Jessica Santos PhD (she/her/hers) is the Director of the Leah Zallman Center for Immigrant Health Research at the Institute for Community Health. In this role, she develops and oversees mixed methods studies in partnership with policymakers, community-based organizations, and healthcare systems to advance the wellbeing of immigrants and eradicate inequities in social and structural determinants of health. She also works with community partners to translate the findings of research into real-time policy solutions.

Jessica is passionate about co-developing and testing participatory research methods that produce new relationships, power dynamics, and opportunities for social change in addition to rigorous findings. Before coming to ICH, Jessica was the Director of Community-Engaged Research at the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity at Brandeis University, where she was a Principal Investigator on multiple federally and privately funded mixed methods studies focused on examining pathways for economic community well-being, immigrant integration, upward mobility, and equity through social policy. Jessica holds a PhD in Social Policy from Brandeis University and a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development from SIT Institute.