Microbes and Social Equity speaker series 2023

This series explores the way that microbes connect public policy, social disparities, and human health, as well as the ongoing research, education, policy, and innovation in this field.

I would like to thank the UMaine Institute of Medicine for their support for this series, and acknowledge the work of our MSE members helping to organize this: Emily Wissel, Katherine Daiy, Kieran O’Doherty, Hannah Holland-Moritz, Mallory Choudoir, and Mustafa Saifuddin. I would also like to recognize that the University of Maine is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation.

"Exploring Health Determinants, Gut Microbiome, and Health Outcomes in Immigrants" Dr. Dany Fanfan, Ph.D., MSN, RN
Dr. Dany Fanfan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida (UF) College of Nursing. Before becoming a faculty, she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Florida International University, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Nursing at the University of South Florida, and a post-doctoral fellowship at UF focused on mental health research with and for underrepresented populations (e.g., Latino/Haitian immigrant farmworkers, rural Latino/LGBTQ+ adolescents) using a community-based participatory research approach and social network analysis. She teaches and engages in
multidisciplinary mixed-methods research dedicated to advancing the science and practice of reducing mental health disparities among minoritized immigrants by exploring the underlying biobehavioral, cultural, and psychosocial mechanisms of distress symptoms. With support from an NIH K23 career development award, she is now incorporating microbial metagenomics and bioinformatics methods in her research by examining the associations between post-migration social determinants of health, gut microbiome, and psychological distress among recent Haitian immigrants. The long- term goal of her interdisciplinary translational program of research is to identify and address the conditions that create and sustain health disparities in minoritized populations as well as develop and test culturally responsive interventions that target social, behavioral, and biological determinants of health to improve long-term health outcomes, reduce behavioral and mental health disparities, and increase health equity.