"As many in my generation, I embraced the dreams of radical social change envisioned by Latin American revolutionaries, but I was still young when they failed in my country, Guatemala. As a Mestizo who grew up in a working class neighborhood in Guatemala City, I did not experience the massacres in rural villages or the genocide directed toward Mayan people. Nevertheless, the history of violence and social exclusion that has characterized my country is a part of who I am. I am committed to the collective imagining of a society with no exclusion and to working toward its realization. I believe that the combination of applied work in anthropology and public health can help me fulfill that commitment."

Medical anthropology, applied anthropology.

Anthropology of human rights, anthropology of development.

Health inequalities, social participation.

Anthropology of pharmaceuticals, socio-cultural epidemiology.

Health as human right, socio-cultural epidemiology; social stratification.

Guatemala, Central America, Latin American immigrants in the US.

K'iche' language and culture.