The Condition

Emily Hecker

Emily is a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Medical Anthropology program at the University of Colorado Denver and the Latino Public Health Certificate at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her focus is on social determinants of health, specifically how immigration status, socioeconomic status, discrimination, and individual lived experiences impact health and well-being. She is a graduate assistant at the CU Denver Evaluation Center, and has found a passion for evaluation and public health research with an emphasis on qualitative and ethnographic research. Emily spent over a year in Ecuador volunteering in an indigenous community which ignited a passion for her to learn and understand, and one day help promote health equities. She also met the man who would become her husband while in Ecuador. After graduating, Emily intends to find a career path that works towards reducing health disparities among Latino populations and other marginalized communities. Her digital story “The Condition” represents her personal growth as a researcher and professional by appreciating the important knowledge, stories, and human connections that are created through qualitative research methods.