Blanca Azucena Pacheco
Blanca-Azucena Pacheco (she/her) of Xinka and Maya Poqomam ancestry, is a community and global health researcher and Indigenous health sovereignty advocate. Azucena earned her doctoral degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and her master's in public health and LatinAmerican studies from San Diego State University. She also trained in medical anthropology at theCentro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en AntropologÃa Social (CIESAS)-Pacifico Sur in Oaxaca, México.
Most recently, she completed a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Denver with the Our Stories Our Medicine Archive (OSOMA) at the Graduate School of Social Work and with the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (In)Equality (IRISE). Azucena’s professional training and personal background influence her work towards health equity and social justice for marginalized populations.
She is a recipient of the Interdisciplinary Indigenous Research Training Program (INSPIRE) funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Lighting Up Native Aspirations (LUNA) for Health Research Careers program funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) through the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute at the University of Washington.