Dr. Ana Abraido-Lanza received her Ph.D. in Social-Personality Psychology with a concentration in Health Psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She also completed a post-doctoral training fellowship program in Psychiatric Epidemiology at Columbia University's School of Public Health. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. She teaches courses on Current Issues in Latino Health, Health Psychology, as well as a course entitled Seminar in Research and Professional Development. Her research focuses on cultural, psychosocial, and socioeconomic factors that affect psychological well-being, adjustment to chronic illness, and mortality and health among Latinos, as well as health disparities between Latinos and non-Latino whites. Her current research projects include the study of:  (1) Latina women’s beliefs and attitudes about breast cancer; (2) sociodemographic and cultural factors that influence breast cancer screening behaviors among Latinas and non-Latina whites; (3) acculturation and cancer screening behaviors among Latina women; (4) coping and psychosocial adjustment among Latinos with arthritis; and (5) socioeconomic status, disability, and disparities in arthritis between Latinos and non-Latino whites.

Areas of expertise
health disparities between Latinos and non-Latino whites; socioeconomic status and health; psychological adjustment to chronic illness

Recent publications

Revenson, T.A., Abraído-Lanza, A.F., Majerovitz, S.D., & Jordan, C. (2005).  Couples’ coping with chronic illness: What’s gender got to do with it?  In T.A. Revenson, K. Kayser & G. Bodenmann (Eds.), Emerging perspectives on couples coping with stress (pp. 137-156). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Abraído-Lanza, A.F., Chao, M.T., &  Flórez, K. (2005).  Do healthy behaviors decline with greater acculturation?:  Implications for the Latino mortality paradox.  Social Science & Medicine, 61, 1243-1255.

Abraído-Lanza, A.F., Armbrister, A.N., Flórez, K.R., & Aguirre, A.N. (in press).  Toward a theory-driven model of acculturation in public health research.  American Journal of Public Health.