Yumary Ruiz

Yumary Ruiz

New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Clinical Assistant Professor & Public Health Internship Director

Phone: 212-998-5456
Email: yr24@nyu.edu

• Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health
• Community Public Health

Yumary Ruiz is an assistant clinical professor of public health and the public health internship director for the Community Public Health Program in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. Dr. Ruiz completed her dissertation work in the area of Health Promotion/Disease Prevention with a focus on Health Policy and Health Advocacy. Her research focus, and a natural extension of her professional work, is empowerment and its impact on health outcomes at individual, community and system levels.  Her research interests lie in the investigation of Sociopolitical Empowerment and the use of the Internet by non-profit organizations, specifically for breast cancer advocacy, and its association to sociopolitical empowerment. 

Throughout her career, Dr. Ruiz has had many opportunities to teach classes, invent new courses, coordinate and implement service-based projects, and design competency-based training curriculums.  She has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses on a variety of issues including women’s health issues, dying and death, human sexuality, current public health policy, health promotion and health education interventions among special populations, and the delivery of health care in the United States. Her pedagogical experiences coupled with her passion for empowerment practice have shaped her philosophy on teaching and learning.  As such, she strives to create a classroom environment that provokes students to question assumptions, values student expression, stimulates critical thinking skills, and fosters mutual respect and trust.

In addition to her interest in research and teaching, Dr. Ruiz has a strong commitment to public health practice that builds capacity and creates social change.  As a public health practitioner, she has coordinated and implemented innovative health programs using  multi-component (incorporated media, educational, policy and environmental activities), multi-sectoral (involved a coordinated response from community organizations, faith-based organizations, academic associations, government agencies, and neighborhood residents), and multi-setting (activities were carried out in health care, home, school, and other community settings) approaches.  Furthermore, she has been centrally involved in grant development and grant writing efforts that have secured private and public funds for a variety of community engagement projects.