Marina Hernandez

Marina is a recent Master of Public Health graduate from the International Health & Development program at Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine who has returned to Tulane University in pursuit of a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies. She aims to build a more interdisciplinary approach to health inequities, complex social problems, and the decolonization of global health work.

She completed her undergraduate studies in public health and Spanish at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). As an undergraduate student, she engaged with local non-profits such as the YWCA of Oklahoma City and Infant Crisis Services. She also had the privilege of participating in numerous summer study trips and global health internships in Honduras, Spain, Panama, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. The experiences she gained from working with community organizations and traveling abroad led her to Tulane University, where she would have the opportunity to study her interests from a global perspective.

Upon relocating to New Orleans, Marina began working with Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response (STAR), providing crisis intervention to survivors of sexual trauma, and NO/AIDS Task Force d.b.a. CrescentCare, assisting with the provision of community outreach services and the New Orleans Syringe Access Program. Her involvement with these organizations has inspired her to examine the relationship between sociopolitical factors, culture, and health equity. Currently, her research interests include community resilience in post-civil conflict areas, impact of out-migration on “left behind” communities, and indigenous resistance to neoliberal policies.