Research Staff Spotlight: Dianna Guerrero Jimenez

It was her experience as a teenage patient at CHLA that inspired Health Science and Behavioral Research Associate Dianna Guerrero Jimenez to later join the organization. “I was hit by a car, and my mom and I were airlifted from the San Fernando Valley to CHLA,” Jimenez explains.

Jimenez and her family are originally from Mexico, and her mom only spoke Spanish. “Everyone at CHLA was so accommodating, providing staff who could speak Spanish and ensuring that the rest of our family could visit me as soon as possible. That experience was one factor that drew me back here.”

Jimenez obtained her undergraduate degree in public health. “I learned about developing public health care on a societal level,” she explains. “This starts with research, so when I graduated and saw an open research assistant position at CHLA, I went for it.”

Since then, Jimenez has moved up to a health science and behavioral research associate position as part of the clinical research team in the Levitt Lab, led by Pat Levitt, PhD. “I act as the project manager for a longitudinal clinical research study, the Family First Research Study,” Jimenez says. “We enroll moms and their infants and collect data from biological samples, questionnaires, and other sources to help develop tools for monitoring health and development.”

Jimenez interviews and onboards new hires for the study, while also assisting in data collection. “I just helped write and submit a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant as well,” she says. “I appreciate engaging with health on an individual level with research participants, a community level as part of our Community Advisory Committee, and an international level through collaboration with the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico.”

Beyond work, Jimenez enjoys hiking, taking care of plants, and spending time with friends and family.