LEND trainee Miguel Morales named 2016 AUCD Diversity Fellow
Friday, February 20, 2015
Prior to coming to IDHD, Miguel Morales was a program manager for HIV/AIDs and obesity prevention programs. While completing a Master’s in Public Health at UIC, Miguel focused on Epidemiology because of his interest in racial and ethnic health disparities.
As a 2016 AUCD Diversity Fellow, Miguel is researching whether there are ethnic and racial health disparities among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He and his research team found that among adults with IDD, Latinos had a higher odds of reporting diabetes compared to whites.
They also found among Latino adults, those with IDD were more likely to be obese and have diabetes compared to those without IDD.
He is grateful for the leadership opportunities provided to him by the Diversity Fellowship.
This is an important aspect of the fellowship—developing diversity in leadership. Diversity is not an accident. Given historical, institutional, and societal barriers, it has to be actively and intentionally cultivated, developed and sustained.| '16 LEND Public Health Trainee
He also credits the LEND program with helping him understand disability studies and apply it to public health. As a result, he believes he became better-rounded in his knowledge of and experiences with autism diagnosis, services, and public policy and research.
He loves how DHD has exposed him to talented researchers and professionals from a wide array of disciplines who are unified by the disabilities studies perspective.
He notes, “I feel privileged to be here.”