Archives: Our Team
Jennifer Rueda Verduzco
Intern
Jennifer Rueda Verduzco (She/Her/Ella) is from Vancouver, Washington but was born in California and raised in Oregon. Jennifer holds a BS in public health from the University of Washington. As the intern for the Latino Center, she supports our Adios COVID program by organizing the distribution of COVID test kits with access to telehealth services and additionally helps organize vaccine clinics. Jennifer also supported and organized our 5th Annual Latinx Faculty Recognition Event! Jennifer joins the team with past experience as a student assistant for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), where she screened over 5,000 sources and extracted data from over 150 sources for a literature review on astrovirus and saporous. Alongside this, she served as a research intern at Seattle Children’s Hospital. During her time in this role, she qualitatively coded interviews conducted with healthcare providers and vaccine clinic organizers regarding best practices for vaccinating children with COVID-19 vaccines. Her interests include improving access to healthcare in immigrant communities, improving cultural competence in healthcare, and preventing diabetes in Latinx communities
“My current goal is to get accepted into medical school. My long-term goal is to become a primary care physician who serves immigrant communities!” – Jennifer
Angela R. Rambo
Director of Operations
Angela previously worked at the University of Washington for over two decades in student services, admissions, project management, and program management. She earned her MSW from the UW School of Social Work in 2010. Angela possesses a passion for working with diverse communities; residents, and business leaders to help bring lasting changes to communities of color. In addition, she has over a decade of experience working in communities both in the Greater Seattle Area and in Eastern Washington. Angela looks forward to contributing her skills and knowledge to help advance the Latino Center for Health in its mission to promote the health of Latinx communities through community-engaged and culturally informed research that informs policy and practice. Angela is also excited about the new learning and growth that will come from being a part of the Center and contributing to its excellence.
Carolyn Bain
Executive Director, Guatemala Village Health
Carolyn Bain, MPH, received her MPH from Columbia University, has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic (’91-’93), and trained Peace Corps volunteers in the Child Survival Program. Carolyn worked as a consultant for the Ford Foundation’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights program in Santiago Chile 1999-2005. In addition to working at GVH, she coordinates an HIV clinical trial for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Vickie Ybarra, PhC, MPH, RN
Vickie Ybarra, PhC, MPH, RN, is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Doctoral Fellow and Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests include health policy, the social determinants of health, immigration policy, and Latino politics. She holds previous degrees in Nursing and Public Health from the University of Washington.
Prior to returning to school to pursue her doctoral degree, Ms. Ybarra worked for 21 years in healthcare as a public health nurse and administrator at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic. In addition, she served as Governor Gregoire’s first Chair of the Governor’s Council on Health Disparities from 2006 to 2010, and in that role oversaw the development of Washington state’s first “State Policy Action Plan to Eliminate Health Disparities” that was delivered to the Governor and Legislature in 2010.
Vickie looks forward to returning home to Washington full time after finishing her studies in 2015.
Nina Wallerstein, DrPH
Nina Wallerstein, DrPH, professor of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, has been developing participatory research methodologies and empowerment intervention research for more than thirty years. Her written work includes a co-edited volume, Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in Health, 2nd edition, five books, and over 120 articles and chapters. Since 1999, she has worked in collaboration with tribal communities to assess and strengthen community capacity, public health infrastructure, and measures of social capital. She has also co-developed an intergenerational culturally-centered intervention to reduce child risky behaviors with several New Mexican tribes. Dr. Wallerstein has worked with the Pan American Health Organization to develop empowerment trainings and participatory evaluation of healthy municipalities throughout the continent. She has been funded for the past seven years to co-lead a national effort to refine scientific models and measures to assess associations between participatory partnership processes with CBPR and health outcomes. Her overall research interests focus on community capacity development in tribal communities, culturally centered translational intervention research, healthy communities, and community based participatory research processes and outcomes to enhance the science of CBPR.
Rudy Rodriguez, MD
Rudy Rodriguez, MD, is the Director of Hospital and Specialty Medicine at the VA Puget Sound Health Care Systems and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington (UW). He is a nephrologist and serves as the UW Nephrology Fellowship Program Director. He is the chair of the VA-wide Renal Field Advisory Committee, which is a leading an effort to transform the renal programs within the VA including the education of providers and patients. His academic interests include health disparities, kidney disease among underserved populations, and increasing diversity in academic medicine. He is the UW School of Medicine Course Director for the Hispanic Health and Health Care Disparities Course. He previously was a faculty member at the University of California San Francisco and worked as a nephrologist at San Francisco General Hospital.
Rogelio Riojas, MHA
Rogelio Riojas, MHA, has served as President and CEO of Sea Mar Community Health Centers since 1978. Sea Mar is a health and human services non-profit organization committed to providing quality, comprehensive health, human and housing services to diverse communities, specializing in service to Latinos. Under his leadership, the organization has grown from a small community clinic in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, to a large multi-faceted health and human services organization serving more than 240,000 individuals annually in 10 counties throughout Washington state. Mr. Riojas currently serves on the University of Washington (UW) Board of Regents and the Sound Community Bank Board as Audit Committee Chair and a member of the Loan Committee. Mr. Riojas is a graduate of the UW, with bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science and a master’s degree in health administration. He and his wife Leticia have four children and three grandchildren and live in Seattle.