Yelba Castellon-Lopez

Biography

Dr. Yelba M. Castellon-Lopez is a clinician scientist and health services researcher with a primary focus on improving health outcomes for Latinx and other vulnerable populations. Her work spans various aspects of health equity, community engagement, and community-informed interventions.

Following her medical degree and post-doctoral clinical training in Family Medicine at UCLA, Dr. Castellon-Lopez completed a fellowship in health services research with the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA. During this time, she earned a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Dr. Castellon-Lopez’s NIH funded research focuses on addresses barriers to engagement in the Diabetes Prevention Program among low-income Latino patients, designing interventions for implementation in community health centers. Dr. Castellon-Lopez's research interests center around community-informed lifestyle interventions, cancer prevention, and promoting healthy lifestyles, all with a focus on addressing health equity. She is part of the Community Engagement Core for the UCLA-UCI Center for Eliminating Cardio-Metabolic Disparities in Multi-Ethnic Populations (UC-END DISPARITIES), that focuses on improving cardiometabolic risk factors in under-served communities.

Through collaboration with community organizations, safety-net clinics, patients and diverse stakeholders, I strive to develop and implement interventions that positively impact health outcomes and reduce disparities among vulnerable populations.