She is also a faculty member in the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC) in the School of Medicine and has a courtesy appointment in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior. She received her B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, her Ph.D. in Social-Personality Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. She studies the role of sociocultural context in shaping relationships, emotions, and health.