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Irene Yen is the principal investigator and director of the HOPe Lab. She received her B.A. from Stanford University and her MPH and PhD from UC Berkeley. She is a social epidemiologist, a public health professor at the University of California Merced and a Robert Wood Johnson Interdisciplinary...

Kimberly Montanez is a recent graduate from UC Merced with a bachelor's degree in public health. She will now be participating in a year-long internship with the National Health Corps as an outreach and enrollment coordinator with Livingston Community Health. Kimberly is a Central Valley local and...

Sofia Aguilar, a native of Los Angeles, California, is a fourth-year student at the University of California, Merced, pursuing an undergraduate degree in Public Health. She is a Student Researcher in Dr. Yen’s Housing, Opportunity and Place (HOPe) Lab in the Department of Public Health. In this role...

Dr. Leia Belt, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts' (SSHA) Department of Sociology since January 2024. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD specializing in Medical Sociology and Social Epidemiology from the University of Iowa. Her research is dedicated...

Rebecca Martinez (she/her/ella) is a Staff Researcher at UC Merced's HOPe Lab. She earned her BA in Public Health from UC Merced in 2021 and her MPH in Health Policy and Services from the University of Southern California in 2024. Born and raised in California's Central Valley, Rebecca has a deep...

Brenda Castañeda-Castañeda is a Staff Research Associate in Dr. Yen’s Housing, Opportunity and Place (HOPe) Lab in the Department of Public Health. Brenda currently assists with qualitative research on the experiences of women of color and K-12 school discipline. She has collaborated on research...