Evelyn Arana

Evelyn Arana is a women’s health researcher and doctoral candidate at Drexel University School of Public Health. Most recently, she was awarded a dissertation grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (Grant #1R36HS023966-01) to research inequalities in mammogram use among women with intellectual disabilities of different racial and ethnic groups.

Born in West New York, NJ to a Peruvian father and Cuban mother, Evelyn speaks Spanish and English fluently and has lived in and worked mostly in the Tri-State area (NJ and NY). Evelyn currently resides in Philadelphia, where she is completing her dissertation at Drexel University School of Public Health.

Prior to beginning her doctorate at Drexel, Evelyn worked as a social worker at Lutheran Medical Center and Single Stop, USA in Brooklyn helping individuals obtain free medications, supplemental food assistance, housing vouchers, Medicaid, and financial and legal counseling. She also helped increase awareness regarding free mammograms and pap smears through the Brooklyn Breast program.

Evelyn opted to obtain a doctorate in public health to help lessen the inequalities and inaccessibility to healthcare that she witnessed while working as a social worker. Her current dissertation focuses on exploring the factors that affect mammogram usage and experience among women with intellectual disabilities (ID) of different racial and ethnic groups. Findings from this research have the potential to inform and guide local, state, and national stakeholders to create and implement effective interventions and policies that will improve breast health, and the overall quality of women’s health, for women with ID.