2016 PhD, Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles

Concentration: Community Health Sciences

Minor: Education

Dissertation: Medical Decision-Making Among Foreign-Born Latino Elders with Multimorbidities

https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt1cm019rf/qt1cm019rf.pdf

2004 MPH, Community Health Sciences, California State University, Northridge

Concentration: Health Education

Graduated with Distinction

2001 BS, Biology, California State University, Los Angeles

Minor: French

Graduated with Departmental Honors in Biology

Prior to joining WesternU, Dr. Bravo worked as a researcher at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center where she led multiple community-based intervention projects.Most recently, she oversaw the evaluation for the Healthy Aging Partnerships in Prevention Initiative (HAPPI), a multi-component research project aimed to increase the use of clinical preventive services (e.g., cancer screenings and immunizations) in South Los Angeles among Latino and African American elders.

Summer 2019- Present

School: Western University of Health Sciences

Department: Physical Therapy Education

Courses: Research Methods II (PA 5206); Research Methodology in Health Care (PT 5130); Capstone Project I (PT 8400);

Summer 2019- Present

School: Western University of Health Sciences

Department: Health Sciences Education

Courses: Grant Writing (HSCI 5020); Research and Program Evaluation Methods (HSCI 5206);

Competencies for Community Health Educators (HSCI 5018);

Spring 2018; Adjunct Faculty

School: California State University, Los Angeles

Department: Public Health

Course: Vulnerable Populations in the US Healthcare (PH 4220)

Fall 2017; Adjunct Faculty

School: California State University, Long Beach

Department: Health Science

Course: Biostatistics (HSC 403)

Fall 2003 – Spring 2004; Teaching Associate

School: California State University, Northridge

Department: Community Health Sciences

Course: Biostatistics (HSCI 390)

Her research interests are in minority health, health care experience, decision-making, and end-of-life care in communities of color, particularly the impact of ethnicity on hospice use.

October 2018 – Present; Researcher

Western University of Health Sciences (Clinical Teaching)

September 2009 – June 2018; Researcher / Evaluator

UCLA Center for Health Policy and Research (Minorities and Aging)

January 2010 – August 2012; Project Director / Research Coordinator

Veteran Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (Minorities and Palliative Care)

September 2005 – September 2009; Project Coordinator, Research Associate and Executive Assistant

UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (Minorities and Cancer)

Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research

Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research Doctoral Application Support Award

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Bravo, RL, Gutierrez, A., Silvia Ramirez, Young, MDT, Wallace, SP (2019). The Promotora Experience: The

relationship between Promotoras, the Community and the Institutions. Inpreparation.

Bravo, RL., Kietzman, KG, Toy, P, Duru, OK, Wallace, SP. (2019). Linking Primary Care and Community

Organizations to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates: The HAPPI Project. Salud Pública de

México, 4(61): 427- 435. https://doi.org/10.21149/9450

Kietzman, KG, Toy, P, Bravo, RL., Duru, OK, Wallace, SP. (2019). Multi-sectoral Collaborations to Increase

Use of Clinical Preventive Services by Older Adults. The Gerontologist, 59(Supp1): S57-S66.

https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnz004.

Bravo, RL., Gutierrez, A, Young, MDT (2017). Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Dancing Toward

Equitable Collaboration. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 7(1): 4-7. DOI:10.1353/nib.2017.0002

Ahluwalia, S, Leos, R, Goebel, JR, Asch, SM, Lorenz, KA (2013). Provider Approaches to Palliative Dyspnea

Assessment: Implications for Informatics-Based Clinical Tools. American Journal of Hospice and

Palliative Care, 30(3): 231-238.

Ahluwalia, S, Leos, R., Lorenz, K, Goebel, J. (2011). A User-Centered Design Approach to the Development

of an EMR-Based Symptom Assessment Tool (315-A), Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 41

(1): 195-196.

NON-REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

Leos, R., Kietzman, KG, Wallace, SP. (2012) “Opportunity Knocks for Community Health Centers: Increasing

the Use of Clinical Preventive Services by Older Adults.” Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Health

Policy Research. Available at http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu

Kietzman, KG., Wallace, SP, Leos, R., Sadegh-Nobari, T., Parks, AV., Satter, DE. (2012) “Opportunity

Knocks for Preventive Health.” Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Available at http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu

Wallace, SP, Pourat, N., Durazo, E., Leos, R. (2010) “Older Californians at Risk for Avoidable Falls.” Los

Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Available at http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu

Wallace, SP, Villa, VM., Smith, L., Satter, DE., Pourat, N., Padilla-Frausto, I., Leos, R., Durazo, E.,

Benjamin, AE. (October 2009) “Community-Based Long-Term Care: Potential Consequences of California’s 2009 Budget Cuts.”

Dr. Bravo is amixed-methods social scientist who has worked on multiple health disparities projects in communities of color: aging-related (e.g., multimorbidities, clinical preventive services), cancer, and palliative care. Her current research explains how Latino culture, which has a large faith component influence complex medical decision-making. She has investigated the interplay between modes of communication, explanatory models of illness, faith to explain how they influence decision-making among foreign-born Latinos elders with multimorbidities.