Diversity and Health Data Science Across the Lifespan

The Diversity and Health Data Science Across the Lifespan concentration is focused on understanding the social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual bases of human development, health, and well-being within the contexts of cultural and linguistic systems, educational and social systems (e.g., health care, criminal legal system), public health policy, and data-informed approaches to improving health equity. This area adopts a multidisciplinary lens to frame research questions at the intersection of human development, health, and sociocultural diversity. Students are prepared to conduct rigorous multidisciplinary research through course work in theoretical and methodological areas of diversity science, developmental science, health psychology, and qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as participation in a vibrant community of scholars and active engagement in faculty research. Students think critically about past and current research paradigms to determine their generalizability or adaptability with other worldviews as appropriate to the cultural group or context.

Core area research themes include the following:

  • Cognitive and socioemotional development across the lifespan
  • Cultural factors in cognitive assessment and health equity
  • Cultural centering of interventions and community-based participatory research
  • Implementation science to improve the healthcare system and increase health equity
  • Educational systems and family influences on development and adaptive functioning
  • Phenomenological and micro-phenomenological analyses of pre-reflective experience
  • Methodology to study complex psychological, educational, and health phenomenon
  • Integration of other worldviews (e.g., Indigenous science) to complement Western scientific frameworks and approaches
  • Culturally appropriate assessments including measures of social determinants of health

Students are prepared to conduct rigorous multidisciplinary research through course work in theoretical and methodological areas of diversity science, developmental science, health psychology, and qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as participation in a vibrant community of scholars and active engagement in faculty research. Students learn to span disciplinary and methodological boundaries by conducting research that crosses academic disciplines, engages community stakeholders, and combines diverse research approaches. Students learn how to design research that links sociocultural diversity, health, and policy across the lifespan. Students think critically about past and current research paradigms to determine their generalizability or adaptability with other worldviews as appropriate to the cultural group or context.

Program Requirements for PhD in Diversity and Health Data Science Across the Lifespan

All area students are required to complete the following four core courses in the Diversity and Health Data Science Across the Lifespan area (3 credits each), a Seminar in Diversity and Health Data Science Across the Lifespan when offered (2 credits), and at least one course in both qualitative methods and quantitative methods (3 credits each).

  1. PSY 508--Research with Diverse Populations
  2. PSY 510--Advanced Health Psychology
  3. PSY 516--Health Disparities
  4. PSY 629--Culture and Human Development

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods Courses (must take at least one from each category):

Qualitative Courses:

  • ANTH 541 Problems and Practice in Ethnography
  • CJ 605 Qualitative Research Design and Analysis
  • EDPY 645 Qualitative Research in the Psychological Sciences
  • LLSS 605 Advanced Qualitative Research Methods
  • NATV 560 Research Method and Practice in Indigenous Scholarship
  • PH 556 Community Participatory Based Research

Quantitative Courses:

  • EDPY 593 Multi-Level Modeling
  • EDPY 607 Structural Equation Modeling
  • PH 502 Epidemiologic and Biostatistics I
  • PSY 601 Multivariate Statistics
  • PSY 604 Latent Variable Modeling
  • PSY 650 ST: Analysis of Data
  • STAT 574 Biostatistical Methods: Survival Analysis and Logistic Regression

All students are required to select at least one additional elective course (3 credits) from the area to satisfy a total credit requirement (including core courses, but not including the seminar) of 18 units. The choice of electives and substitution of any alternative elective courses must be approved by the core faculty.

Elective Courses (must take at least one):

  • PH 501 Determinants and Equity in Public Health
  • PH 507 Health Care Systems
  • PH 552 Interventions for Health Equity
  • PH 554 Health Policy, Politics, and Social Equity
  • PH 564 Public Health and Health Care Communication
  • PSY 523 Socioemotional Development
  • PSY 528 Cognitive Development
  • PSY 623 Human Emotions
  • PSY 650 ST: Development and Evolution
  • PSY 650 ST: Effective Altruism
  • PSY 450/650 ST: Alternative Relationships
  • SOC 540 Medical Sociology and Health Policy
  • SOC 595 Health Inequities

Additional courses related to Diversity/Multiculturalism, Research Methods, Health Policy, and Health Equity are also provided in other UNM departments, such as the College of Population Health, Mathematics & Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Justice, and the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies, which may serve as elective courses. Students are encouraged to take courses in other academic disciplines based on their interests and research areas.

Faculty in the Diversity & Health Data Science Across the Lifespan Area

Primary Faculty

  • Steven Verney (Area Head)
  • Leslie Brick
  • David Witherington

Secondary Faculty

  • Cassandra Boness
  • Ben Clark
  • Sarah Erickson
  • Cecilia Hinojosa
  • Jeremy Hogeveen
  • Margo Hurlocker
  • Laura Ornelas
  • Nathan Pentkowski
  • Bruce Smith
  • Kamilla Venner