Anahí Viladrich, Director
Viladrich (PhD, MPhil, MA) is an award-winning medical anthropologist and sociologist with long-term research experience and publishing record on gender, immigration and health in Argentina (her home country) as well as the US. She received a PhD with Distinction and a MPhil in Sociomedical Sciences (anthropology) from Columbia University in 2003, and a MA with honors from the New School University in 1999. She is currently a full-time faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Queens College, the City University of New York (CUNY). Her current interests include immigrant health and health disparities, social networks and ethnic niches in New York City (including the tango world), and ethnomedical health systems. She is currently finishing a book on Argentine immigrants in NYC (to be published by the University of Arizona Press) based on her thesis dissertation that was awarded with the Marisa De Castro Benton Prize at Columbia University in 2003.
E-mail: [email protected]
Nancy Bruning, Research Associate
A native New Yorker and second-generation immigrant, Bruning is a graduate of Hunter’s Urban Public Health Program with an MPH in Community Health Education. Bruning joined IAHI in 2005 to study dietary patterns and physical activity among Latinas. Bruning is an established writer, author and educator. She has written and edited over 25 books on alternative medicine, healthy living and health promotion. Currently her primary focus is promoting “active living” and reducing the prevalence of sedentary behavior especially among disadvantaged urban populations. This perspective is reflected in her master’s essay, “Steps to Get New Yorkers Moving” which was published by the Public Health Association of New York City (www.phanyc.org). She has substantial experience in community work through her activities in various non-profit organizations working in immigrant-rich communities such as Washington Heights and East and Central Harlem.
E-mail: [email protected]
Rita Baron-Faust, Research Associate
Rita Baron-Faust is a native New Yorker and long-time resident of Brooklyn’s multi-ethnic Sunset Park neighborhood. She joined the IAHI in 2009 after receiving her MPH in Community Health Education from Hunter’s Urban Public Health program. Baron-Faust is a Certified Public Health Education Specialist (CHES), an award-winning medical journalist, and the author of six books on women’s health. She is a frequent speaker on women’s health issues, working with advocacy groups such as the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (on whose executive board she served for six years). Baron-Faust was among the invited contributors to “The Savvy Woman Patient: How and Why Sex Differences Affect Your Health” (2007, Capitol Books/Society for Women’s Health Research). Her research interests include the influence of culture and ethnicity on health and health behaviors, strategies to promote healthful behavior change, reducing health disparities, and patient navigation among minority, immigrant, and underserved women (the focus of her capstone research at Bellevue Hospital).
E-mail: [email protected]