Overview

Associate Professor, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Affiliated Faculty, Department of Integrated Systems Engineering (ISE)

Email: maria.brunette@osumc.edu

Phone: (614) 685-0896

Primary Professional Areas of Interest

• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)
• Health Systems
• Human Factors Engineering
• Global Public Health
• Social Determinants of Health
• Sociotechnical Systems

Research Focus

With a background in industrial and systems engineering my health sciences research includes four primary areas: 1) Designing well-functioning and culturally-relevant health systems to reach marginalized and resource-poor working communities; 2) Redesigning healthcare processes and workflows with continuous improvement tools and participatory approaches; 3) Strengthening health systems via equitable collaborations with local community stakeholders -primarily in urban poor communities; and 4) Designing effective programs to reduce occupational health disparities among migrant workers in the Americas region (North/Central/South).

I use and have adapted the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach -facilitating community-engaged research that is respectful of the complex social, economic, and cultural context of vulnerable, voiceless populations often found in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

Funding

Dr. Brunette is currently funded by an interagency program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Research Training Program. Previous funding has been provided by the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), the Center to Protect Workers Right (CWPR), the UMASS Medical School Office of Global Health, and the UMASS Institute of Asian American Studies. 

Courses

HTHRHSC 4193: Global Health Inequalities: An Introductory Course

Recent Publications

Curioso WH, Brunette MJ. (2020) Inteligencia artificial e innovación para optimizar el proceso de diagnóstico de la tuberculosis (Artificial Intelligence and Innovation to Optimize TB Diagnostic Process) Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica. 2020;37(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2020.373.5585 

Ugarte-Gil, C; Icochea, M; Llontop Otero, J; Villaizan, K; Young, N; Cao, Y; Liu, B; Griffin, T; Brunette, M. (2020). Implementing a socio-technical system for computer-aided tuberculosis diagnosis in Peru: A field trial among health professionals in resource-constraint settings. Health Informatics Journal, https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458220938535 

Alcantara, M; Cao, L; Liu, B. Liu, C; Zhang, N; Zhangb, P; Griffin, T; Curioso, W; Ugarte-Gil, C; Brunette, MJ (2020). eRx – A technological advance to speed-up TB diagnostics, Smart Health, Vol 16, May 2020; , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smhl.2020.100117  

Moure-Eraso, R. and Brunette, MJ (2017). Employment Conditions as a Social Determinant of Health in Latino Populations: Policy Interventions Using the WHO Social Determinants Model. In: Leong, F; Eggerth, D; Chang, D; Flynn, M; Ford, K. and Martinez, R. (Eds.). "Occupational Health Disparities among Racial and Ethnic Minorities: Formulating Research Needs and Directions”. American Psychological Association (APA), http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0000021-003

Honors and Awards

“Grand Challenges 2020”, University of Massachusetts Lowell Office of the Chancellor: Transformational Education Grant: A Global Health Research Experience for Underrepresented Public Health Students; November 2015

Conference Travel Grant from University of Wisconsin-Madison Industrial Engineering Department to attend United Nations Conference “Geneva 2000: The Next Step for Social Development”; 2000

Education

• Ph D: Industrial and Systems Engineering, (2002), University of Wisconsin Madison - Madison, WI
  Supporting Area: Human Factors Engineering
  Dissertation/Thesis Title: Working Conditions in Peru: A Survey Study of Workers' Perceptions in an Industrially Developing Country
• MSc: Industrial Engineering, (1999), University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez - Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  Supporting Area: Cellular Manufacturing Systems
  Dissertation/Thesis Title: A Capacity-Driven Clustering Algorithm for Family Formation
• BSc: Industrial Engineering, (1992), Universty of Lima - Lima, Peru
  Dissertation/Thesis Title: Thesis: A Feasibility Study to Develop and Implement a Manufacturing Plant of Garlic (Allium sativum), Caigua (Cyclanthera pedata) & Hercampuri Gentianella Alborocea) Gelatine Caps

Appointments

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health
Deputy Editor-in-Chief