Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh
( She/Her/Hers )Biography:
Education: ScD. in Social Epidemiology, Harvard University, School of Public Health and MPH from SF State
Field of specialization: Policy, Social and Environmental Determinants of Health; Racial/Ethnic and Class Disparities in Health; Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Immigrant Health Trajectories in multinational contexts.
Current projects: Epidemiologic research on: the socioeconomic gradients in overweight/obesity and multilevel analyses examining the influence of neighborhood environments on obesity.
Affiliation
Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Associate Professor, Health Education Department, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California
Biosketch
Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Sc.D., M.P.H., is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University (SFSU). She received a B.S. from the University of San Francisco, an M.P.H. from SFSU, and a doctorate of science in Social Epidemiology from Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh is also affiliated faculty at the Health Equity Institute within SFSU and the Center for Health Equity within the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh is a social epidemiologist whose research focuses on three interrelated strands: social inequalities in health, with a primary focus on maternal and child health; and the extent to which policies and community environments influence population patterns of disease overall as well as disparities by race/ethnicity, immigration status, and socioeconomic factors. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh’s research includes studies on racial/ethnic disparities in maternal birth outcomes; the influences of nutrition and physical education policies for schools and community environments on racial or ethnic childhood obesity disparities. She has received research support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Healthy Eating Research, Active Living Research and Physical Activity Research Center), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kaiser Permanente and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh currently receives research support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the RWJF Healthy Eating Research program to examine the influences of nutrition policies for schools on childhood obesity. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh served on the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment.