Project Investigator Biography

Paula A. Espinoza, Ph.D. University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center Department of Ethnic Studies CB 134, PO Box 173364 Denver, CO 80217-3364 phone: (303) 352-3704 fax: (303) 352-3715 email: paula.espinoza@cudenver.edu

Dr. Paula A. Espinoza is an Assistant Professor in Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC). Her research expertise includes breast cancer screening behavior, health disparities, Latino/a health, and community-based cancer prevention/education research. Dr. Espinoza's recent research projects employed culturally appropriate strategies for reaching Latino/a populations via teatro (Chicano theater), Freire-style pedagogy for adult education, and lay health educators/navigators (promotoras/comadres).

Dr. Espinoza's current five-year National Cancer Institute project is the Colorado Front Range Latino Community Network. She is a former NCI post-doctoral fellow and was named a Health Disparities Scholar by the National Institutes of Health, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. She has served on two Colorado state boards which make recommendations to address cancer prevention and control programs in Colorado, and is the former chair of the Colorado Cancer Coalition. Dr. Espinoza received her PhD in Sociocultural Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.