SINAI Urban Health Institute

Melissa A. Gutierrez, MS

Professional Summary
Melissa A. Gutierrez, MS is an epidemiologist at the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) in Chicago, Illinois. She currently serves as the Program Evaluator on Chicago Westside Partnership for Children’s Asthma Initiative, a CDC-funded translational research grant that aims to improve asthma management through the use of Community Health Workers. Ms. Gutierrez joined SUHI in 2006 as the Program Evaluator on Controlling Pediatric Asthma through Collaboration and Education, a state-wide asthma intervention funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health, with the goal of improving asthma management and thereby reducing asthma-related healthcare expenditures. Prior to joining SUHI, she worked at the Iowa Prevention Research Center where she specialized in designing, facilitating and evaluating a Community Based Participatory Research study. Through her work with various communities she has come to believe that it is only through community collaboration that improvement in health outcomes transpire. Her primary research interests include health disparities, geography of health, evaluation and Community Health Worker Models. She received her Masters of Science in Community and Behavior Health from the University of Iowa in 2006.

Education
M.S., Community & Behavioral Health, University of Iowa, 2006
B.A., Geography, University of Iowa, 2002

Select Publications:

• Gutierrez MA, Franco LM, Powell KG, Peterson NA, Reid, RJ Psychometric Properties of the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans –II: Exploring Dimension of Marginality of a Diverse Latino Population Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 2009; 31: 340-356
• Margellos-Anast Helen, Whitman Steven, Gutierrez Melissa, Seals Gloria, Jajoo Depak. Use of Lay Health Educators to Improve Asthma Management Among African-American Children. Chicago Asthma Consortium Publication. Chicago, Spring 2007.