I am an applied sociocultural anthropologist with a focus on addressing the health disparities of structurally vulnerable populations, particularly sexual and gender minority youth. My research training and past work has been heavily influenced by ethnographic methods, multimodal and long-term engagement with local communities, and a holistic perspective. My past doctoral work combined linguistic anthropological approaches to the semiotic production of difference and a sensory anthropological focus on taste to examine on the early 2000s food scare concerning the adulteration of Italian extra virgin olive oils, demonstrating how personal experiences of flavors are tied to larger order politics of belonging and the nation-state in Italy. As a Research Associate Scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation since 2016, I have merged my anthropological skillset with implementation science to support and conduct high-impact health disparities research and provide technical support for addressing the structural vulnerabilities of sexual and gender minority populations. I undertake qualitative, longitudinal, and mixed-method research on the implementation and adaptation of multi-level interventions in collaboration with diverse communities. My training includes the 2020 Implementation Science Institute hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, and I have been selected to attend the prestigious Stigma Training Institute hosted by the Center for Global Health Studies at the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (scheduled for June 2021). I am also currently pursuing an M.P.H. degree at New Mexico State University.
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