06/25/2026
The University of Wyoming’s Rural Health Institute welcomes an associate research professor who specializes in policy research studying women’s health and maternal health through a reproductive justice lens and whose published work this month focuses on the current state of women’s health research and demystifying the use of vaccinations involving newborns.
Gabriela “Gaby” Alvarado, a physician who joined the Rural Health Institute in spring of 2026, part of the UW College of Health Sciences, is a policy researcher dedicated to advancing reproductive justice and health equity. Her career bridges medicine, public health, anthropology, and policy analysis, with a central focus on the experiences of women, youth, and underserved and rural communities in the United States and Latin America.
“Wyoming felt like a natural fit for the kind of work I care most about,” says Alvarado. “Rural communities hold a very special place in my heart. Having lived and worked in rural Costa Rica and Alaska I came to understand firsthand how the realities on the ground shape what is actually feasible, and that experience made me deeply attentive to developing policy and public health programming that is grounded in the lived conditions of the communities it’s meant to serve.”
