LAT-VIDA Project

Chiara Sabina, Ph.D.

Dr. Chiara Sabina is an associate professor at the School of Social Work at Rutgers University. Her research centers on interpersonal victimization, especially intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and dating violence among Latines. Dr. Sabina employs a contextual, strengths-based perspective with respect to interpersonal violence focusing on understudied groups, the influence of cultural variables, help-seeking responses, and examination of the service-delivery system. Dr. Sabina has received grants from the Fulbright Scholar Program, National Institute of Justice, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Vision of Hope, and National Sexual Violence Resource Center to conduct her work on Latine victimization, victim needs, violence prevention, domestic violence services, and culturally-informed services. Dr. Sabina is Senior Consulting Editor for Psychology of Violence and is co-chair of the Research Advisory Board of Esperanza United.

Andrea Medrano, Ph.D. 

Andrea Medrano, PhD, MSW, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Drawing from a resilience framework and strengths-based perspective, Dr. Mora focuses on identifying factors that can protect Latino/a adolescents from adverse academic and psychological outcomes in the face of violence (e.g., community violence, sexual harassment). She has previously worked as a sexual assault counselor with English and Spanish speaking populations and draws from her practice experience to inform her research.

Nancy Nava, MPH

Nancy Nava is the research and evaluation senior manager at Esperanza United. Nancy received her master’s in public health from Georgia State University and has focused her training and work on impacts of social determinants on Latin@ communities. At Esperanza United, she designs, implements, and evaluates programs. She also provides training and technical assistance on research and evaluation practices to Latin@ community-based organizations.  Nancy’s research interest includes program evaluation, participatory action research, best practice of strategies for the inclusion of youth with disabilities in all settings, and dissemination of community centered evidence-based practices

R. Lillianne Macias, PhD

R. Lillianne Macias, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of New Haven and Director of Research and Evaluation at Esperanza United, a national culturally specific Gender-Based Violence Resource Center. She completed her doctoral studies in Clinical-Community Psychology at Georgia State University and completed a clinical-community fellowship and postdoc through Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Macias specializes in trauma-informed participatory research with Latinx and other marginalized communities.

Mariam Merced, MA

Mariam Merced, MA has been the Director of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Community Health Promotion Program for 32 years. By partnering with churches and community-based organizations, she coordinates health promotion initiatives such as park and open streets initiatives, community fitness/wellness programs, chronic disease management programs, and healthy homes & health literacy initiatives. After the tragic loss of a community volunteer to domestic violence in 2003, she mobilized a group of community organizations and volunteers to create the first Domestic Violence Awareness Coalition In the city of New Brunswick. Over the years, Ms. Merced had led multiple domestic violence awareness initiatives to educate providers in responding to domestic violence, art-based teen dating violence prevention programs, and culturally appropriate sexual and intimate partner violence prevention programs for Latina women to mention a few.  

Susana Mariscal, Ph.D.

Dr. Susana Mariscal is a professor at Indiana University School of Social Work. She is a translational scholar with an active research agenda centered on the prevention of child maltreatment and promotion of resilience among children and families, particularly among Latines. Dr. Mariscal is an affiliated research scientist with the Life Paths Research Center and serves on Esperanza United’s Research Advisory Council. Her research has been funded by the Children’s Bureau (U.S. Administration for Children & Families); the Office for Victims of Crime (U.S. Department of Justice); UNICEF; and Fulbright-Alumni Engagement (Bolivia), among others. Dr. Mariscal is the director of Strengthening Indiana Families (SIF, $2.84M, U.S. Children’s Bureau), a primary strengths-based child maltreatment prevention project that focuses on the collaborative implementation and evaluation of four Family Resource Centers (FRCs) to enhance family support and protective factors through a continuum of community-based services.

Maria A. Guevara Carpio, MSW

Maria A. Guevara Carpio, MSW, is a Doctoral Student at the School of Social Work in Rutgers University. Maria’s research interests focus on community-based research with the Latino community to look at intergenerational trauma and colonization, and the effects it has in education, financial literacy, and building healthy relationships and communities.

Yafan Chen, Ph.D., MSW

Yafan Chen is a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Research on Ending Violence at Rutgers University School of Social Work. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work from Rutgers University in 2024, where she also earned her Master’s in Social Work with a Certificate in Violence Against Women and Children in 2017. Dr. Chen’s research focuses on interpersonal violence against women and children with a concentration on (1) the effects of child maltreatment and exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children, and (2) interpersonal violence in minority communities, particularly Asian and Latine communities. She extensively uses national secondary datasets and advanced statistical analyses to investigate the intersection between child maltreatment and exposure to IPV among children. Dr. Chen also actively works with marginalized groups to understand their victimization experiences and the influences of culture on their consequences and help-seeking behaviors. Dr. Chen’s research has been published in various social work journals, such as Child Abuse & Neglect, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.