Archives: Our Team
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.
Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD
Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine and Director of the Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. He is a native of Cuba and has degrees from the University of Miami (BA and MD). He trained in primary care general internal medicine at UCSF, and completed a research fellowship before being appointed Assistant Professor in July 1983. He practices continuity general internal medicine following a panel of about 200 patients and teaches residents and students in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Dr. Pérez-Stable’s research has focused on health and health care disparities by race and ethnicity in the areas of tobacco use and cessation, cancer control and aging. He has special expertise in development of risk factor reduction interventions for Latinos.
Jennie McLaurin, MD, MPH
Jennie McLaurin, MD, MPH, is a Specialist in Child and Migrant Health, Bioethics for Migrant Clinicians Network, with 30 years of experience in migrant and community health. She is a board-certified pediatrician with a master in public health and in bioethics and has worked at the local, state, and national levels. Her career includes work as an outreach worker, physician, clinic medical director, state medical director of migrant health, and federal consultant and program planner on a variety of topics related to health disparities, social determinants of health, child health, cultural competency and Patient-Centered Medical Homes. She has authored, edited, and reviewed a number of journal publications, books, monographs, and abstracts on migrant health care. Her teaching experience includes graduate level course development and frequent lectures in university and public settings. Dr. McLaurin worked in North Carolina for most of her clinical career but has lived in Ferndale, WA, for the past twelve years and works across the nation with Migrant Clinicians Network and as a HRSA consultant.
Luis Ricardo Fraga, PhD
Luis Ricardo Fraga, PhD, is Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, Russell F. Stark University Professor, Director of the Diversity Research Institute, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington (UW). He works directly with the Provost, deans, and department chairs to develop strategies of outreach, assessment, recruitment, and retention to build an inclusive faculty at the UW. He has authored and co-authored five books including Latinos in the New Millennium: an Almanac of Opinion, Behavior, and Policy Preferences (Cambridge 2012) and Latino Lives in America: Making It Home (Temple 2010). He has also published extensively in journals and edited volumes. In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. He was also named one of the “100 Influentials” by Hispanic Business magazine that year. The Fulcrum Foundation named him one of the “Champions of Catholic Education” in 2012. He is currently working on another co-authored book entitled Invisible No More: Latino Identities in American Politics.