economics.  Rosi is a certified health coach and has over 20 years of experience in business management and community outreach.  Rosi oversees the team operations and supports them in fulfilling their mission of reducing health inequities faced by the Hispanic community in Southern Arizona, through community-engaged research collaborations, service, and education.

Julio Loya PhD, RN is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. Dr. Loya’s research interests include elucidating effective, culturally-tailored biobehavioral interventions to improve type 2 diabetes mellitus outcomes in the Hispanic/LatinX population. Dr. Loya has 18 years of clinical experience as a registered nurse, and has expertise in community-based participatory research. Dr. Loya is passionate about enhancing the health of the Hispanic/LatinX community through research to address health disparities.