Héctor E. Alcalá, Ph.D, MPH

Hector Alcala  

Héctor E. Alcalá, Ph.D, MPH

Assistant Professor, Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine

Program in Public Health

E-MAIL: Hector.Alcala@stonybrookmedicine.edu

 

Dr. Alcalá studies the impact of early life adversity on health. In particular, he examines how adversity impacts cancer risk and known correlates of cancer like smoking, cancer screening and use of other preventive health services. Dr. Alcalá’s research also focuses on health disparities, with a strong focus on racial and ethnic disparities. This work explores differences between broad racial categories, examines how policies have impacted these disparities, and examines the heterogeneity that exists within racial and ethnic groups. In this research, he has investigated a variety of outcomes including access and utilization of health care, arrests, tobacco use and dietary behaviors. 

 

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., Public Health, UCLA (2015)
MPH, Community Health Sciences, UCLA (2011)
BA, Psychology and Political Science, UCLA (2009)

 

ACADEMIC INTERESTS: 

Child adversity; cancer; tobacco; health disparities; minority health; violence; health care; criminal justice 

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:

American Public Health Association (APHA)

 

SELECTED PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Alcalá HE, Tomiyama AJ, von Ehrenstein, OS (2017). Gender Differences in the Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Cancer. Women's Health Issues. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2017.06.002 

Ortega AN, McKenna RM, Chen J, Alcalá HE, Langellier BA, Roby DH (2017). Insurance Coverage and Well-Child Visits Improved for Youth under the Affordable Care Act, but Latino Youth Still Lag Behind. Academic Pediatrics. PMID 28739534 DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2017.07.006 

Camacho FT, Tan X, Alcalá HE, Shah S, Anderson RT, Balkrishnan R (2017). Impact of patient race and geographical factors on initiation and adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy in medicare breast cancer survivors. Medicine. 96. PMID 28614244 DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000007147 

Alcalá HE, Sharif MZ, Morey BN (2017). Misplaced Trust: Racial Differences in Use of Tobacco Products and Trust in Sources of Tobacco Health Information. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. PMID 28387825 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntx080 

Alcalá HE, Mitchell E, Keim-Malpass J (2016). Adverse Childhood Experiences and Cervical Cancer Screening. Journal of Women's Health. 26: 58-63. PMID 27500413 DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2016.5823 

Yao N, Alcalá HE, Anderson R, Balkrishnan R (2016). Cancer Disparities in Rural Appalachia: Incidence, Early Detection, and Survivorship. Journal of Rural Health. PMID 27602545 DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12213 

Alcalá HE, Montoya MFL (2016). Association of Skin Color and Generation on Arrests Among Mexican-Origin Latinos. Race and Justice. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368716670998 

Alcalá HE (2014). Differential mental health impact of cancer across racial/ethnic groups: findings from a population-based study in California. BMC Public Health. PMID 25200245 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-930 

A complete list of publications is available at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZPm-5ycAAAAJ&hl=en