Diana Romero Headshot

Diana Romero

Associate Professor of Community Health and Social Sciences, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

About Diana

Romero’s public health research interests include social welfare policies related to the health of individuals, including Latinx, African American, immigrant, poor and low-income populations; community-engaged research pertaining to health care access among underserved populations; and maternal, reproductive and sexual health and policy. Romero's research projects include analysis of provision of reproductive health services in primary care settings; evaluation of physician advocacy training for abortion care; safety-net health care utilization among uninsured immigrants and impact of the closure of a long-standing safety-net hospital; large-scale, in-depth interview data collection on adults’ family formation attitudes and behaviors; and, integration of reproductive health services in primary health care settings. Romero directs the specialization in Maternal, Child, Reproductive and Sexual Health (MCRSH).

Publications

"The Welfare Family Cap: Reproductive Rights Control and Poverty Prevention" in Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice, Critique, edited by Loretta J. Ross, Lynn Roberts, Erika Derkas, Whitney Peoples, and Pamela Bridgewater Toure (Feminist Press, 2017), 381-396.

Demonstrates how the current welfare family-cap policy is a continuation of the history of reproductive rights violations of poor women. Moreover, the continuation of this policy despite evidence that it has not been effective, is indicative of its use as a punitive measure against poor women and families.

"Employment Barriers Among Welfare Recipients and Applicants With Chronically Ill Children" (with Lauren Smith, Pamela Wood, Nina Wampler, Wendy Chavkin, and Paul H. Wise). American Journal of Public Health (2002).

 Evaluates the association of chronic child illness with parental employment among individuals who have had contact with the welfare system.