Alex Lopez, MPH, PhD(c)

Alex Lopez aspires to be a public intellectual, translating policy and the current impacts of complex histories into news you can use.

Lopez’s dissertation research uses visual and spatial analysis methods to examine political public art in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico as a form of political participation in a historically disenfranchised context that also holds a growing pro-statehood movement. It critiques the federal and insular policies and practices that perpetuate archipelagic deprivation for mainland enrichment in hopes of Puerto Rico gaining meaningful sovereignty. As a proud Puerto Rican, Lopez also aims to amplify the enduring, collective creativity of islanders building lives and preserving a unique culture despite the constraints of colonial politics.

Lopez earned a B.A. in Pre-Med and Sociocultural Anthropology from Columbia University in New York City. Lopez’s interest in health promotion, violence prevention, and understanding collective trauma lead to earning an M.P.H. from Tulane University in New Orleans. Here, Lopez studied community health, behavior change, and social norms as both facilitators and inhibitors of interpersonal violence and intergenerational trauma. 
Lopez then managed the development of the Violence Prevention Institute (VPI) at Tulane University, building cross-sector relationships with scholars and practitioners across New Orleans to improve the local violence prevention infrastructure. This work inspired Lopez to pursue a PhD on the Social Work track in the City, Culture, and Community program at Tulane University. As a doctoral fellow, Lopez earned a graduate certificate in Disaster Resilience Leadership Studies from the Tulane School of Social Work (TSSW).

 
Lopez also has cross-disciplinary, graduate-level teaching and curriculum development experience, having taught “Applied Social Statistics” (SWOK 9307) for masters and doctoral students in the TSSW and “Historic Preservation Research Seminar” (PRES 6980) for masters students in the Tulane School of Architecture, as well as developing “Race & Empire” as a 4000-level Critical Ethnic Studies course.