Ana Dominique Sucaldito

Brief bio

I discovered public health in my junior year after realizing that, although I was interested in healthcare, I wasn’t passionate about clinical work. After speaking with a mentor, they referred me to public health, as it would allow me to combine my love for health with my drive to improve social justice. I have had so many people that have helped me throughout my life, and thus, am passionate about mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, particularly those from BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee communities. Outside of campus, I love to journal, play DnD, and enjoy nature.

Professional profile

Dr. Ana Sucaldito is a social and behavioral scientist passionate about addressing health inequities impacting marginalized Asian and Asian American refugees, immigrants, and other members of the diaspora through evidence-based interventions and research. She earned her PhD and MPH from The Ohio State University, where she worked in the community with local and statewide nonprofits, grassroots organizations, and health coalitions. She later completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Wake Forest’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute where she received further training in community-based participatory research (CBPR). With experience across her many positionalities as a community member, community partner, and academic, Ana knows the importance of working with communities, not “to” or “for” them. She uses CBPR and qualitative and mixed methods to create partnerships which prioritize equitable power-sharing between community and academic partners. 

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Wake Forest School of Medicine
• PhD in Health Behavior and Health Promotion, The Ohio State University, College of Public Health
• MPH in Health Behavior and Health Promotion, The Ohio State University, College of Public Health
• BS in Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, College of Arts and Sciences

Courses Taught

Dr. Sucaldito teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, including HEA 308: Introduction of Public Health (undergraduate), HEA 113: Introduction to Medical Terminology (undergraduate) and HEA 601 and HEA 700: Foundations of Public Health (graduate).

Research interests

1. Community-based participatory research approaches and methods
2. Mental Health
3. Refugee and immigrant health
4. Informed consent and participant empowerment among vulnerable populations 
5. Asian American health inequities
6. Social determinants of health
7. Qualitative and mixed methods research

Current projects

1. Va Meh Du
   (or My Big Sibling) is a mental health promotion intervention, in partnership with the Karenni Community of Winston-Salem, to support refugee young adults and children using soccer, mentorship, and mental health education. In this clinical trial, Karenni young adults mentor children and pre-teens as soccer coaches and “big brothers” while all participants received sports-based mental health education. This program seeks to promote mental health by teaching coping skills, creating mentoring and role-model relationships between coaches and players, improving social connectedness, and supporting physical activity.
2. Interdisciplinary Research Leaders (IRL)
   The IRL program supports and expands action-oriented and community-engaged research to create healthier communities. Its goal is to produce diverse interdisciplinary leaders who conduct and apply high-quality, community-engaged, action-oriented, equity-focused, health research in order to drive improvements in the health of communities and help advance a Culture of Health. Ana is a Senior Research Advisor evaluating the results of this 10-year program across outcomes of community-engaged research and equitable collaboration. 
3. Te Thet Nge Eh Hyta (To Know More)
   Despite the significant health and healthcare inequities experienced by refugees, these populations are deeply underrepresented in research, particularly in studies related to health. Te Thet Nge Eh Htya (TTNEH) or “To Know More” is a community-engaged project with partner Bamboo Roots that seeks to develop, implement, and evaluate an intervention of the same name with the goal of improving refugees’ knowledge, empowerment, and confidence to participate in research.
4. Language Access among Asian Americans with Limited English Proficiency and Asian American Language Brokers
   In collaboration with North Carolina Asian Americans Together, we are examining the lived experiences of Asian Americans with limited English proficiency, and their linguistic supporters, in order to understand the community-defined language access needs and recommendations for Asian Americans living in the US South.
5. Other Collaborations 
   Ana is proud to be involved in several interdisciplinary projects including collaborations with Kinesiology, Social Work, and Counseling and Education Development across topics such as Filipinx mental health and physical activity for racially diverse young girls.