Dr. Martínez’s research examines the sociopolitical and institutional arrangements that produce chronic disease disparities among Latinx immigrants and their US-born children. Dr. Martinez’s current research examines how the local implementation of immigration enforcement policies creates material deprivation and psychosocial stress among Latinx mixed-status families, with at least one unauthorized immigrant.

During her CRF year, Dr.  Martínez plans to examine the relationship between chronic psychosocial stressors and physiological stress, on salivary uric acid, a biomarker for oxidative stress, among Latinx families of different migrant family structures (only US-born parents, authorized immigrant parents, and families with 1+ unauthorized immigrant parents). The study hopes to demonstrate the consequences of parents’ legal vulnerabilities for children’s physical health. She hopes that her research can reverse policies excluding US immigrant populations and inform community-based prevention strategies.