Emma V. Sanchez-Vaznaugh
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 Socioeconomic Disparities in Health; Prevention science.
Current projects: Epidemiologic research on: the impact of school nutrition policies on child health and learning across multiple sociodemographic subgroups of children who attended California public schools; the influence of the food environment near schools on health and learning; the effectivness of a quasi-experimental community intervention to promote sexual health among Latinx men.
Dr. Sanchez-Vaznazugh obtained a ScD in Social Epidemiology from Harvard University’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health and a Masters in Public Health from SFSU. She is affiliated faculty at the Health Equity Institute (SFSU) and the Center for Health Equity, University of California San Francisco. Her research focuses on three interrelated strands: social, environmental and policy influences on health; health inequities along social dimensions including race/ethnicity and socioeconomic factors; and policy effects on the social determinants of health. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh’s research includes studies on the influences of school nutrition policies on childhood obesity; physical education/physical activity policies and children’s fitness and their interactions with race/ethnicity and neighborhood environmental factors; the food environment near schools and childhood obesity. Her research has been supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kaiser Permanente and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sanchez-Vaznaugh served on the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment. She served as Chair of the Mentored Clinical and Basic Science Study Section, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.