Dr. Villanueva is an Associate Professor and Director of the Department of Community Health & Prevention’s Master of Public Health (MPH) curriculum at Drexel University’s School of Public Health. She earned her doctorate in medical sociology from The University of Texas at Austin, and completed postdoctoral training in health policy studies at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on community public health and health policy. Her areas of interest include the health status of vulnerable populations; the role of race, culture, and ethnicity on health outcomes; and the use of qualitative methodologies in community-based research. Currently, Dr. Villanueva is serving as curriculum coordinator for Opening Doors for Diverse Populations to Health Disparities Research Training, a 5-year science education program funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health in 2011, designed to increase the pool of health disparities researchers nationally. This training program provides educational and mentored research opportunities for 27 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students annually. As a member of the School's Department of Community Health and Prevention, she also directs and teaches a course on community health assessment for first year MPH students that incorporates a 120-hour community-based practicum. This practicum aims to respond to concrete community needs, and is implemented in collaboration with a number of the School’s community-based partner agencies. She also teaches courses on multicultural competence in community health & prevention as well as in community-based participatory research. Dr. Villanueva serves on several national technical review committees sponsored by the U. S. Public Health Service as well as on the board of three local community-based organizations.
Research Interests: Role of race, culture, and ethnicity on health status/outcomes; community-based participatory research; immigrant communities; academic service-learning; and at-risk youth who are racial and ethnic minorities.
Currently, Dr. Villanueva is serving as curriculum coordinator for Opening Doors for Diverse Populations to Health Disparities Research Training, a 5-year science education program funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health in 2011, designed to increase the pool of health disparities researchers nationally. This training program provides educational and mentored research opportunities for 27 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students annually.
Villanueva AM, Hovinga ME and Cass JL (2011). Master of Public Health community-based
practicum: Students’ and preceptors’ experiences. Journal of Public Health
Management and Practice, 17, 337-343.
Villanueva AM (2011). Community services supporting health. Encyclopedia of Family
Health, 1, 217-223.
Villanueva AM (2011). Poverty, children in, and health care. Encyclopedia of Family
Health, 2, 835-838.
Villanueva AM (2011). Welfare benefits and family. Encyclopedia of Family Health, 2,
1024-1027.
Potter MA, Burdine J, Goldman L, Olson D, Silver GB, Smith LU, Villanueva AM, and
Wright K (2009). Demonstrating excellence in the scholarship of practice-based
service for public health. Public Health Reports, 124, 1-15.
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Drexel SPH is fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)