Rice University
Bridget Gorman, Ph.D.
Bridget Gorman (Ph.D., Sociology and Demography, 2000, Pennsylvania State University) is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Rice University. As a sociologist and demographer, Bridget is interested in how social conditions and experiences shape group differences in health and well-being among children and adults. During her career she has organized her research efforts to examine disparities in morbidity, physical functioning, and medical care use across major U.S. demographic groups – particularly racial/ethnic, nativity, gender, and sexuality groups. She is interested not only in how men vs. women, minorities vs. whites, and the foreign vs. native born differ in health outcomes, but also how these social categories intersect to shape health outcomes (e.g., black women vs. white men, heterosexual men vs. gay men). A guiding framework for her work is that health disparities are driven by fundamental social causes (e.g., socioeconomic status, social integration and support) that underlie and shape group differences in health outcomes. She has built a substantial body of research to date, having published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of highly-ranked sociology, demography, and public health journals. Bridget is also an acclaimed teacher, having won multiple awards for teaching, mentoring, and service to the undergraduate student body since starting at Rice University in the fall of 2002.
Sergio Chavez, Ph.D.
Dr. Sergio Chávez is an assistant professor of sociology at Rice University. He received his B.A. in sociology from the University of California Davis and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Chávez has conducted field research in Tijuana and Guanajuato, Mexico and North Carolina on internal and international migration, labor markets, social networks and border studies. Currently, he is completing a book manuscript that examines the dynamic living and working strategies border migrants employ as immigration policies, border enforcement, economic restructuring, and social resources evolve in the cross-border urban environment of Tijuana. Another project (with Robin Paige) investigates the centrality of emotions in the migration process. In particular, the emotion work non-migrating women perform to support the paid labor of their migrant spouses. His other work investigates the meaning of being a migrant “roofero”, such as how men construct their masculine identities through their occupation, and how masculinity shapes how men perform their jobs, deal with injuries and sickness, and relate to their families in Mexico.
Claire Altman, Ph.D.
Claire E. Altman (Ph.D., Sociology and Demography, 2013, Pennsylvania State University) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology. Much of her research as a sociologist and demographer focuses on the international migration process from Mexico to the U.S. and its consequences on health. This interest has led her to develop three research strands focused on the link between migration and health and well-being.
First, she is interested in how families influence the migration process. Her research examines the health consequences for families participating in the migration process and demonstrates the important ways in which Mexico-U.S. family migration influences the health and weight of children and family members left behind in Mexico.
The second research strand is motivated by the health deficits Mexican immigrants? face in the U.S. After immigrating to the U.S., Mexican immigrants and their children face new health vulnerabilities and are particularly susceptible to worsening health. In co-authored studies, she pairs U.S. and Mexican data to analyze how exposure to the U.S.
environment influences body weight and weight self-evaluations among Mexican immigrants.
Her third research strand focuses on the reproductive behaviors of the Mexican immigrant population in the U.S. In her dissertation, she examined possible explanations for the high fertility rate of Mexican immigrants.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Keerthi Bandi
Lorenza Haddad
Lorenza Haddad is a senior at Rice University studying Sociology. She is working as a research assistant for the study in Mexico, assisting with interviews and fieldwork. Her senior thesis is based on the SHMM and it will have a focus on how violence and the War on Drugs in Mexico affects health outcomes and how people frame their life narrative. Lorenza’s interest in the topic and project sparked due to her personal experience of living through the start of the War on Drugs in a crime-ridden city in Mexico.
Tyler Woods
Tyler Woods is a senior at Rice University studying Sociology with a minor in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities (PJHC). He joined the SHMM team as a research assistant in January 2014, and has assisted with sampling, document translations, survey construction, and data cleaning. He is also collecting data for his senior thesis through the SHMM project, focusing on HIV and HIV risk in the migration process. His primary research interests include migration, development, health, and sexuality in Latin America.
Mexican Field Research Team
NURSING STUDENTS: Lic. Karina Gianelli Gasca Ojodeagua, Lic. J. Guadalupe Hernández Yáñez, Lic. Juan Valentín Rincón Ramírez, L.E.O. María Gisel Gámez Ramírez, L.E.O. Alma Cristina Alcocer Sosa, Lic. María del Carmen Solis Lara
DOCTORS: Dr. Miguel Ángel Florán Bautista, Dr. Isaac S. Fernández Castillón, Dra. Martha Alejandra Gallardo Sánchez, Dr. Hugo Miranda Maldonado, Dra. Talia Itzel Huitzache Martínez, Dra. María del Rosario Cruz Romero
Dr. Federico Ramos Ruiz
El Dr. Federico Ramos Ruiz, egresado de la Escuela de Medicina “Ignacio A. Santos” del Tecnológico, es el nuevo director del Centro de Investigación y Extensión de la División de Ciencias de la Salud (DCS) del Tec de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey.
El Dr. Ramos obtuvo el título de Médico Cirujano del Tec de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey en 1989. En España, de la Clínica Universitaria de la Universidad de Navarra obtuvo la especialidad en Psiquiatría en 1993, y en 1994, graduado apto cum laude, obtuvo el Doctorado en Ciencias Médicas de la misma universidad.
En instituciones universitarias y profesionales especializadas de Estados Unidos, España y México, el nuevo director del Centro de Investigación y Extensión de la DCS ha tomado cursos en terapia electroconvulsiva, terapia breve y narrativa, terapia cognitiva y conductual, diagnóstico y tratamiento de desórdenes del sueño, bioética, y psicología organizacional y ocupacional.