Ninez Ponce, Ph.D.

Associate Professor UCLA School of Public Health Department of Health Services Box 951772 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 (310) 206-4021 Fax: (310) 825-3317 E-mail:nponce@ucla.edu

Biographical Information

Ninez A. Ponce, PhD (BS, UC Berkeley; MPP, Harvard; PhD, UCLA), is an associate professor in the Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health and a senior research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. As Co-Principal Investigator of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2001 and 2003, she led the efforts in the measurement of race/ethnicity, acculturation, physician-patient communication, and discrimination. In addition, Dr. Ponce conceptualized the rationale and implementation of CHIS 2001's Asian ethnic oversamples and the cultural and linguistic adaptation of the survey. She is also a member of UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research. Her research has focused on understanding macroeconomics effects on health and health care access in low-income countries, and more recently in low-SES neighborhoods and ethnic minorities in the U.S. Dr. Ponce received a 5-year career-development award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to explore neighborhood effects and health care market factors that may explain persisting racial and ethnic disparities in cancer screening. In 2004, NCI's Special Populations Health Network recognized Dr. Ponce as a rising star in cancer disparities. In 2008, she received an NIH merit award for her work in multicultural survey research. Dr. Ponce has been faculty advisor to UCLA's student-run Samahang Pilipino Education and Retention (SPEAR) and on several state and national committees. Recently she received the Royal Morales Community Service award from the UCLA Pilipino Alumni Association. In 2008, she was voted Outstanding Professor by the UCLA School of Public Health Student Association and in 2009, she received the Dean’s Distinguished Professor award. In 2009 she was an Institute of Medicine subcommittee member on Race/Ethnicity/Language data. She served as the 2010 Disparities Theme Leader, and a member of the executive planning committee for Academy Health.

Selected Publications

Afable-Munsuz A, Ponce NA, Rodriguez M, Perez-Stable EJ. Immigrant generation and physical activity among Mexican, Chinese & Filipino adults in the U.S. Soc Sci Med. 2010 Mar 16.

D’Anna L, Ponce, NA, Siegel J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities:  Evidence of discrimination’s effects across the SEP spectrum. Ethnicity and Health 2010 Feb 2:1-23

Ponce, NA.  (2009) Health Insurance. In Rey, Trinh-Shevrin, and Islam.  Health Issues in the Asian  American Community.  New York University. Jossey –Bass publishers.

Ponce NA, Cochran, SD, Mays VM, Chia J, Brown ER.  Health coverage of low-income citizen and noncitizen wage earners: sources and disparities. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. 2008 Apr;10(2):167-76.

Ponce NA, Afable-Munsuz A, Nordyke RJ.  Conceptualising the impact of genetic testing on cancer disparities in the United States. International Journal of Health Technology and Management.

Ponce NA, Chawla N, Babey SH, Gatchell MS, Etzioni DA, Spencer BA, Brown ER, Breen N. Is there a language divide in Pap test use? Med Care. 2006 Nov; 44(11):998-1004.

Ponce NA, Ku L, Cunningham WE, Brown ER. Language barriers to health care access among Medicare beneficiaries. Inquiry. 2006 Spring; 43(1):66-76.

Ponce NA, Hays RD, Cunningham WE. Linguistic disparities in health care access and health status among older adults. J Gen Intern Med. 2006 Jul; 21(7):786-91.

Ponce NA, Huh S, Bastani R. Do HMO market level factors lead to racial/ethnic disparities in colorectal cancer screening? A comparison between high-risk Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and high-risk whites. Med Care. 2005 Nov;43(11):1101-8.

Ponce NA, Hoggatt KJ, Wilhelm M, Ritz B. Preterm birth: the interaction of traffic-related air pollution with economic hardship in Los Angeles neighborhoods. Am J Epidemiol. 2005 Jul 15;162(2):140-8.

Ponce N, Nordyke RJ, Hirota S. Uninsured working immigrants: a view from a California county. J Immigr Health. 2005 Jan;7(1):45-53.  

Ponce NA, McCarthy WJ, Fielding JE, Leslie JP,Akbar J. Population-based interventions engaging communities of color in healthy eating and active living: a review. Prev Chronic Dis. 2004 Jan;1(1):A09.

Etzioni DA, Ponce NA, Babey SH, Spencer BA, Brown ER, Ko CY, Chawla N, Breen N, Klabunde CN. A population-based study of colorectal cancer test use: results from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. Cancer. 2004 Dec 1;101(11):2523-32.

Ponce NA, Lavarreda SA, Yen W, Brown ER, DiSogra C, Satter DE. The California Health Interview Survey 2001: translation of a major survey for California's multiethnic population. Public Health Rep. 2004 Jul-Aug;119(4):388-95.

Mays VM, Ponce NA, Washington DL, Cochran SD. Classification of race and ethnicity: implications for public health. Annu Rev Public Health. 2003;24:83-110.