معرفی
Marielena Lara is a Senior Physician Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation and a Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her work focuses on improving health and social well-being in vulnerable communities, particularly Latino populations, children with chronic conditions, and disaster-affected communities. She leads interdisciplinary teams to address systemic inequities in healthcare and community systems.
Dr. Lara holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, an M.P.H. in Health Services Management and Policy from UCLA, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Her expertise spans program evaluation, survey methodology, and multilingual communication strategies tailored to diverse populations.
Her research emphasizes asthma disparities, disaster recovery (e.g., post-Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico), and policy interventions. She has developed tools like the RAND Asthma Control Measure and collaborated with local NGOs to enhance community resilience. Her work bridges academic research with actionable policies to reduce health inequities globally.
Key contributions include:
- Leading Puerto Rico's disaster recovery planning through participatory approaches
- Advancing evidence-based asthma care coordination programs
- Pioneering culturally relevant interventions for Latino communities
