Joint Doctoral Student Charts Unique Path to Public Health
Alexis Garduno is a third-year Joint Doctoral Student at San Diego State University (SDSU) and University of California San Diego (UCSD) majoring in Epidemiology. Alexis received her Bachelor of Science degree in Bioengineering from Stanford University in 2015. She finished her Masters degree in Epidemiology from the Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University. While completing her Masters degree, Alexis managed a diabetes coaching incentive program and supported the analysis for Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS)-initiatives at Moda Health, which is one of the largest health insurance companies in Oregon.
From an early age, Alexis has participated in service-oriented work in her community in Reno, NV, and started reflecting on what change and work is needed to promote health and well-being in this community. Her parents grew up in a low-income region of San Bernardino County. She was inspired by her father, who was a first-generation student who went on to the Air Force Academy and is currently a one-star general. Between her childhood experiences and her time at Stanford, witnessing the stark differences among the health of individuals sparked her deep thoughts and passions to dive into service-oriented work. Also during Alexis’s time at Stanford, she wanted to design biomedical devices and therapies that positively impacted people’s lives, which she briefly explored after graduation.
Alexis was not sure what field of study would fit her passion, or what career to follow, but her senior year started to make her aspirations clearer. Alexis learned through Dr. Donald Barr in a course called “Social Class, Race Ethnicity and Health” about the field of public health. This was Alexis’s last year at Stanford, and she uses the coursework to fuel her long-term vision. Alexis’s long-term research interests are to further explore applications of causal inference and machine learning to promote healthy aging in Latino populations. She is a member of the first pre-doctoral cohort of the T32 training program in Advanced Data and Analytics for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (TADA-BSSR).
Alexis’ research interests are varied, and she is still learning how to explore her many interests, and is excited to do so through her dissertation that she’s been planning the last few months. Currently, she is a graduate research assistant for Dr. Rany Salem and is working in the area of genetic and behavioral risk factors of diabetes and diabetic complications. Her dissertation plans to explore how sleep and circadian health promotes healthy aging, and she had an article come out in Diabetes Care on the long-term health impact of steps per day on incident diabetes in an aging population.
