SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

I began my educational journey at the University of California, Riverside where I studied Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in biology and Hispanic studies. I entered into the inaugural cohort of the Master of Public Health program at the University of San Francisco. It was there that I found my passion for occupational and environmental health. My public health background and community service has influenced my perspective of how individual behavior, health, and work outcomes are driven by the community’s people inhabit. I’ve since completed the University of California, San Francisco’s Masters Entry Program in Nursing (MEPN), and the Adult Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program with an emphasis in occupational and environmental health. I work part-time as an occupational health nurse practitioner at a community clinic in a low-resourced neighborhood in San Francisco. I’m also currently in my 2nd year of the PhD in Nursing program developing my dissertation around how Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers, especially those in high pressure and high hazard environments, experience and cope with occupational burnout. My ultimate career goal is to better understand the physical manifestations of organizational psycho-social issues influence poor physical and mental health among exploited workers, who are often ethnic and racial minorities of low socioeconomic status. Ultimately, I want to advance the nursing science by finding practical solutions that workplaces can implement, under the leadership of a nurse, for some of the most vulnerable workers.