Alex Ortega, PhD
Dean, Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health
Professor of Public Health
Academic Degrees
- PhD (Epidemiologic Science), University of Michigan
- MPH (Epidemiology & Biostatistics), Boston University
- BA (Economics), University of New Mexico
Research Interests
Dean Ortega is a nationally recognized public health and health care policy scholar whose work is focused on health equity. His research has improved our understanding of the complex health risks and outcomes for Latino populations in the United States, with a particular focus on immigrants and youth and families. He has had continuous National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for over 20 years totaling over $25 million and is currently the Principal Investigator of four NIH R01 studies. He has authored over 150 scientific papers and editorials, is a Senior Associate Editor of Health Services Research (HSR; the official journal of AcademyHealth), and has served as a reviewer for over 60 academic journals and 20 NIH and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) study sections. His publications have appeared in JAMA, Health Affairs, Health Services Research, Pediatrics, American Journal of Psychiatry, Medical Care, Medical Care Research & Review, American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and many other top-ranked journals.
With multi-million dollar funding from NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), Dean Ortega directed the UCLA Center for Population Health and Health Disparities and the Center for Population Health and Community Impact at Drexel University. The research projects in these centers have addressed several important public health issues for Latino populations, including access to and utilization of health care, transforming corner stores in urban food swamps to improve healthy food access, understanding the resiliency of the Puerto Rico healthcare system and the physical and mental health of island Puerto Ricans after increasing and compounding public health disasters, and the factors that contribute to mis- and disinformation for Latino immigrants that lead to health care decision-making, among many other topics.
Selected Publications
Chisolm DJ, Dugan JA, Figueroa JF, Lane-Fall MB, Roby DH, Rodriguez HP, Ortega AN. Improving health equity through healthcare systems research. Health Services Research, in press.
Lopez Mercado D, Rivera-González AC, Stimpson JP, Langellier BA, Vargas Bustamante A, Young MEDT, Ponce NA, Barajas CB, Roby DH, Ortega AN. Undocumented Latino immigrants and the Latino health paradox. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2023;65:296-306. PMCID: PMC10363195. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2023.02.010
Vargas Bustamante A, Beltran LF, Nwadiuko J, Ortega AN. Avoiding Medicaid enrollment after the reversal of the changes in the public charge rule among Latino and Asian immigrants. Health Services Research, 2022;57(Suppl. 2):195-203. PMCID: PMC9660423. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.14020
Ortega AN, Vargas Bustamante A, Roby DH. New directions for public health research on the health and health care of undocumented immigrants. American Journal of Public Health, 2021;111:1910-1912. PMCID: PMC8607342.
Chu J, Ortega AN, Park S, Vargas-Bustamante A, Roby DH. The Affordable Care Act and health care access and utilization among White, Asian, and Latino immigrants in California. Medical Care, 2021;59:762-767.
Ortega AN, Roby DH. Ending structural racism in the US health care system to eliminate health care inequities. JAMA, 2021;326(7):613-615.
Vargas-Bustamante A, Chen J, Felix L, Ortega AN. Health policy challenges posed by shifting demographics and health trends among immigrants to the United States. Health Affairs, 2021;40:1028-1037. PMCID: PMC8285051.
Rivera-Gonzalez AC, Stimpson JP, Roby DH, Canino G, Purtle J, Bellamy SL, Ortega AN. The other US border: Health insurance coverage among Latino immigrants in Puerto Rico. Health Affairs, 2021;40:1117-1125. PMCID: PMC8359689.
Vargas Bustamante A, Chen J, McKenna RM, Ortega AN. Health care access and utilization among US immigrants before and after the Affordable Care Act, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2019;21:211-218. PMCID: PMC6177328.
Buehler JW, Snyder RL, Freeman SL, Carson SR, Ortega AN. It’s not just insurance: The Affordable Care Act and population health, Public Health Reports, 2018;133:34-38. PMCID: PMC5805102.
Chen J, Vargas Bustamante A, Mortensen K, Ortega AN. Racial and ethnic disparities in health care access and utilization under the Affordable Care Act. Medical Care, 2016;54(2):140-146. PMCID: PMC4711386.