Daniel López-Cevallos Explores Latinx Health Equity at Pizza and Prof

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Professor Daniel López-Cevallos presenting at the Fall 2024 Pizza & Prof.

At 4 p.m. on November 14th, Professor dlopezcevall [at] umass [dot] edu (Daniel López-Cevallos) sat down with students in the Honors Hub and shared his insights on research, teaching & mentoring. His talk, “Latinx/immigrant health (in)equity research”, expanded on his work in the field over the past two decades. 

He began his talk by explaining how health equity research focuses on the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, class, and other socioeconomic and sociocultural constructs – and their relationship to health and healthcare issues. He noted that he is personally interested in developing and implementing community, institutionality, and policy-level strategies that will help serve these communities better. 

López-Cevallos then shared how he began working with students on their research projects, specifically at Oregon State. He highlighted the work of one of his former students, who created a children’s book translated into Spanish to address mental health issues in Latinx communities. During his time at Oregon State, he also worked with the Juntos Program, which empowers Latinx students and their families around education. The program aims to create pathways to higher education for Latinx youth by connecting entire families with higher education.

Next López-Cevallos examined some of the research he has completed with students at UMass, including his recently published study, “COVID-19 School Closures in Latin America: Untangling Approaches Impacting Student Health and Wellbeing.” In addition to working directly with students, he discussed his involvement with the Office of Undergraduate Research and Studies and his efforts to increase accessibility for first-generation students.

If you are interested in working alongside López-Cevallos, he shared with the audience a research opportunity to examine culturally and linguistically appropriate services among immigrant health and social service organizations in Massachusetts. The study will assess the resources available to immigrant families in Watertown, MA, and determine whether they meet the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services.

After López-Cevallos concluded his presentation, the audience was invited to ask questions or share comments. One student in attendance asked, “When you are doing research, how do you find the communities of interest?” 

López-Cevallos emphasized the importance of building connections with community partners and faculty members.

He shared that most of the communities come from the student's own interest or a general interest in certain community partners. 

“Over the years you tend to develop connections with community partners and you want to build on those relationships.” 

Another audience member asked, “What would you recommend if undergraduate students are interested in getting started in research but aren’t quite sure what to do?" López-Cevallos noted that it is all about connecting with your advisor and faculty in your classes. 

“Go to your professor's office hours. Engage if there is something that really interests you and ask if there are any opportunities to engage in research.”

He also noted that in some scenarios, a professor's research is embedded in their classes, which will give you a taste of what the work would be like.

Audience members engage with Professor Daniel López-Cevallos during the Fall 2024 Pizza & Prof event.

At the end of the event, one student asked how López-Cevallos went from being an optometrist to a professor of public health. This was something he had shared earlier in the talk. 

“When I was younger I had to write down what I wanted to be, and I wrote either an optometrist or a priest, and found that teaching was right in the middle.” 

He then shared a story from when he was working in optometry that changed his perspective on how he wanted to move forward professionally and realized he could have a wider, more impactful reach.