Emanuel Nuñez

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Emanuel Nuñez is a second-year doctoral student in Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin and a licensed clinical social worker from California’s Central Valley. His research explores how Latino communities experience and navigate severe mental illness through qualitative and community-engaged approaches. He holds a dual BA degree in Chicanx Studies and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara and an MSW from CSU Stanislaus. Prior to starting at UCLA Luskin, Emanuel served as an LPS-designated clinician in outpatient and emergency psychiatric settings, including the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s Psychiatric Mobile Response Team and Stanislaus County Behavioral Health’s Crisis Care Mobile Unit. He is advised by Dr. Tatiana Londoño.

Latoya Small

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Latoya Small’s scholarship is informed by her work in clinical social work practice and community-based research.

Her research focuses on health disparities, specifically, the intersection of mental health, treatment adherence, and HIV among women and children in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. Her global research addresses the urgent need for theory-driven, empirically-informed, and sustainable psychosocial HIV treatment approaches for youth living with perinatally acquired HIV in South Africa.

In the U.S., Dr. Small examines how poverty-related stress, parenting, and mental health interact and relatedly impact adherence in HIV medical services among Black and Latina women in urban communities. An extension of her work includes mental health and discrimination facing transgender women of color.

Dr. Small takes a collaborative approach in her scholarship, recognizing that traditional intra-disciplinary boundaries can impede the development of effective and sustainable research interventions. Her work aims to produce accessible, evidence-informed interventions that bolster youth development and women’s health.