Marilyn Aguirre-Molina is Professor of Public Health, at the City University of New York - School of Public Health, where she teaches health equity and social justice, and leadership for public health in the master of public health and doctoral programs. In addition to teaching responsibilities, she is the Founding Executive Director of the CUNY Institute for Health Equity (CIHE). The focus of Dr. Aguirre-Molina's work at the CIHE is on applied research and policy development that address the social determinants of health among underserved populations. Prior to CUNY, she was Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in New York City. There she established and directed the Columbia University and Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD - Dominican Republic) Academic/Research Exchange Program. In 2007, she received an honorary teaching appointment at the UASD Graduate School of Medical and Health Sciences.

Before goint to Columbia, she was the Executive Vice President of the California Endowment, and Senior Program Officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation where she directed the public health portfolio. Preceding this work she was Associate Professor, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Environmental and Community Medicine. In this capacity she taught within the MD/MPH program and conducted community-based public health research focusing on ethnic/racial communities. This entailed extensive work with a cross-section of organizations and communities in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned a study and resulting monograph entitled, Latinos&apost; Barriers to Primary and Preventive Services. In addition, she edited (with C. Molina and R. Zambrana) books entitled, Health Issues in the Latino Community (2001), and, Latina Health: A Public Health Reader (2003). With grant support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, she directed a study group at Columbia University addressing The Social and Structural Factors Affecting the Health of Latino Men in the US (2011). This resulted in a book published by Rutgers University Press. Additionally, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) commissioned a study of AIDS, Poverty and Gender Inequality in Latin American and the Caribbean, which entailed work in Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Colombia.

Dr. Aguirre-Molina has served on numerous national boards and committees. Among them the Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences panel on Underage Drinking; the Centers for Disease Control, Board of Scientific Advisors; National Institutes of Health - National Advisory Council of the NIAAA; and, was elected to the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association. She is currently working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative to reduce childhood obesity. As a Kellogg Foundation Fellow, she studied the political economy of selected countries, and traveled extensively in Latin American, Cuba, Sweden and South Africa.

A native New Yorker, Marilyn received a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) in Health Sciences from Hunter College-CUNY, and was awarded a fellowship to attend Columbia University where she obtained a Master of Science degree in Community Public Health and a Doctorate in Health Education and Administration.

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