What’s one common misconception about your area of research that you’d like to dispel? We’re diving into sampling, doing database gymnastics, debugging collection processes… It’s like we’re wearing multiple hats, from engineering to social science and even user experience testing.
What’s the academic path that brought you to where you are now? Seeking and insisting that social justice and multiculturalism were at the core of all of my academic and professional pursuits.
What’s one common misconception about your area of research that you’d like to dispel? This research is about going deeper and combining a wealth of knowledge to understand and identify the root of the population health disparities we already know about.
How did you become interested in structural racism and health? Research on health among the black community is frequently limited, prejudiced, or out of date. This inspired me to pursue a career engaging people of color, dedicated to reducing the myriad racial inequities experienced in a variety of ways that negatively impact our health. Finding answers to this problem can aid in the more effective dismantling of structural racism among people of color.
What’s one common misconception about sleep epidemiology that you’d like to dispel? Sleep itself is a complex construct which is actually challenging to measure, and involves bringing several methods to the table. The myth is thinking it’s just an one-dimensional concept that’s easy to classify.
How did you become interested in structural racism and health? As an Arab American, it became clear quite early that research around Arab Americans is so limited and outdated- this really propelled me to want to jumpstart my research around Arab American communities. Structural racism is something that affects all people of color, although not in the same ways, if we work on finding solutions that can help liberate all of our communities, we can dismantle structural racism more effectively.