Pilot Study Title: Federal urban renewal, contemporary neighborhood conditions, and cardiovascular health disparities among older adults
Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, UC Merced
Career goal: I aim to conduct epidemiologic research that informs place-based strategies to advance health for all. I also seek to foster the next generation of scholars and practitioners interested in place and health through teaching and mentoring.
Why this study: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among older adults in the U.S. Where people live can strongly influence heart health through access to healthy foods, recreational spaces, social connections, and exposure to environmental hazards. Historical housing and land-use policies have shaped neighborhoods in ways that continue to affect residents’ health today. Urban renewal projects, designed to revitalize disinvested areas, often displaced families, disrupted communities, and changed neighborhood physical features, with mixed long-term effects on social and physical neighborhood conditions. This study will examine relationships between federal urban renewal projects and heart health in older adults, to illuminate how past policies continue to influence heart health today and identify neighborhood features that can support healthy aging.
Sirena Gutierrez, PhD, MPH
Pilot Study Title: Lifecourse Education and Lifelong Learning Pathways to Dementia Risk and Place-Based Variation
Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Career goal: To conduct robust, policy-relevant research that advances population health and promotes health for all, with a focus on improving late-life outcomes among adults from marginalized communities.
Why this study: Education is a key driver of cognitive health across the lifecourse, yet its protective effects against dementia are not equally distributed across populations. This study examines how educational attainment and access to continued learning opportunities influence later-life cognitive outcomes across geographic and sociodemographic contexts, with the goal of identifying modifiable pathways linking education to cognitive health and informing strategies to reduce disparities in dementia risk.
Thiago Junqueira Avelino da Silva, MD, PhD
Pilot Study Title: Development and Validation of Fair EHR-Based Prognostic Models for Delirium in Hospitalized Older Adults
Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, Division of Geriatrics, UCSF
Alexandra Rivera-González, PhD, MPH
Pilot Study Title: Shifts in Disaster-Related Health Care Demands and Utilization of Programs and Services Among Older Patients of a Community Health Center (CHC) in Puerto Rico
Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, UC Merced
Career goal: To advance fair and resilient healthcare systems for underserved populations
Why this study: Older adults living in rural Puerto Rico face growing challenges accessing healthcare due to repeated compounding disasters and longstanding health system constraints. Community health centers (CHCs) play a critical role in meeting the health and social needs of this rapidly growing population. This study will examine how rural-serving CHCs have adapted their programs and services to support older adults in a disaster-strained healthcare system.