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

Ninez Ponce (BS, UC Berkeley; MPP, Harvard University; PhD, UCLA) is an Associate Professor at UCLA’s Department of Health Services. She is also Senior Research Scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and member of UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research. Dr. Ponce’s research has focused on understanding macroeconomic effects on health and health care access in low income countries, and, more recently, in low-SES neighborhoods and ethnic minorities in the United States. She was RAND’s resident adviser to the Ministry of Health, Republic of Macedonia, and has worked at the World Bank, Catholic Relief Services in Thailand, the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and the Berkeley Free Clinic. As Co-Principal Investigator of the California Health Interview Survey 2001 and 2003, she led the efforts in the measurement of race/ethnicity, acculturation, physician-patient communication, and discrimination. In addition, she conceptualized the rationale and implementation of CHIS 2001’s Asian ethnic oversamples and the cultural and linguistic adaptation of the survey. 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. Recently, NCI’s Special Populations Health Network recognized Dr. Ponce as a “Rising Star” in cancer disparities research as part of her work with the Asian American Network in Cancer Awareness Research and Training. Dr. Ponce is faculty advisor to UCLA’s student-run Samahang Pilipino Education and Retention (SPEAR) Project and Samahang Pilipino Advancing Community Empowerment (SPACE), and serves on several state and national committees: the Cultural and Linguistics Work Group of California’s Office of the Patient Advocate, the Policy Board of the California Pan Ethnic Health Network and Executive Board of the Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus of the American Public Health Association.

Selected Publications

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. (2005) Medical Care 43(11):1101-1108.

Ponce NA, Hoggatt KJ, Wilhelm M, Ritz BR. (2005) Preterm birth: the role of individual characteristics, air pollution, and economic hardship in Los Angeles neighborhoods. American Journal of Epidemiology. 162(2): 140-148. 1.

Ponce NA, Lavarreda SA, Yen W, Brown, ER, DiSogra C, Satter, D. (2004) Translation methodology in the California Health Interview Survey: challenges in language translation for a major survey. Public Health Reports. 119: 1-18.

Ponce NA, Nordyke, RJ, Hirota, S. (2005) Uninsured immigrant workers, why can’t they get coverage? Journal of Immigrant Health. 7(1):47-55.

Ponce NA, and Penserga L. (2002) Language access in health: why the policy and practice inertia? Harvard Health Policy Review. 3(2): 47-53.

Mays VM, Ponce NA, Washington D, Cochran SD. (2003) Implications in the classification of race and ethnicity for public health. Annual Review of Public Health. 24:83-110.

Etzioni, DA, Ponce, NA, Babey SH, Spencer BA, Brown, ER, Ko CY, Breen N, Klabunde, CN. (2004) Colorectal Cancer Test Use in California: Results from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey Cancer. 101(11):2523-32.

Ponce NA. Gatchell M. Singhs, Watanabes, Parks and Nguyens: A comparison of surname-list samples to probability samples using the California Health Interview Survey, 2001. forthcoming in February 2005: AAPI Nexus, volume 4.

Ponce, NA, Gertler P and Glewwe P. (1998). Will Viet Nam Grow Out of Malnutrition? in Glewwe et al. Viet Nam: Household Welfare and Transition to a Market Economy. World Bank, Policy Research Department.

Ponce, NA and Guillermo T. (1993). Health Policy Framework. in Zane, Takeuchi et al. Confronting Health Issues in the Asian and Pacific Islander American Community. Sage Publications.