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

• My study focuses on the field of Medical Spanish, Second Language Teaching, Public Health, and Health Education and Communication. My most recent papers are titled Enhancing Clinical Spanish Proficiency through Standardized Patient Interactions: A Case Study of Medical Students' Performance, Enhancing Medical Spanish Education and Proficiency to Bridge Healthcare Disparities: A Comprehensive Assessment and Call to Action, 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.

• Earlier this year, I published my article titled Instruction of Spanish Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns through Task-Supported Videoconferencing Instruction that was part of my Ph.D. dissertation and presents the effects that an online TBLT module has on the acquisition of direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish for second-language learners.

• 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 getting a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Leadership and Management at Claremont Graduate University.

AWARDS and FELLOWSHIPS

• 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.