We are excited to announce that Jessica Santos, PhD, has accepted the position of inaugural Director of the Leah Zallman Center for Immigrant Health Research at ICH, beginning October 1st. Dr. Santos describes this position as her “dream job,” and is honored to have the opportunity to build upon Dr. Leah Zallman’s legacy and create a vibrant interdisciplinary research center focused on immigrant health and equity. We are looking forward to welcoming her to ICH in October and to working together to develop collective capacity to advance immigrant health and wellbeing in our current social policy environment.
Dr. Santos comes to us from Brandeis University, where she is the Director of Community-Engaged Research at the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity (IERE) and a Lecturer at the Heller School for Social Policy & Management. She is the Principal Investigator on multiple federally and privately funded mixed methods studies focused on examining pathways for economic stability, mobility, and equity through social policy. She co-designs research in partnership with community-based organizations or policy makers, as action research to advance social justice. Dr. Santos holds a PhD in Social Policy from Brandeis University and a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development from SIT Institute.