Aresha Martinez-Cardoso
Dr. Aresha Martinez-Cardoso, Ph.D., M.S., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago where she leads the Embodying Racism Lab. Integrating theoretical insights from the social sciences with epidemiological methods, her research examines how structural racism and social inequities in the US shape the health of racial/ethnic groups and immigrant populations.
Dr. Martinez-Cardoso’s work and lab focuses on three major lines of inquiry (1) quantifying understudied health disparities among Latinx and immigrant populations; (2) studying social exposures and systems of social inequality that produce Latinx and immigrant health inequities; (3) and developing and testing multilevel strategies to intervene on the social and structural determinants of health.
Her work has been funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institute on Aging, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and US Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Martinez-Cardoso holds a Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan and an M.S. in Community Health Sciences from UCLA. She began her academic career through the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows Program at the University of Chicago, where she was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2020.
Through her research, teaching, and advocacy, Dr. Martinez-Cardoso is committed to advancing health equity and ensuring that the voices of marginalized communities are central to the creation of interventions and policies aimed at reducing health disparities.
