R. Madera, Sheilla Graduate Faculty

Positions

biography

  • I am a social scientist and researcher specializing on the social conditions affecting the health of vulnerable populations (e.g., transgender individuals, people living with HIV, female inmates). My research interests are related to trans necropolitics, structural and institutional violence, stigma in health care provision, gender and sexuality, and disaster management in impoverish contexts.

    I was the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence and the past president of the Psychological Association of Puerto Rico. During the past years, I worked as a professor and coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Public Health specializing on social determinants of health located at the University of Puerto Rico’ Medical Sciences Campus.

    I have publications in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes; published six books; and participated extensively in academic forums in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe while disseminating my work. I have received multiple research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NICHD, NIDA, NIMH, NIA and NCI). In addition, I have received funding from the Center for HIV Prevention Studies at the University of California in San Francisco, the Family Services Department of Puerto Rico, the Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, and Puerto Rico’s Health Department.

research interests

  • • Post-disaster institutional resilience in Puerto Rico after hurricane María (in collaboration with my GSS colleagues Drs. Mark Padilla, Nelson Varas-Díaz and Kevin Grove / funded by the National Institute on Aging [R21AG063453]);

    • The role of transgender embodiment on breast and uterine cervix cancer among trans individuals in San Juan and Miami (in collaboration with Puerto Rico’s Ponce Health Sciences University [PHSU] / funded by the National Cancer Institute [R21CA233449]);

    • Trans necropolitics in Latin America;

    • Trans tourism in Mexico (in collaboration with Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México);

    • Physical activity and food insecurity among trans persons in Puerto Rico (in collaboration with PHSU); and

    • Sexual fantasies and the configuration of desire in Latin America.

selected scholarly works & creative activities

full name

  • Sheilla Rodriguez Madera

visualizations