I research health governance and disparities from a comparative perspective, with a particular interest in these dynamics in unequal democracies. I have regional expertise in Latin America. My current projects examine the spillover effects of conditional cash transfer programs with health conditionalities on health service access for marginalized non-beneficiaries, the impact of violence-related trauma on political attitudes in Latin America, and the role that targeted health services play in local political campaigns in Brazil. My book-project-in-development explores the intersection between social identity, political behavior and health in large, decentralized and unequal democracies like Brazil, the United States and India.
Prior to my visiting position at Loyola Marymount, I held positions at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University (postdoctoral scholar), the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC (microsimulation research programmer), and the Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science at UCLA (lecturer), where I also gained experience teaching data analysis at the graduate level, and research design and U.S. policy-process at the undergraduate level. I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science and an M.S. in Statistics from UCLA.