Dr. Mercedes Bravo received her PhD from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Bravo’s research focuses on identifying and characterizing relationships between social and environmental exposures and disparities in health and developmental outcomes. She is particularly interested in promoting health equity through better characterization of disparities in exposures and disparities in health outcomes, especially for underserved, underrepresented, and potentially vulnerable populations. Prior to joining DGHI, Dr. Bravo worked at RTI International and the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI) and Statistics Department at Rice University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In her role as DGHI's associate director for equity, inclusion and diversity,  Dr. Bravo advises DGHI senior leadership on strategies to advance EID across the institute and serves as co-lead of the DGHI Equity Implementation Team, which oversees evaluation and implementation of recommendations from the 2021 DGHI Equity Task Force report.