Creating Trust through Storytelling

Jennifer Aengst is a medical anthropologist who teaches at Portland State University and conduct qualitative health research at Oregon Health & Science University.

Dr. Vasquez Guzman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. Estela trained at the University of New Mexico, where she specialized in medical sociology, race, and ethnicity. She has developed a strong understanding of the diverse factors affecting racial/ethnic health inequities both within and outside of the health care system. Her involvement with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center for Health Policy, Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) and the State Priorities Partnership (SPP) has provided an interdisciplinary training influential to her multi-dimensional understanding of racial/ethnic health and healthcare disparities. Dr. Guzman has specific interest in social-cultural-structural-humanistic curriculum for medical students and residents as well as investigating inequities in medicine, health, and health delivery among Native American and Latinx communities. Currently, through two grants, she is analyzing the structural factors impacting cervical cancer and documenting Latina women’s unique lived experiences. She utilizes a range of qualitative methods including interviews, focus groups, and case study data. As a first generation Latina immigrant indigenous scholar, she aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice from an equity and inclusion perspective because we all win when we have a compassionate, representative, and humanistic healthcare system. Outside of work, you can find Estela running, dancing, hiking, swimming and/or doing arts and crafts. She also enjoys traveling and cooking authentic Oaxacan food with her mother and family.