We asked Ariela Braverman Bronstein a few questions about herself and her role at ICH. Read on to learn more!
1. How would you describe your role at ICH?
I am an Epidemiologist III which is a senior epidemiologist. I have different roles in different projects that can go from being a PI to analyzing data depending on the needs. Most of the time it involves quantitative projects or the quantitative part of mixed methods projects. I help with designing quantitative evaluations, data analyses plans, data analysis, and visualization of results, always working with other epidemiologists and teams at ICH.
2. What is your educational background?
I have a Medical Degree from the Anahuac University of Mexico, where I also perused my residency in Pediatrics at the Spanish Hospital of Mexico. After that I earned my MPH, concentrating in Epidemiology and Maternal and Child Health at Boston University and a few years later I got my PhD in Epidemiology at Drexel University.
3. What was your career path before coming to ICH and can you tell us about your prior research?
My career started being very clinical, after Med School I went straight to residency in Pediatrics in Mexico City. In the last year of residency, I realized that I wanted to have a greater impact than the 1:1 interaction with patients so I decided to get an MPH in the US. I returned to Mexico after graduating and I worked at the National Institute of Public Health as a research assistant for 4 years while also having my own private practice as a pediatrician. During that time, I worked in several projects at the institute including adolescent pregnancy prevention, early child development, tobacco control, and the evaluation of the sweetened sugar beverage tax policy in Mexico. After a while I wanted to get back to clinical work full-time but in low-resource settings, so I applied to work for Doctors Without Borders, I did one 6-month mission with them in South Sudan. Before I started working with Doctors Without Borders, I was accepted at Drexel University for the PhD in Epidemiology, so I went there right after my mission. I spent the last 3.5 years before coming to ICH at Drexel. In addition to working on my dissertation and taking classes, I worked as a research fellow at the Urban Health Collaborative in the Salud Urbana in Latin America project, a multi-country collaboration funded by the Welcome Trust focused on urban health in Latin American cities. While at Drexel I also worked with UNICEF, I was part of a team focusing on applying different methods to estimate the prevalence of children with disabilities worldwide. Also, I was awarded a fellowship by the Center of Excellence on Data of Children with Disabilities to develop a study on the association of country-level factors and the prevalence of anxiety and depression signs in children in 30 low and middle-income countries.
4. What made you decide to come to ICH?
After finishing my PhD I wanted to work outside of academia, and I wanted to work in a setting where you could see the impact of the work. I liked the idea of using my epidemiology skills towards applied epidemiology doing more program implementation and evaluation and ICH seemed like a great place for that.
5. What are some projects that you are working on right now?
I’m working on the new Mass League Work Force Evaluation project, the new City of Boston Immigrant Economic Recovery Evaluation, the Child Mental Health Projects Evaluation and the North Central Community Action Team (NCCAT) Evaluation Support Scope of Work with LUK, the trauma center project with JRI, and the Massachusetts Statewide Independent Living Council Needs Assessment.
6. What are your favorite projects topics and why?
As a pediatrician, I like anything that has to do with children. I believe that any program that focuses on improving children’s lives ends up improving everyone’s lives.
7. What are you most excited about for the future of ICH?
I’m excited about the new projects that are just starting and the opportunity to start working with the LZ center and any new opportunities that might come where I can participate.
8. What are your hobbies or things you like to do for fun?
I love reading, I usually read fiction but I like non-fiction as well. I used to play piano when I was younger and now I’m trying to learn how to play ukulele (I wanted to learn an instrument I can take with me). I love walking and hiking, last year i did the Tour of Mont Blanc and it was a great experience. I also like hanging out with friends and if you’re looking for someone to go on a Happy Hour just let me know!
9. Do you have any plans for the new year? Anything that you are looking forward to?
Not many plans for new year, I’m looking forward to exploring more of Boston since I just moved in and getting to know more places and people.
To learn more about Ariela’s publications, visit the following links:
Gender inequality, women’s empowerment, and adolescent birth rates in 363 Latin American cities
Adolescent birth rates and the urban social environment in 363 Latin American cities