Iveris Luz Martinez

Iveris L. Martinez, Ph.D., is the Archstone Foundation Endowed Chair in Gerontology and Director of the Center for Successful Aging at California State University, Long Beach. Professor Martinez is an applied anthropologist who has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Macarthur Foundation, and others for her research on health and aging, with an emphasis on minority populations. She has been working in the fields of public health, medicine, and aging since 1997. Her current interests include addressing disparities in services for caregivers and persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, interventions to address social isolation, as well as interprofessional workforce development to improve services for aging populations.  She recently completed a study on The Experience of Alzheimer’s Disease Family Caregivers in a Hispanic Community: Cultural congruence and disparities in utilization of support services (NIA 7R03AG054142).

Between 2007 and 2018, she developed and taught courses on cultural competency, social determinants of health, and interprofessional teamwork for Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University where she also served as Associate Director of Population Health and Aging. She also chaired the admissions committee for the college of medicine for 5 years. She is co-editor of Anthropology in Medical Education: Sustaining Engagement and Impact (Springer, 2021) which seeks to improve how anthropologists contribute to health science education.

Dr. Martinez is co-founder and Chair of the Long Beach Aging Services Collaborative and member of the Los Angeles Alliance for Aging and Community Health (LAACHA). She previously served as the Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Aging, Inc., the local area agency on aging for Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties in Florida and President of the Association for Anthropology, Gerontology, and the Life Course. She holds a joint Ph.D. in Anthropology and Population & Family Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University.

  • Design for Social Inclusion of Older Adults
  • Application of the Social Sciences in Medical and Health Professions Education
  • Health Disparities in Aging

  • Experiences of Latino Family Caregivers for Persons with Alzheimer’s
  • Improving services for diverse aging population through workforce development

Last 5 years

  • Martinez IL, Acosta-Gonzalez E, Black L (2024) Services for Latino family dementia caregivers: Is the workforce prepared?  Journal of Applied Gerontology. 43(9): 1251-1258.https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648241234982
  • Martinez, I. L. (2023). Supporting aging in communities through university-community collaborations.  In: Gonzalez, E.A., Angel, S. (eds) Care and Agency in Cuban Civil Society:  National Experiences and International Lessons.[Cuidados y agencia de la sociedad civil en Cuba. Experiencias nacionales y aprendizajes internacionales.] Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad Sergio Arboleda. 
  • Puttock, E. J., Marquez, J., Young, D. R., Shirley, A. M., Han, B., McKenzie, T. L., ...Martinez IL,… & Cohen, D. A. (2022). Association of Masking Policies with Mask Adherence and Distancing during the SARS-COV-2 Pandemic. American Journal of Infection Control. May 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2022.04.010
  • Martinez IL, Acosta Gonzalez E. Care v. Caring: Obligation, duty, & love among Latino Alzheimer's Caregivers. Journal of Applied Gerontology First published online: April 28, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221084998
  • Martinez IL, Acosta Gonzalez E, Quintero C, Vania MJ. The Experience of Alzheimer's Disease Family Caregivers in a Latino Community: Expectations and incongruencies in support services, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2021; gbab170,  https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab170  
  • Martinez IL, Wiedman D, eds. (2021) Anthropology in Medical Education: Sustaining Engagement and Impact.  Springer Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62277-0
  • Goebel J, Bird M, Martinez IL. Empowering the Latino Community Related to Palliative Care and Chronic Disease Management through Promotores de Salud (Community Health Workers).  Journal of Palliative Medicine. Mar 2021; 24(3): 423-427. http://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2020.0332 
  • Cannon ML, Perkinson MA, DeLaTorre AK Martinez IL., Ozer E, Sweatman WM, Browne R, Claver ML., Dobson E. Service-learning through conference-based, interdisciplinary workshops on age-friendly design.  Geriatrics & Gerontology Education, 2019; 41(2):200-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2019.1643337
  • Martinez, I. L., & Baron, A. (2020). Aging and health in the Latinx population in the USA: Changing demographics, social vulnerabilities, and the aim of quality of life. In: Martínez, A., Rhodes, S. (eds) New and emerging issues in Latinx health (pp. 145-168). Springer.
  • Martinez IL, Chaves PH, Pelaez M, Envejecimiento Activo y Participación Social. Chapter 5 In: Abizanda P & Rodríguez Mañas L, eds. Tratado de Medicina Geriatrica: Fundamentos para la atención sanitaria de los mayores, 2nd ed.  Elselvier, 2020.
  • Martinez IL, Largaespada V, Ceruto J, Baron A, Chaves PH.  Social Correlates of Depressive Symptoms among Cuban and Other Latino Older Adults in South Florida. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 2019; 26(4).
  • Uddin MS, Martinez IL. The Importance of Revising Florida’s Motorcycle Helmet Laws to Prevent Traumatic Brain Injury – A Commentary.  Florida Public Health Review. 2019; 16, 45-47.

      For a full list of publications, refer to her CV(PDF)