Alumni Spotlight: Jacqueline Perez AB’21

Growing up in Palmetto, Fla., Jacqueline Perez AB’21 was the unofficial translator in her Spanish-speaking family, helping them navigate medical appointments and information that was often only in English. Now a research associate at Fors Marsh, a private research firm based in Arlington, Va., she conducts research to inform the development and implementation of health  communication campaigns on issues such as drug overdose prevention, mental health and cancer screening. Her work often focuses on messages that can be effective with Spanish-speaking audiences. 

This summer, Perez was awarded a fellowship from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, which supports public health professionals who are working to address pressing health challenges. The fellowship includes a full scholarship in the Doctor of Public Health program at Jons Hopkins University, which Perez began this fall. 

At Duke, Perez was a first-generation college student who majored in global health and international comparative studies. She earned a master’s of public health degree from the University of South Florida College of Public Health in 2023.

You describe yourself as your family’s unofficial translator. How did that experience influence your interest in health communications?

I say “unofficial” because I do not have any formal training as a translator, but I have plenty of lived experiences that make up for that. Spanish is my native language, and I began translating for my parents at a young age and still do so on several occasions. Navigating between these two worlds is a big part of who I am, and it has definitely influenced my interest in health communication research. 

Anyone who has served as a translator in their family knows that translation is often not a one-to-one process. In other words, a message that works in English might not be as effective in Spanish. The translated message might require additional context or slightly different phrasing to convey the same meaning. And so, just as I try to translate information clearly for my parents, I am interested in continuing to advance research to communicate our most pressing health issues more effectively with different audiences. 

How can health communications be more effective for Spanish-speaking audiences?

A message that is effective for English-speaking audiences might not be effective for Spanish-speaking audiences. In fact, there can even be differences depending on where your audience lives, their age and their lived experiences. 

Many health communication materials fall short by only integrating “surface culture,” such as by doing a direct linguistic translation of the material and including an image of the primary audience in an ad or brochure. Effective health communication requires us to go beyond the surface-level elements of culture and into what is called “deep culture,” which includes an audience’s values, beliefs, attitudes and traditions. 

For example, I know that a brochure that encourages going for a walk might not resonate with my parents, but they might respond better to a message about going to play soccer, because it’s an activity that involves spending quality time with the family, which they value.

What led you to pursue the Bloomberg fellowship?

I’m interested in how we communicate health messages about addiction and overdose, and I have conducted health communication research related to the opioid crisis. I was also drawn to the network of professionals that I would be able to connect with. There are fellows who are working in research, policy, social work, health care, law enforcement and more. I recently attended our annual summit, where everyone came together to share how they’re tackling these challenges from different angles and how we can learn from each other’s experiences and collaborate. 

Will you be continuing your health communications work while pursuing your DrPH?

Yes -- the goal is to apply what I am learning in the program to my work. So when I am not in school, I am conducting qualitative, quantitative and, occasionally, mixed-methods research to inform the creation of health communication campaigns across the U.S. on topics such as drug overdose prevention, mental health and breast cancer screening.

How did studying global health help you get to where you are now? Were there experiences at Duke that you look back on now as being particularly meaningful in finding your path?

One of my earliest experiences in health communication was in a course that Dr. Dennis Clements taught during my sophomore year. The course was cross-listed in global health and innovation and entrepreneurship, and I remember his pitch to me was that this class would provide real-world experience and something that I could add to my resume. He was absolutely right! 

Throughout that semester, a few classmates and I were matched with a maternity hospital in India that was seeking a strategic plan for their social media pages. At the time, they wanted to share maternal health-related information with pregnant and post-partum women in their community. After several meetings with our partners, a review of the current literature and several pilot tests on their social media pages, we developed a strategic plan for the hospital and a training guide for staff members who would be overseeing the social media pages. I didn’t know it then, but I very much enjoyed using research to strategize how we can communicate health information in an evidence-based and meaningful way. 

Majoring in global health exposed me to many case studies from around the world and challenged me to think critically and in an interdisciplinary way to solve pressing health challenges. I was also an intern at DuWell in the Duke Student Wellness Center, and all the program planning and tabling on the BC Plaza introduced me to the field of global and public health. So I also have to thank the wonderful staff of DuWell for that!