Doctoral student takes public health research to a community-level

UCI Public Health doctoral student Athena Corral Carlos, MPH, has dedicated her career and life’s work to understanding chronic diseases, specifically the impact that physical activity, lifestyle-related, and socioeconomic factors have on the onset of disease.

One of reasons I wanted to pursue my doctoral degree was to conduct research that will highlight health disparities among underserved communities that might otherwise go unnoticed.”

– Athena Corral Carlos, MPH

So when she was invited by Dean Bernadette Boden-Albala, her research co-mentor, to be part of a large volunteer team to visit Ensenada, Mexico, and provide general healthcare and collect data that would shed light on disparities impacting a rural town, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. 

Athena and Dean Boden-Albala would be joining members from the UCI School of Medicine, Dr. Donny Suh, Chief of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, additional team members from the UCI Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, and the Irvine-Newport Rotary Club. 

“One of reasons I wanted to pursue my doctoral degree was to conduct research that will highlight health disparities among underserved communities that might otherwise go unnoticed,” says Athena who is in her third year of UCI’s PhD in epidemiology program. “To truly understand how disease disproportionately impacts certain communities, you have to take into account where they live, eat, play, and work is the key. And the key to understanding those social determinants of health is to work hand-in-hand with the community.”

In the field of public health, what Athena is doing is known as community-based participatory research. This is research that pivots away from the traditional model of research where scientists and academic scholars study health outcomes from afar and, instead, involves community members throughout the process. This includes conducting needs assessments and focus groups at the very beginning of a study to disseminating results to the community at the end. This principle is at the core of public health practice – especially at UCI Public Health.

In addition to supporting the overall mission of the trip, which was triaging community member’s medical needs around eyesight, blood pressure, and more, Athena was also responsible for collecting data on demographics, length of time between care, and other barriers to accessing healthcare. In collaboration with her faculty co-mentor Dr. Andrew Odegaard, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, Athena hopes that their findings can be used to tailor interventions to reduce barriers to accessing healthcare. She also plans to use this topic as her doctoral thesis and will submit her findings to a scientific journal for publication.

“Public health research that transcends the boundaries of academia, genuinely involves the communities it aims to serve, and prioritizes the issues that matter the most to the community,” emphasized Athena. 

While community-engaged research offers numerous benefits, it can also present challenges. Building trust between researchers and communities, ensuring diverse representation, and addressing power dynamics are ongoing obstacles that require sensitivity and commitment. It is crucial to nurture a diverse workforce that is better equipped to understand and respond to the needs of diverse patient populations. 

“As a Hispanic female pursuing a doctoral degree, it is not lost on me how important diverse representation is in academia,” says Athena. “The power of speaking the same language and understanding the culture is profound, especially when conducting community-based research like we did in Ensenada.”

Athena’s background has also been instrumental in her work at home in Orange County. She serves as a study team member for Dean Bernadette Boden-Albala’s project, SERVE OC, to reduce cardiovascular risk among Hispanic and Vietnamese families in Orange County. With the burden of stroke and cardiovascular disease being so high among Hispanic and Vietnamese communities, researchers like Athena are driven to find sustainable solutions. Based in Santa Ana, the project team has embedded themselves within the community to build trust and work with families to educate and intervene to reduce high blood pressure to ultimately decrease cardiovascular disease.

“Given that minority communities can have a deep mistrust in academia due to longstanding systemic racism, building a team that is representative of that community and working literally in the community are of utmost importance,” says Dr. Boden-Albala. “As a co-faculty mentor for Athena, I see firsthand how crucial it is to foster and support diverse researchers because it is with them we can change lives for the better.”