October BLaST Scientist of the Month

October 18, 2017

Ellen Lopez, an associate professor in the Psychology Department, is the October BLaST Scientist of the Month for her long-standing work with students, faculty and staff encouraging others toward greater diversity in the biomedical fields.

After graduating in 1988 with a B.A. in psychology, Lopez worked as a researcher for a health agency’s patient satisfaction department. While conducting “How was your visit?” surveys she noticed that patients from nonmajority groups consistently reported poorer satisfaction and health outcomes. Factors like race, ethnicity, economics and even gender were defining their health and health care. Through this realization, Ellen wanted to pursue a field that addressed health disparities by helping ensure that the social and physical environments in which individuals live, work and play are conducive to their health.

Lopez's research adheres to the principles of community-based participatory research, where researchers and community members come together to identify priority issues and strengths-based approaches to meet needs. She takes great pride in the strong partnerships she has fostered with the Fairbanks Native Association, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Denakkanaaga, and other community- and tribal-based organizations. Through these collaborations Ellen and her partners have created Hopeful Connections, a program of research and intervention devoted to identifying and addressing the factors that impact quality of life and care for cancer survivors and their informal caregivers.

Through her collaborations, Lopez has connected numerous UAF students to community-based research and service opportunities, and works with students on her own program of research or to help them pursue their own interests. She has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students through their independent, honors, thesis and dissertation research studies, including three BLaST undergraduates.

Lopez has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels both in class and online. She enjoys engaging students in discussions about current events and how they relate to course content. Her goal is for students to be critical consumers and producers of knowledge and information. In addition to teaching psychology courses, she teaches social and behavioral foundations to BLaST Scholars in Biomedical Sciences 214, a course she developed with BLaST funding in collaboration with Rural Student Services.

BLaST is supported by the National Institutes of Health with the linked awards TL4GM118992, RL5GM118990 and UL1GM118991.