Two of UC Merced’s newest postdoctoral researchers, Colleen Cheverko and Maria-Elena Young, received the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (CPFP) for 2018-2019.
The fellowships, which are for one year with a potential one-year renewal, provide professional development and faculty mentoring to outstanding postdoc scholars whose research, teaching and service contribute to diversity and equal opportunity at the University of California.
Young, who is from an immigrant family, grew up in a diverse community in Oakland.
“That was my motivation to go into public health research, especially looking at how immigration systems shape well-being,” she said.
Her research focuses on the effects of the U.S. immigration system on the health of immigrant populations and examines the relationship between health inequities and factors such as citizenship and legal status and state and local policies. She seeks to understand the various structural, institutional and individual mechanisms that link policy with health outcomes.
