Frania Mendoza Lua

Dr. Frania Mendoza Lua is a Postdoctoral Trainee in the Health Disparities Research Scholars (HDRS) Program in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health. She employs critical qualitative and quantitative methodologies to investigate the policy, social, and cultural influences that influence family life and sexual and reproductive health of Latine communities in the United States. Her current research examines the consequences of exclusionary immigration and social welfare policies on Latine children of immigrants across the life course with a focus on fertility, contraceptive use, and sexual health inequities.

Dr. Mendoza Lua is originally from Santa Ana, California, earned her PhD from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, her MSW from the University of Michigan and holds practice experience as a youth organizer and medical social worker, and dual B.A. degrees in Political Science and Anthropology from UCLA (Go Bruins!), where she was a Ronald E. McNair Research Scholar.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I was a weird kid, I wanted to be a Stock Market Analyst

What is a special talent?

I’ve sang mariachi since I was a little girl, and can play the guitar and the saxophone.

What is your favorite thing to nerd out about?

Two F’s Food and Fashion. I love the political, scientific, and artistic aspect of the two. I can spend hours reading and appreciating it, recreating my favorite restaurant meals, and breathing new life (I sew) to thrifted clothes.