edX Online
Instructor photo

Monica Ruiz

Associate Professor, Department of Prevention and Community Health at George Washington University

About me

Monica S. Ruiz, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University (GWU). She has focused most of her career on research that seeks to address the health risks disproportionately affecting vulnerable and marginalized populations, including persons who use drugs and persons from racially and ethnically diverse communities. Her research portfolio includes evaluating training for the addiction treatment workforce and examining interpersonal, social-contextual, and structural factors that influence HIV infection and opioid overdose risk, such as gentrification and housing instability. She is also the lead investigator on a community-academic partnership focused on addressing mental health disparities in African American youth in DC’s Ward 5; this project is part of the George Washington University’s Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence, of which she is a co-director.