Imelda Padilla-Frausto, PhD, MPH, is a research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Her research agenda primarily focuses on the structural and social determinants related to inequities
in mental health, access to mental health care, and economic security.
Padilla-Frausto currently leads research on mental health outcomes using data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). She is project manager for a tele-psychiatry evaluation among older adults. She is program director of the California Elder Economic Security Standard ™ Index (Elder Index), which highlights and addresses the hidden economic insecurity faced by many California adults age 65 and older.
Padilla-Frausto is a commissioner for the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission, appointed by Hilda Solis, Board of Supervisors for District 1. She also serves on the Adult, Adolescent, and Child Technical Advisory Committees, and the Mental Health and Substance Use Workgroup for the California Health Interview Survey.
Prior to joining the Center, Padilla-Frausto was recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health – Career Opportunities in Research (COR) Honors Undergraduate Research Training Grant at the University of New Mexico’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA). She was a research assistant at the University of New Mexico in Family and Community Medicine where she supervised and trained promotoras (lay health-workers) to be mental health practitioners and research assistants in a community clinic setting.
Padilla-Frausto earned her PhD from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences. She wrote her dissertation on the use of mental health services among
Latinos with a focus on the role of discrimination and neighborhood crime. She received her master of public health degree from UCLA and her bachelor of science in psychology from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
in mental health, access to mental health care, and economic security.
Padilla-Frausto currently leads research on mental health outcomes using data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). She is project manager for a tele-psychiatry evaluation among older adults. She is program director of the California Elder Economic Security Standard ™ Index (Elder Index), which highlights and addresses the hidden economic insecurity faced by many California adults age 65 and older.
Padilla-Frausto is a commissioner for the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission, appointed by Hilda Solis, Board of Supervisors for District 1. She also serves on the Adult, Adolescent, and Child Technical Advisory Committees, and the Mental Health and Substance Use Workgroup for the California Health Interview Survey.
Prior to joining the Center, Padilla-Frausto was recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health – Career Opportunities in Research (COR) Honors Undergraduate Research Training Grant at the University of New Mexico’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA). She was a research assistant at the University of New Mexico in Family and Community Medicine where she supervised and trained promotoras (lay health-workers) to be mental health practitioners and research assistants in a community clinic setting.
Padilla-Frausto earned her PhD from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences. She wrote her dissertation on the use of mental health services among
Latinos with a focus on the role of discrimination and neighborhood crime. She received her master of public health degree from UCLA and her bachelor of science in psychology from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Policy Brief
Anti-immigrant rhetoric and restrictive immigration policies are widely acknowledged to have harmful impacts on the mental health of immigrant populations. Using data from the 2015 to 2021 California Health Interview Surveys, authors show changes in serious psychological distress and rates of unmet mental health care needs among immigrant adults in California.
LAist
According to a study published last year by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the percentage of immigrant adults in California with “serious psychological distress” increased by 50% between 2015 and 2021. The study defines serious psychological distress as severe, diagnosable mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety.
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“Of course we can’t directly say that the [Trump] administration caused these increases,” Padilla-Frausto, a lead author of the study, told LAist. “But what we’re saying is that there was an association between this time period of the administration and mental health outcomes.”
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March, 2023
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Though we know serious psychological distress and suicidal ideation among adults increased during the pandemic, UCLA CHPR Research Scientist Imelda Padilla-Frausto, PhD, MPH, shared data from the California Health Interview Survey on how mental health was further compromised among Californians whose livelihoods were disrupted and those who were struggling financially due to the pandemic.
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February, 2021
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM PST
Join D. Imelda Padilla-Frausto, PhD, MPH, a research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research; Blanche Wright, MA, a doctoral candidate in the UCLA Psychology Department; and Dr.
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September, 2020
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM PDT
According to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) guidelines in 2019, a single elder is considered in poverty if their income is less than $12,490. According to the California Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (CA Elder Index), older adults in California, on average, need two times the FPL amount — single elders who rent have an economic need of $27,816 for a basic and decent standard of living.
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