Biography

Dr. Martinez Tyson is academically trained in applied medical anthropology and epidemiology. She is an Associate Professor at the College of Public Health and has an affiliate appointment in the Department of Anthropology and is a faculty member in the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program, Moffitt Cancer Center. As an applied medical anthropologist, she brings cross-cultural perspectives to the study of cancer health disparities as well as extensive experience in qualitative, ethnographic, and mixed methods research. Her program of research has consistently focused on understanding the influence of socio-cultural factors on health and to develop and identify the best models and methods for adapting instrumentation and proven interventions to address health disparities across the cancer continuum.  

She has worked to develop and culturally adapt evidence-based interventions to address the psychosocial and information needs of Hispanic patients. For example, she led an exploratory sequential mixed method study, which employed a series of iterative and group consensus-building approaches, to translate and culturally adapt the previously validated CaSUN measure into Spanish, for Latino cancer survivors. In addition, she also worked to culturally adapt and evaluate a patient self-administered stress-management training intervention for Hispanic/Latina breast cancer patients and education tools to promote cancer screening. She also has extensive experience in program evaluation and has conducted process and outcome evaluation for several National Cancer Institute and CDC funded health disparities initiatives, including the Tampa Bay Community Cancer Network, Cancer, and Culture and Literacy Training Institute and Florida Prevention Research Center.  

She is bilingual in English and Spanish and has worked closely with various community-based organizations to address health disparities among ethnic minorities and underserved populations in the United States as well as Latin America (e.g., Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Panama). Her community experience has also provided her with invaluable insights about partnership and coalition building processes. Dr. Martinez Tyson is also a volunteer with Latinos Unidos por Un Nuevo Amanecer, Inc. a non-profit organization that provides support to Latinos diagnosed with cancer and Campamento Alegria, a 3-Day integrative program for Latina cancer survivors. She is currently working with faculty across COPH on the Salud Latina Initiative to address Latino health disparities.  

Dr. Martinez Tyson has an outstanding mentorship record and serves as the major/co-major professor of several doctoral students. She is the recipient of the 2020 Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Public Health in 2017. She enjoys teaching and mentoring students immensely. She has extensive experience in qualitative methods and currently teaches three graduate level qualitative methods courses in the College of Public Health and has served as the qualitative lead on several NIH funded projects and qualitative content expert on numerous dissertation committees across USF. Dr. Martinez Tyson’s work has appeared in the journals CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, Journal of Cancer Education, Health Promotion Practice, Social Science and Medicine and Cancer Control Journal. She is an associate editor for the Journal Ethnicity and Health.