Maria Fernandez

Dr. María Fernández is a Professor and Lorne Bain Chair in Public Health and Medicine at the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She serves as Director of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR) and Vice President of Population Health and Implementation Science at UTHealth Houston. Her career focuses on participatory community-engaged research to improve health equity through interventions targeting cancer and chronic disease prevention in underserved populations.

• Expert in Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) research
• Member of NIH Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health Study Section
• Faculty for national/international D&I training programs

Her research portfolio includes global, federal, and state-funded projects related to cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical and public health settings. She is a co-author of influential texts such as Planning Health Promotion Programs: An Intervention Mapping Approach (2016) and the Handbook of Community-based Participatory Research (2017).

Scientific awards include:

• APTR Research Excellence Award
• UTHealth President's Scholar for Research Excellence