Our Team
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Luisa Blanco, PhD, MBA
Luisa Blanco is an Associate Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy. She specializes in development and international economics, with a focus on Latin America. Her research interests pertain to the wellbeing of Latin Americans at home and abroad. Blanco is currently working on the area of consumer finance and the finance-health link, with a focus on minorities in the United States.
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April Thames, PhD
Dr. Thames is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California. As Principal Investigator of several grant-supported projects, Dr. Thames has developed a research program that focuses on social and biological determinants of brain health, including neurological, cognitive, and mental health outcomes.
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Isaias Hernandez
Isaias Hernandez is the Executive Director of Eastmont Community Center, where he brings an established track record of developing and implementing an array of social service programs with a specific focus in creating stability and security in the lives of low-income families. His humbled beginnings have afforded him the knowledge and background critical to building effective and practical solutions for challenges affecting the Latino community.
Our Partners
Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF)
The Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF) is a non-profit, community-based organization that was established in 1963 in order to serve disadvantaged individuals and families in the Los Angeles area. MAOF is the largest Latino-oriented, family services organization in the United States, and has achieved this status by providing high quality social services and programs to those communities where the need is the greatest.
Eastmont Community Center (ECC)
In collaboration with the residents of Unincorporated East Los Angeles, Eastmont Community Center develops services and programs which expand social and economic opportunities and enhance community relationships. Such services are designed to address the urgent needs of families and communities in crisis.
Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values, where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service, and leadership. Consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful places to study, Pepperdine is where you're inspired to learn as you learn to inspire.
UCLA’s primary purpose as a public research university is the creation, dissemination, preservation and application of knowledge for the betterment of our global society.
To fulfill this mission, UCLA is committed to academic freedom in its fullest terms: We value open access to information, free and lively debate conducted with mutual respect for individuals, and freedom from intolerance. In all of our pursuits, we strive for excellence and diversity, recognizing that openness and inclusion produce true quality. These values underlie our three institutional responsibilities: education, research and public service.
Our Donors
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
At RWJF, we are working alongside others to build a national Culture of Health. Our goal is to help raise the health of everyone in the United States to the level that a great nation deserves, by placing well-being at the center of every aspect of life.
We are very aware that achieving this will take unprecedented collaboration—a movement for better health. At the same time, we also know we are far from alone in our belief that everyone should have the opportunity to lead a healthier life. And by working alongside many others, we can bring about meaningful change, now and for generations to come.