Dr. Amy Carroll-Scott's research focuses on the health and well-being of low-income, minority, and immigrant communities, particularly the role of neighborhood-level sociodemographic characteristics and conditions in explaining health disparities. Prior to joining CIRA in September, 2008, Amy received her doctoral degree from the UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences, where she was a Chancellor's Fellow and a trainee of the California Center for Population Research. Amy's dissertation explored the relationships between neighborhood structural characteristics, neighborhood-level social processes (e.g., social capital and collective efficacy), and child health and behavioral outcomes, comparing survey samples from Los Angeles and Chicago. While at UCLA, Amy also directed the Data & Democracy Statewide Training Initiative at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which provides free courses in basic research skills and needs assessment methodology for community leaders in underserved communities. Prior to graduate work at UCLA, Amy earned her MPH in maternal and child health at UC Berkeley, and worked for five years as a Senior Associate at Samuels & Associates, a public health research, evaluation, and policy consulting firm in Oakland, California which focuses on obesity prevention, and women's and community health. Amy is also very involved with the American Public Health Association, where she currently is a Governing Councilor and was recently elected Chair-Elect of the Community Health Planning and Policy Development Section. Amy's mentor at CIRA is Dr. Jeannette Ickovics.