Dolores Acevedo-Garcia

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia is a professor of Human Behavior, Research, & Policy and director of the Institute for Equity in Child Opportunity & Healthy Development (IECOHD). Her research focuses on the social determinants of racial/ethnic inequities in health (e.g., residential segregation, neighborhood inequality, immigrant adaptation); the role of social policies in reducing those inequities (e.g., housing, anti-poverty, immigrant policies); and the well-being of children with special needs.

Dr. Acevedo-Garcia uses a child’s rights and health equity perspective, emphasizing that children’s lives have inherent value, and that society should invest in both ensuring their well-being during childhood and supporting their potential as adults.

She is the project director of diversitydatakids.org, a comprehensive research program and indicator database on racial/ethnic equity in child opportunity and well-being across multiple sectors and geographies, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. diversitydatakids.org is recognized for its rigorous equity-focused data tools and research, including its flagship Child Opportunity Index and Policy Equity Assessments. The project collaborates with researchers, organizations, and policy agencies to improve children’s equitable access to opportunity and well-being.

Dr. Acevedo-Garcia currently serves on the congressionally-mandated National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on Federal Policy Impacts on Child Poverty. From 2017 to 2019, she served on the NASEM committee that produced the landmark report A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty.