2023–2024 NHLCC Scholar: Heidy Mendez-Rodriguez

Heidy Mendez-Rodriguez
PhD Candidate
San Diego State University, University of California San Diego

Heidy Mendez-Rodriguez, B.A., is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and a T32 Integrated Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology predoctoral fellow. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Health and Human Biology (2017) from Brown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the City University of New York (2022). Before starting her doctoral program, she had been closely involved in behavioral and chronic disease management research in populations with reproductive cancers and populations with diabetes. Today, she works under the primary mentorship of Gregory Talavera, M.D. Ph.D. and Linda Gallo, Ph.D. exploring 1) the relationships between psychosocial, built environment, and sociostructural factors and CVD health outcomes and health behaviors; 2) how integrated models of care can reduce health disparities; and 3) how technology-based interventions and community-partnered interventions can improve chronic disease management and patient-provider communications.