My work ties together language education, public health, and mentoring:

• My study focuses on the fields of Medical Spanish, Second Language Teaching, Public Health, and Health Education and Communication. My last peer-reviewed publication is: Integrating Gender-Affirming Care in a Medical Spanish Endocrine System Curriculum.

• Additional important articles I worked on recently include: Enhancing Clinical Spanish Proficiency through Standardized Patient Interactions: A Case Study of Medical Students' Performance, A comprehensive medical Spanish curriculum model: the Vida Medical Spanish Curriculum, and A Case Study of the Impact of Language Concordance on Patient Care, Satisfaction, and Comfort with Sharing Sensitive Information During Medical Care.

• I teach Medical Spanish to MD students and I direct the Medical Spanish program (Vida) at the California University of Science and Medicine.

• I also teach Medical Spanish to hospital residents in the Inland Empire, California.

• I am pursuing a second doctorate in Public Health at Claremont Graduate University.

AWARDS and FELLOWSHIPS

• I am a 2024 Latinicima awardee by the Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses.

• I am a 2024 Fellow in LIDEReS in Research (LHS+ Identity, Development, Empowerment, and Resources Seminar in Research). NIH and Latino Medical Student Association.

• I have been awarded a Global Health Fellowship at Claremont Graduate University for four semesters during 2023 and 2024.

• I have been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award for advancing the Mission of the California University of Science and Medicine.

• I have been nominated for the AAMC Herbert W. Nickens Faculty Fellowship 2023.

• I have been awarded the Global Health Fellowship at Claremont Graduate University from January 2023 to August 2024;

• I am a Modern Language Association (MLA) Fellow (Summer Institute 2022, California State University Los Angeles).

• I was awarded the GSA Excellence in Teaching Award in 2021/2022.

• I was awarded the Applied Linguistics Fellowship in 2021/2022 at Gervitz Graduate School, UC Santa Barbara.

• I was awarded the Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship at UC Santa Barbara for Winter 2022.

• I was awarded an honorable mention of the GSA Excellence in Teaching Award in Winter 2021.

• I was awarded the Engaging Humanities Fellowship 2020/2021 at UC Santa Barbara.

• I was awarded the Tim McGovern Fellowship, Spanish and Portuguese department, UC Santa Barbara in 2020.

• I was awarded the Rosati Excellence and Innovation in Language Award, UC Santa Barbara in 2019.

• I was awarded the Wofsy Award, Spanish and Portuguese department, UC Santa Barbara in 2019.

• I was awarded an ISEP Scholarship to study at the University of Regina, Canada in Fall 2015.

• I was awarded an Erasmus+ Scholarship to study at Newcastle University, England in 2014.

• I was awarded a Scholarship to study at Millikin University, Illinois in Fall 2013.