She received her B.A. in International Relations from Brown University (1995). She received her M.P.H. and Ph.D. in public health from Tulane University (2003). Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Afable-Munsuz held appointments as a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Institute for Health Policy Studies (2005-2007), National Cancer Institute Diversity Fellow (2007-2009) and National Institute on Aging Fellow at the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (2009-2011) all at the University of California, San Francisco.