Dr. Marizen Ramirez is Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the UC Irvine Program in Public Health, and Former Director of the Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety.  She received her doctoral and masters degrees in Epidemiology from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Her research focuses on society’s most vulnerable population at risk for violence (especially bullying) and injuries:  children, persons with disabilities, agricultural workers, minorities, and rural populations. For over 20 years, she has studied childhood injuries and violence in schools from California, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Maine. She is particularly interested in identifying the most effective strategies for responding to and supporting children impacted by trauma. She was one of the original developers of LINK, which has been implemented with more than 500 school children in Iowa.  She serves as a primary investigator for the LINK for Equity study and is excited to bring this program to the schools in Minnesota to support children of color.