About Thelma Y. Gamboa-Maldonado, DrPH

Thelma Gamboa-Maldonado (DrPH/MPH, Loma Linda University) is faculty in the Loma Linda University School of Public Health in the Global Health Program. She has taught in the areas of program planning and evaluation and health disparities. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has been at the center of Dr. Gamboa-Maldonado’s research experiences. As a Co-Investigator with the University of California, Los Angeles Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC), Dr. Gamboa-Maldonado studied the effectiveness of CBPR to connect local public health departments and low income Latino communities of the Inland Empire, with the intent of developing capacity for disaster resilience. Presently, Dr. Gamboa-Maldonado is a translational researcher with the Loma Linda University Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine Community Engagement and Outreach Core. In response to the diabetes crisis disparately affecting minorities, the elderly, and lower income groups in locally and nationwide, Dr. Gamboa-Maldonado, in partnership with El Sol Neighborhood Education Center, led Vida Vibrante, a Community Health Worker-led Diabetes prevention and self-management program for bilingual, bi-cultural adult Latinos. In this study, she aims to better understand how the participants’ initial readiness for health behavior change and social support are predictive of transformational effects in respect to behavioral health indicators (stress, anxiety, and depression). Dr. Gamboa-Maldonado is the former Director of the Promotores/Community Health Worker Academy of the Institute for Community Partnerships. She has been involved with the Promotores Academy since 2012 and has served in the capacity of instructor, evaluation consultant, and member of the Curriculum Committee. Presently, Dr.Gamboa-Maldonado serves as Co-Chair and Member of several Dissertation Guidace Committees for health education doctoral studens in the School of Public Health.