Victoria Telles is a second year PhD student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and San Diego State University (SDSU) in the Health Behavior track. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of California, Riverside, and her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from Claremont Graduate University.
Her general research interests include social-ecological determinants of racial/ethnic disparities in cancer prevention and control, cancer communication, women’s sexual and reproductive health, and interventions to improve overall health and wellness of Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, and other underserved communities.
Prior to starting the doctoral program, she served as a Project Specialist at University of Southern California (USC) where she worked on various projects utilizing a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to address disparities in American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) communities, specifically focused on opioid/substance use, tobacco use, cancer prevention and control, and evaluation of state-funded American Indian health programs.
Currently, she works as a graduate researcher designing curricula, leading process evaluation, and supporting measurement of Conmigo, a Latina mother-daughter physical activity program in San Diego, California, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additionally, she is working on a SDSU-funded project examining COVID-19 stressors and vaccine uptake among Latina mothers and daughters in San Diego county.