Avanzando Su Cuidado: Equitable Access Lab
We aim to promote health care delivery equity through multilevel and policy interventions. Our vision is health care access and accessibility equity.
We are currently surveying the community to identify the dimensions of trust that impact health care access. Reach out to our team to learn more about this study: reachstudies@med.wisc.edu.
Snapshot
Lab Overview
About Us
- Avanzando Su Cuidado: Equitable Access Lab, led by Yohualli B. Anaya, MD, MPH, is dedicated to advancing health care so every community has access to high-quality, informed, and linguistically accessible primary care across the lifespan. We focus on creating sustainable, evidence-based solutions that close long-standing equity gaps and strengthen trust in health care systems. Our goal is to improve health through the prevention of chronic conditions and their complications.
- Why focus on underserved communities? Communities that experience barriers to care are at greatest risk for health disparities. An accessible health system improves individual health outcomes while strengthening communities by reducing barriers to care, supporting the workforce, and driving broader economic health for the nation. Beyond this impact on patients and communities, accessible care lowers health care costs by preventing avoidable illness, complications, and high‑cost acute care.
Our Priorities
- Our efforts center on three interconnected priorities that translate our research into pragmatic, measurable impact:
- Trustworthy health care teams so our patients seek the care they need when they need it
- A health care workforce to improve care delivery and meet the needs of diverse communities
- Health care delivery equity for those experiencing language barriers
- We use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods in our studies. Our work is often action-oriented.
- We aim to inform, guide, or directly support practical action such as policy decisions, clinical practice, and programs.
- We engage with communities, leaders, and policymakers to ensure research is impactful.
Select Current Projects
- Community-informed intervention to improve diabetes eye disease screening, tailored for Spanish-speaking patients
- Dimensions of Latino patients’ trust in accessing needed health care
- Leadership development for health care professionals advancing equity in health care
- Characteristics of the workforce in the context of patient population needs
- Effect of accessible telehealth on management of chronic conditions in populations with communication barriers
Our Portfolio
The following focus areas position our bilingual team to drive systemic change via practical solutions, providing bold and dynamic solutions to make equitable health care a reality for all.
- Building trustworthy health care teams by generating insights leading to pragmatic policies and high-quality interventions to help systems repair trust, positively engage, and deliver care that is responsive to the needs of communities they serve.
- Expanding a health care workforce to meet the needs of diverse communities by ensuring the modern health care workforce and its leadership can improve care delivery for the communities it serves.
- Improving equitable care for individuals facing language barriers by designing and implementing actionable strategies that ensure language is no barrier to quality of or access to care.
Our Team
Our team envisions a world where high-quality health care is accessible for everyone, and that it is responsive to the needs of all communities, including those experiencing economic, language, or insurance access barriers. Many of our team members are first generation students, bilingual and bicultural, and/or of immigrant backgrounds. Our personal experiences inspire our commitment to improving health care for vulnerable communities. We conduct bilingual, community-engaged, mixed methods research. We take pride in uplifting the voices and needs of historically understudied communities. Our collaborators span the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the University of Wisconsin, other academic institutions, and community organizations.
- Bilingual Research Specialist: Diana Martinez Garcia (she/her)
- Bilingual Postdoctoral Researcher: Frania Mendoza Lua, PhD, MSW (she/her)
- Medical Student and Physician Resident Researchers
- Rebe Silvey, MPH (they/them)
- Andy Estrada (he/him)
- Yihana Paola Melendez Alejandro (she/her)
- Lily Wright (she/her)
- Vanessa Lopez (she/her)
- Medical Student Researcher
- Diana Do (she/her)
- Bilingual Undergraduate Student Research Assistants
- Samantha Martinez Gonzales (she/her)
- Julissa Ordoñez (she/her)
- Sofía Ortiz Lunyova (she/her)
Collaborate with Us
Community Partners
No one understands the needs of communities better than those already walking alongside and serving them. Because of this, we partner with community-based organizations to ensure we are serving communities in the ways they need. We have conducted community-engaged research in partnership with local community partners, and we are excited to forge new partnerships. We have also partnered with community-based organizations to provide educational presentations for their organizations and their community members.
Funding
Our lab relies on funding to translate our research into real-world impact. We actively seek investments from philanthropic foundations, health care sponsors, and grant makers to advance our mission. Your collaboration would actively support innovative, high-quality research and systemic change.
Contact Yohualli Anaya (yohualli.anaya@fammed.wisc.edu) if you would like to partner with us, hear more about the resources we can offer to community-based organizations, or discuss funding opportunities.
Presentations and Publications
- Anaya YB, Mora Pinzon M, Wray M, Martinez Garcia D, Liu Y, Richmond J. Measuring trust in the health care team. Presented at: AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting; 2026; Seattle, WA.
- Silvey R, Estrada A, Wray M, del Carmen Rosales M, Mendoza Lua F, Grob R, Anaya YB. Trust in healthcare utilization among low-income Latino immigrants with chronic disease: a qualitative study. Presented at: North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) 53rd Annual Meeting; 2025; Georgia.
- Maldonado C, Hoang J, Peterson K, Emmet T, Mora Pinzon M, Khoussine J, Martinez Garcia D, Anaya YB, Channa R, Liu Y. Factors associated with follow-up for in-person eye care among screen positives in a teleophthalmology program at an urban federally qualified health center. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting; 2025; Salt Lake City, UT.
- Anaya YB, Richmond J, del Carmen Rosales M, Liu Y, Mora Pinzon M, Tellez-Giron P, Bidar-Sielaff S, Martinez Garcia D. Community-based organization engagement for cultural adaptation of the “Trust in the Health Care Team Scale” for Latinos. Presented at: North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) 53rd Annual Meeting; 2025; Georgia.
- Anaya YB. Toward a deeper understanding of trustworthy health care teams. Presented at: Primary Care Latino Equity Research (PRIMER) Center, Oregon Health & Science University; 2025; Oregon.
- Anaya Y, Hsu P, Mora Pinzon M, Castellon-Lopez Y, Rosales M, Byington C, Hayes-Bautista D. Income and employment patterns among Latina physicians in the U.S. Ann Fam Med. 2024;22(suppl 1):S.
- Anaya YB. Caring for Latinos: workforce needs and trends. Presented at: Latino Primary Care Summit: Chronic Conditions in Latinos—Trends, Innovations, and Care for the Future; Primary Care Latino Equity Research (PRIMER) Center, Oregon Health & Science University; 2024; Oregon.
- Anaya YB, Hsu P, Castellon-Lopez Y, Mora Pinzon M, Byington CL, Hayes-Bautista DE. The Latina physician wage chasm: a secondary analysis of the American Community Survey. Acad Med. Published online March 21, 2026. doi:10.1093/acamed/wvag054
- Mendoza Lua F, Davis KDM, Banuelos Mota A, Luner E, Hitchcock M, Mora Pinzon M, Anaya YB. Dimensions of trust in health care experiences among Latino patients: a scoping review of the literature. Under review.
- Anaya YB, Do D, Christenson MA, Schrager S. Shared decision making among diverse populations in primary care: a scoping review of facilitators and barriers. Ann Fam Med. 2025;23(2):108-116. doi:10.1370/afm.240087
- Amaechi O, Anaya YB. A workforce to care for all. Fam Med. 2025;57(3):151-152. doi:10.22454/FamMed.2025.493680
- Anaya YB, Sur D, Moreno G. A guide to building K-12 pathway programs within family medicine residency programs. Fam Med. 2025;57(3):159-167. doi:10.22454/FamMed.2025.707342
- Anaya YB, Huffstetler A, Jabbarpour Y, Bazemore A. Policy briefs with personality: how to innovatively disseminate evidence for advocacy. Fam Med. 2024;56(10):694. doi:10.22454/FamMed.2024.390472
- Carvajal DN, Anaya YB, McLean I, Aragón M, Figueroa E, Plasencia G, Martinez-Bianchi V, Rodríguez JE. We are not all the same: implications of heterogeneity among Latiné/e/x/o/a, Hispanic, and Spanish origin people. Ann Fam Med. 2024;22(3):254-258. doi:10.1370/afm.3103
- Edgoose JYC, Anaya YB, Rakel D. Affirming the essence of the physician-patient relationship in a rapidly proliferating digital age: proposing a fifth C to the core tenets of primary care. Ann Fam Med. 2024;22(5):453-455. doi:10.1370/afm.3144
- Bustamante AV, Silver J, Martinez LE, Anaya YB, et al. Equity gaps in telehealth use to manage chronic conditions during COVID-19. UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute; 2023. Equity gaps in telehealth use to manage chronic conditions during COVID-19
- Martinez LE, Anaya YB, Vargas-Bustamante A, et al. California’s physician shortage during COVID-19: a policy roadmap to expand access to care. UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative; 2020. California’s physician shortage during COVID-19: a policy roadmap to expand access to care
- Anaya YB, Martinez LE, Bustamante AV, et al. Telehealth & COVID-19 policy considerations to improve access to care. Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture (CESLAC), UCLA Health; UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative; 2020. Telehealth & COVID-19 policy considerations to improve access to care
- Hsu P, Anaya YB, Hayes-Bautista DE. 5 centuries to reach parity: an analysis of how long it will take to address California’s Latino physician shortage. California’s Latino Physician Crisis: A Policy Series. UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative; 2018. 5 centuries to reach parity: an analysis of how long it will take to address California’s Latino physician shortage