Jessica Santos

Jessica Santos (she/her/hers) is the Director of the Leah Zallman Center for Immigrant Health Research (LZC) at the Institute for Community Health. In 2022, she led the development of LZC as a center that honors the legacy of Dr. Leah Zallman and conducts action research at the intersection of immigrant, economic, and health justice. Jessica is a PI on mixed methods studies in partnership with policymakers, community-based organizations, and healthcare systems to advance the wellbeing of immigrants and eradicate inequities in health and the social determinants of health. She also works with partners to translate research into real-time policy solutions, and trains and mentors emerging scholars. Jessica is passionate about co-developing and testing participatory methods that produce new relationships, power dynamics, and opportunities for social change in addition to rigorous findings. Prior to ICH, Jessica was the Director of Community-Engaged Research at the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity at Brandeis University, where she led studies on racial wealth inequities, Empowerment Economics and community assets, and immigrant integration. She also taught and mentored graduate students for six years at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis, where she received a PhD in Social Policy.