Katherine Gutierrez Email and Phone Number

My website: http://kmgutierrez.com. I am a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of New Mexico, researching the effects of food taxes on food insecurity and health outcomes, education policy, LGBTQ health, and local tax policy.My interests lie primarily in the realm of public and health economics, specifically in the effects of federal income and food assistance, and the evaluation and improvement thereof. With my research, I hope to contribute to policy that can help put the most socially and economically vulnerable people on equal footing with their peers.I am also interested in children’s wellbeing, racial/ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status and the institutional contributors thereof, and community-based policy initiatives. As an ethnic and cultural Nuevamexicana and the product of a rural New Mexican town, I have unique insight into the challenges that arise when trying to make policy for the American Southwest within the framework of a very developed nation. My priority and passion in my research is to use my training in economics and data science to evaluate and contribute to the ability of public systems to help communities break out of the cycle of poverty, and to do so in a way that simultaneously enhances access to health services, affordable housing, and safe neighborhoods in a meaningful, bottom-up way. These basics are the foundation for building happy and meaningful lives that are so intrinsically tied to our rights as human beings. Upholding these foundations is crucial to establishing a just and equitable system. I am honored to be a Health Policy Research Scholar alumna and a UNM Center for Social Policy Fellow alumna working toward health equity in my community and across the nation.My passions include plant-based cooking, writing, data analysis (no, really), running, learning and practicing languages, and gardening.