Sofia Monterroza Figueroa joined the Public Health Institute Center for Wellness and Nutrition in 2019. Growing up in Merced and seeing firsthand the health disparities in the area has been a driving factor in her interests in community education. During the past summer, she worked with two farmers markets in Fresno County under the Farmers Market Initiative to promote the use of benefits at the farmers markets. She recently joined the School Health and Wellness team to bring extra program support.
Her most recent experiences include writing literature reviews for a health impact assessment, translating documents, and entering survey data. In the spring of 2018, Sofia studied abroad in Ghana and completed an internship with a nonprofit organization, Mawulolo Youth Network. There, she served as a mentor to 4th-grade students while developing and teaching health curriculum to her students. This work connected her interest in teaching and public health and enabled her involvement in moving forward with health education.
Sofia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health with a minor in Psychology from the University of California, Merced. She is bilingual and bicultural in Spanish. In her free time, she enjoys hand embroidery, exercising, and spending time with her family and friends.