Dr. Andrea Acevedo‘s research focuses on racial/ethnic inequalities in the access to and quality of health services, particularly those related to alcohol and drug use disorders.
Dr. Acevedo has over 15 years experience in health service research, most of which has been on substance use disorders. She was involved in the development and testing of quality indicators for services for substance use disorders. Much of her work involves understanding inequities in treatment for substance use disorders, particularly those related to race/ethnicity. She has led studies assessing racial/ethnic inequities in publicly- funded treatment systems in several states, and examining the role that individual, facility, and community characteristics may have on treatment quality and outcomes. She has also been a Co-Investigator on studies examining the relationship between performance measures and treatment outcomes, and on the impact of impact of provider-level interventions to improve treatment quality. Her current work is examining substance use among older adults and the incorporation of providers’ perspectives to understand barriers and facilitators to treatment. Her research interests expand to other areas, including racial/ethnic inequities in mental health care, and on nursing home care. Her work incorporates equity issues across the lifespan, from adolescents to older adults.
Dr. Acevedo teaches courses on substance use and policy, health care inequalities, and data management and analysis for health research.
Dr. Acevedo received her Ph.D. in Social Policy with a concentration in behavioral health services and policy from Brandeis University, and her Masters’ in Health and Social Behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Zaya Jargalsaikhan is a senior from Los Angeles, CA double majoring in Community Health and International Relations. She is interested in immigrant health and working towards reducing health disparities in the US healthcare system. Her career goal is to work in health policy/health law to make health care more accessible. On campus, she is part of the Tufts Literacy Corps and a Resident Assistant.
Joanne Lau is a senior at Tufts University. She is from Boston, Massachusetts and is studying Community Health and Chinese. Joanne is interested in researching health disparities at the intersection of race/ethnicity and immigration status. She hopes to have a career in which she can make a positive impact on the health outcomes of marginalized groups through community-level interventions.
Elizabeth Marte is a first-year student from the Bronx, New York. She is hoping to major in Community Health and follow the pre-med track. Her extracurriculars include Tufts Timmy Global, Project Share/Sharewood Clinic, and Tufts ESL. She hopes to have a career in which she can help impoverished countries by providing them with medical resources.
Lab Alumni
Jennifer Miles received her doctorate in Social Policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Her research focuses on how recovery support services may assist individuals with a substance use disorder, examining how policy shapes the availability of these services, and examining factors related to disparities among vulnerable populations who utilize these and other treatment services.
Jonathan Berger is a Tufts University graduate from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, who double majored in Community Health and Spanish. Jon graduated with a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University in the Mailman School of Public Health’s department of Health Policy and Management.
Nicole Carzo is a Tufts University graduate who double majored in Biology and Community Health. Nicole has an interest in researching racial disparities within the US healthcare system. Nicole also has a more global health focused interest in neglected tropical diseases. In her free time, Nicole likes to coach synchronized swimming.
Nina Chukwura is a Tufts University graduate. She is from West Hartford, Connecticut. She double majored in Biology and Middle Eastern Studies! On campus, besides doing research for Dr. Acevedo, she was a barista, a tour guide, a member of Tufts Student Action, and Tufts Wilderness Orientation (TWO)!
Michelle Delk is a Tufts University graduate who majored in Community Health. Her primary concentration is in reducing health disparities. Michelle loves dancing, reading, poetry, and listening to music.
Maureen Kamanu is a Tufts University graduate from Worcester, Massachusetts who studied biology and community health. Her interests lie at the intersections of both of her majors and she hopes to one day make an impact in her community through medicine/public health. At Tufts, Maureen was involved in the African Dance Team called COCOA, the African Students Organization (ASO) and MAPS, the minority Association of Pre-Health Students.
Ivette Rodriguez Borja is a Tufts University graduate from Santa Ana, California who majored in Community Health. Her extracurriculars included working with the First-Gen Collective to organize events for the greater first-gen community on campus, as well as Tufts United for Immigrant Justice, a group which advocates for immigrant rights and against their marginalization.