A Moral Imperative to Protect the Health and Well-being of Children: An Interview with Dr. Marissa Raymond-Flesch
Marissa Raymond-Flesch, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics, grew up in New Mexico, a minority-majority state with tremendous health challenges for youth. Her high school class started with about 1,000 students but graduated with just under 500. Students were lost to gang violence, poverty, and pregnancy. This experience fostered a sense that something was broken and needed to be fixed; she became deeply interested in how she could improve the lives of Latino youth. Since then, she has focused her career on understanding the challenges that Latino and immigrant communities face.
Dr. Raymond-Flesch’s research focuses on access to care for adolescents and young adults, with particular attention on improving reproductive health access for minority and border communities. Her current research examines the relationship between mental health, community violence, and unintended teen pregnancies in Salinas, California - a small, predominantly Latino community on California’s rural central coast. Preliminary results from that investigation highlight the critical role that family plays in positive youth development and youths’ health knowledge. This work, and the community engagement associated with it, also revealed widespread concern about the mental health of Salinas youth. This data-informed the later phases of "A Crecer: The Salinas Teen Health Study," an ongoing longitudinal survey of 600 early adolescents in Salinas.