Dinorah "Dina" Martinez Tyson, PhD, MPH, MA

Professor

Contact Info

• Office: LRC 211
• Academic Email: dmtyson@usf.edu
• Academic Phone: (813) 974-0723
• View My C.V.

Education

Discipline

Applied Medical Anthropology and Epidemiology

Specialization

• Community engaged research
• Latino and immigrant health
• Cancer survivorship and chronic disease management
• Cross-cultural concepts of disease and illness
• Qualitative methods and ethnography

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 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 the health of Latinos and underserved communities across the cancer continuum. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and has worked closely with various community-based organizations to address health among Latinos and underserved populations in the United States as well as Latin America (e.g., Dominican Republic, 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 in the USA and Latin America. Dr. Martinez Tyson has worked to develop and culturally adapt evidence-based interventions to address the psychosocial and information needs of Latino 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 initiatives, including the Tampa Bay Community Cancer Network, Cancer, and Culture and Literacy Training Institute and Florida Prevention Research Center. Dr. Martinez Tyson is leading a PCORI funded study to culturally adapt a widely available and effective online couple’s intervention program, OurRelationship, for Latina breast cancer survivors and their intimate partners. The adapted program is called Together After Cancer (Juntos Después del Cáncer), and it is currently being tested in a randomized control trial across Florida. She recently received an Outstanding Research Achievement Award from the University of South Florida. She has an outstanding mentorship record and serves as the major/co-major professor of several doctoral students. She is the recipient of the 2022 USF Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, 2020 Cliff Blair Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Public Health, and the Public Health Student Association Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017-2018 and again in 2021-2002. 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