Elisabeth Martinez de la Rosa, MS, CHW
Research Operations Manager – Community & Stakeholder Engagement
Elisabeth develops and implements programs that foster and sustain community-academic research partnerships for health research. She has experience coordinating research studies and programs, she has worked closely with diverse partners to develop, implement, and evaluate initiatives addressing critical health issues such as diabetes, environmental health, teen pregnancy, and suicide prevention. A key advocate for community-academic collaborations, she has organized successful Community Engagement Symposia for the past decade, emphasizing how these partnerships can build trust and drive impactful health research. She also manages pre- and post-award activities for the Community Engagement Small Projects Grants Program and co-leads the annual Public Health Camp, aimed at expanding public health workforce capacity by engaging high school students. Her personal experiences within South Texas communities fuel her empathetic approach to community health, making her an effective and compassionate leader. Elisabeth serves on numerous local and national boards and committees that align with her commitment to social justice. These include the UT Health SA Office of Outreach and Health Access Advisory Council, the National Community Engagement Executive Committee for CTSAs, and the Northwest Vista College CHW Advisory Board. She is a sociologist by training and a Texas state-certified Community Health Worker. In her undergraduate and graduate career, she worked with international non-governmental organizations focused on enhancing the maternal health and sexual & reproductive health of women and girls in Latin American and the Caribbean. She went on to collaborate with researchers the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at the CDC and UC Berkley on home healthcare worker projects. She is also a Translational Science PhD student studying how to best embed Design Justice principles into community-engaged research.