Our vision
We collaborate with community partners, research institutions, universities, and professional associations to conduct community-driven research and innovation projects.
The Institute for Latinx Health Equity, a program of the Hispanic Health Network and The Latino Commission on AIDS, is devoted to supporting community-driven research and policy to improve health outcomes among Hispanics living in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Territories.
Our team believes that change is a collective endeavor. We envision building on the histories and strengths of our communities across the U.S. and Territories to increase preventative health promotion, build institutional capacity, and mobilize communities for change.
Hence, we partner with community leaders, social and health providers, health researchers, and public health officials to explore health syndemics, fundamental causes of health and socioeconomic disparities, systems of exposure to health and socioeconomic risks, and structural sources of inequality.
For more information, please contact Daniel Castellanos, DrPH, VP of Research and Innovation @ the Latino Commission on AIDS, dcastellanos at hispanicnet.org.
Change is a collective endeavor.
Roxana Guzman, Senior Research Associate at the Latino Commission on AIDS. Roxana is a first-generation Latina, born and raised in Houston, Texas. She has an undergraduate background in communications and economics and an M.A. in Applied Economics from the University of Houston. She has garnered analytical and quantitative skills, as well as comprehension of Hispanic/Latino populations, economic development, and micro/macro-economic trends, from her multidisciplinary experience working with nonprofits. Eager to grow in the public health field, her interests lie across the intersections of health, economics, and disenfranchised or underrepresented populations.
Evelio Salinas Escamilla, Senior Research Associate at the Latino Commission on AIDS. A South Texas native, he obtained a B.A. in Mexican American Studies with an emphasis on Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mr. Escamilla has extensive experience in pre-post grant administration, program development, and implementation while working on NIH and CDC research projects. He also coordinated the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse summer institute training for pre and post-doctoral students across the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Europe at the University of Houston, Graduate College of Social Work.
H. Daniel Castellanos, DrPH, Vice President of Research and innovation at the Latino Commission on AIDS. He initiated his career as a community activist advocating for integrating civic engagement, research, policy, and social services. Daniel obtained MPH and DrPH degrees from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. His research has focused on the sociocultural, political, and economic contexts in which sexuality and gender are embedded. He has researched LGBTQ youth homelessness, HIV prevention, employment among PLWH, sex work in the Dominican Republic, and the intersection of LGBTQ and HIV activism.