Leadership
Co-Director
Dr. Gino Aisenberg, an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work, is a bilingual/bicultural Latino mental health researcher. He is the founding co-director of the Latino Center for Health at the University of Washington. Previously, he served as associate dean for diversity and student affairs of the Graduate School from 2013-2019.
Dr. Aisenberg is staunchly committed to addressing inequities in the access and utilization of health and behavioral health services. His primary research interest focuses on delivery and dissemination of an innovative training and treatment program providing evidence-based and culturally tailored depression care to Latinx adults via telephone. Undergraduate students and promotoras are trained and supervised to effectively deliver this manualized treatment.
Dr. Aisenberg obtained his MSW and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California. Since coming to the University of Washington in 2002, Dr. Aisenberg’s research and teaching have been deeply informed by culture and authentic partnerships with community-based agencies serving marginalized and rural communities.
Co-Director
Dr. Leo Sergio Morales is a professor and assistant dean for healthcare equity and quality in the UW School of Medicine and founding co-director of the Latino Center for Health at the University of Washington. He received his M.D. and MPH degrees from the University of Washington and his Ph.D. from the RAND Graduate School in Policy Analysis. After completing a residency in primary care internal medicine at the UCSF/San Francisco General Hospital, he was recruited to the UCLA School of Medicine where he held faculty positions as assistant and associate professor, and co-directed the UCLA Resource Center for Minority Aging Research.
He is a past recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Minority Foundation Medical Faculty Development Award and a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Investigator Award. His research focuses on racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health and the measurement of patient resorted outcomes in diverse population settings. In recognition of his research contributions, he was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2007.
In recognition of his efforts to improve the health of Washingtonians, he was 2023 the recipient of Washington State Public Health Association (WSPHA) Annual Secretary’s Award and a recipient of a 2021 Washington State Medical Association Grassroots Advocate Award.
Affiliate Faculty
Affilate Faculty
Melanie Morris, PhD, LICSW, is a social worker, researcher, and advocate for oral health equity. Her scholarship and teaching approach are grounded in her experience as a social work practitioner and researcher working in interdisciplinary settings with populations at the intersection of multiple oppressions. Using mixed methods, her research focuses on health equity and justice by examining how structural and social drivers of oral health intersect to shape service utilization and clinical outcomes for the Latino/a/e community. Morris’ research also focuses on integrating social work practice into oral healthcare settings to improve delivery, policy, and patient outcomes. Her work has been supported by the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
Melanie Morris’ social work practice has focused on the ground-up design and the hands-on delivery of social work services in dental education. She has developed and implemented social work services, curriculum, and practicum sites in didactic and clinical dental education. Morris has also played a key role in establishing a national network of social workers in dental education known as Social Work in Dentistry (SWID), which provides support and resources to foster the development or continuation of social work programs and practicum sites in dental care settings.
In addition to two co-directors, the Latino Center for Health has four permanent staff members and two part-time staff members. These roles include:
- Community Engagement Specialist
- Coordinator for Community Health and Research
- Research Project Coordinator
- Director of Operations
- Research and Project Assistant
- UX and Communications Designer