Ana Sanchez Birkhead, PhD, WHNP-BC, RN

Dr. Ana C. Sanchez-Birkhead is an associate professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah. She was born in Costa Rica and raised in Northern California. She received her PhD from the University of California, San Francisco. She is a nationally certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. Dr. Sanchez-Birkhead is a National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and National Cancer Institute Cancer Control Scholar. In January 2015, she received the Vice President Clinical and Translational Research Scholar career award at the University of Utah. She has served as a nurse and clinician for 20 years caring primarily for Hispanic/Latino families. She is involved in many community efforts that aim at eliminating health disparities and advocating for social justice. Her area of research focuses on the socio-cultural and psychosocial impact of health disparities and burden of disease i.e. cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease among immigrant Hispanic families. She has won several awards and has conducted and co-authored several research studies. Dr. Sanchez-Birkhead is CO- Director of the the CCTS Community Collaboration and Engagement Team, President of the Utah Hispanic Health Care Task Force, President of the Unidos en Utah Chapter of the Hispanic Nurses Association. She has served as a Chair of the Utah Cancer Action Coalition,Council member for Region VIII Health Equity Council and National Director of Communications and Outreach for the National Latina Researchers Network.

Research Statement

Dr. Sanchez-Birkhead's research area of interest focuses on health disparities including the understanding of socio-cultural, psychosocial, and environmental factors that affect the disease burden for ethnically diverse populations, in particular immigrant Hispanic women and their families. Disparities among vulnerable populations continue to exist and have not improved in recent years, particularly in the areas of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Ethnically diverse women, carry a heavy burden of disease and greater community efforts are needed to help alleviate these burdens and create change. Dr. Sanchez-Birkhead has a strong interest in community-based participatory research and in the planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion interventions to decrease health disparities and improve short and long-term health outcomes for these women.

Selected Publications