Diana Hernández Honored by New York League of Puerto Rican Women

Diana Hernández, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health assistant professor of sociomedical sciences, was awarded the Public Health Service Award from the New York League of Puerto Rican Women. She was honored at the League’s 11th Anniversary Scholarship Gala in the Bronx on August 29th.

The League is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is the advancement of Puerto Rican/Hispanic women through higher education. Its motto is: “Educate a Woman and You Educate a Family.”

Hernandez studies the impacts of policy on the health and socioeconomic well-being of vulnerable populations. Her community-oriented research examines the intersections between the built environment (housing and neighborhoods), poverty/equity and health with a particular emphasis on energy insecurity. Much of her research is conducted in her native South Bronx neighborhood. She is currently a principal or co-investigator on several projects related to structural interventions in low-income housing such as energy efficiency upgrades and new finance and capital improvement models in public housing and post-Superstorm Sandy resilience among public housing residents. In addition to teaching at the graduate level, she has taught undergraduate courses on health disparities and cultural competence.