Luz Garcini is originally from Mexico and completed her undergraduate work at the University of Houston. After her time at the University of Houston, she completed a masters degree in clinical psychology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, as well as a one-year clinical internship at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) where she became interested in the development and implementation of health interventions for hard-to-reach populations. After working in multiple community-based settings with diverse immigrant populations, she attended the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in Clinical Psychology where she worked on a combined degree in clinical psychology and Epidemiology (MPH). Her research at the JDP has involved extensive binational collaboration with Mexico, and her dissertation focuses on the use of Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) to study the health and well-being of undocumented Latino immigrants and deportees. Her primary interests include informing methodology to study hidden or hard-to-reach populations, as well as translational research to inform health and public policy for the underserved. Additionally, Luz is a Ford fellow, and she is highly committed to activities supporting increased representation and retention of minorities in the health sciences. Also, Luz has received numerous awards including recently the 2016 American Psychological Association Distinguished Graduate Student Award in Professional Psychology. This was awarded to Luz by the Board of Professional Affairs (BPA) and the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) for her practice and application of psychology. Congratulations Luz!