The Morbidity, Mortality and Demography Lab (MOMA-D Lab) is a research collaborative led by Dr. Alexis Santos
Current Members
Alexis R. Santos PhD, Lab Leader
Alexis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. He is funded by the SSRI as part of the Social Disparities cluster. He is affiliated with the Population Research Institute, the Center for Healthy Aging, and the Data Accelerator. His research focuses on population-level health, well-being and mortality with emphasis in social disparities. You can find his published work here.
I will not be accepting new students or collaborations until Fall 2027.
Jeongmin Park, MA, Graduate Student in HDFS
Jeongmin is a second year Ph.D. student at the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. She is co-mentored by Drs. David Almeida and Alexis Santos. She is the recipient of the Joseph and Jean Britton Distinguished Graduate Fellowship (2023-2024). During the 2024-2025 academic year she was partially funded by a Research Assistanship granted by the Demography Program. Her research interests are stress spillover, aging, and working-couples. She is particularly interested in the demography and health of working couples, and policies and initiatives that can promote health and well-being among people living in this family arrangement. Before joining the Department she earned an M.A. and B.A. in Child Development from Seoul National University. Her work in progress includes an examination of demographic aging in South Korea and a study of working-couple status as a determinant of health.
Yiping Li, MPH, Graduate Student in Biobehavioral Health
Yiping is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Biobehavioral Health, with a minor in Demography. She joined the MOMA-D Lab in Summer 2024. She will be co-mentored by Drs. Alexis Santos and Michael Russell. Her ongoing work deals with the role of built environment and health. Before joining Penn State she completed her Masters in Public Health (Cornell University) and a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology with a Minor in Microbiology (Pennsylvania State University). Between 2022-2024, she conducted her work in the Rural Health Disparities Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Danielle C. Rhubart.
Carolina Hamatsu, Graduate Student
Carolina is a first year Ph.D. student, she joined the MOMA-D Lab in Fall 2024. She will be co-mentored by Drs. Alexis Santos and David M. Almeida. Her proposed work will focus on stress and physiological dysregulation in midlife and older adulthood. Before joining Penn State she completed an M.D. in the University of Sao Paulo.
Honor Students
None active.
Research Assistants
Rahisa M. Delucca-Morales MS, Researcher in Demography
Rahisa is a Social Scientist and Demographer. Rahisa supports work on fertility and historical demography with a focus on Puerto Rico from 1990 until 2020. Her areas of interest are housing insecurity, social disparities, and community-engaged research. Rahisa finished her MS in Demography at the University of Puerto Rico – Medical Sciences Campus and a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. Within MOMA-D, Rahisa’s work portfolio includes the study of (1) economic influences on fertility in Puerto Rico and (2) a revision of demographic history of Puerto Rico focusing on the 1990-2020 period. Starting on Fall 2024 she will be doing research on the use of causal methods in mortality.
Post-baccalaureate Researchers
These are researchers who have a Bachelor’s degree that have joined the lab to work on specific projects.
Michael Segovia, B.S., Post-baccalaureate Researcher ( Jan 2024- Sept 2025)
Michael is interested in health disparities. During his term as a Postbac, he will be working on evaluating whether disparities in health status are moderated by state-level adoption of the Medicaid Expansion. He will also be pursuing a Certificate in Diversity Studies and completing a certificate in Data Sciences. Michael completed his degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Our first article is at the Revise and Resubmit phase in a peer-reviewed outlet. Our second article is being drafted.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Coming soon!
Clinical Psychology Students (Minor Project Affiliates)
These are students who have chosen to work with Dr. Santos as part of their requirements for the PhD in Clinical Psychology.
If you are interested in pursuing a Minor Project with Dr. Santos feel free to send an e-mail.
Sara Albrecht Soto, MS (2022-2025)
Sara’s project explored whether the association between neighborhood cohesion and symptoms of anxiety differed by race/ethnicity among adults in the United States. She presented her work in the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), where it was awarded the 2023 Diversity Study Poster Award by the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. This project has been published in the Journal of Community Psychology. She will be rejoining the Lab in Summer 2025.
Sreelakshmi Pushpanadh, MS (2023-Present)
Sreelakshmi’s project is focused on the study of the role of residential context in shaping symptoms of psychological constructs among working-age adults in the United States. This work is being completed as part of her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. Our project has been accepted for presentation in the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). More information coming soon!
Volunteer Research Assistant
These are researchers who are performing research with Dr. Santos with a courtesy research appointment.
Ernesto Cuxil, BA
Ernesto is devoting part of his free time to develop his research skills to prepare for the pursuit of graduate education in the coming years. He is working with Dr. Santos in the implementation of causal models for the study of time series and directed readings on population economics.
Andranikki ‘Nikki’ López, A.A.
Andranikki is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. She completed Associate Degrees in Psychology and Sociology at Rio Hondo Community College in California (2019-2022). She is completing a sequence of directed readings on social disparities, and developing writing/research skills.
Sebastian Salazar-Nicholls, M.A., M. Ed.
Sebastian is a Visiting Scholar at Penn State under the auspices of the Hubert H. Humpfrey Fellowship Program (Fulbright Program). Sebastian completed his Licenciatura in Sociology and Political Sciences at Central University of Ecuador. He also completed a Masters in Innovation in Leadership from University of Cadiz and a Masters in Education with a Minor in Social Studies from Universidad del Milagro in Ecuador. He has held multiple positions in the Government, in an advisory capacity. His experience include a stint as Undersecretary for Government in 2022-2023. During his stay at Penn State he is completing courses in Latino Studies, Rural Sociology, and Research Methods. As part of the MOMA-D Lab, he is helping complete a report on demographic aging focused on Ecuador in collaboration with a network of scholars in the US, and Ecuador. He is in the process of applying for doctoral programs.
Faculty Affiliates
Amílcar Matos-Moreno PhD, Assistant Research Professor (2024-Present)
Postdoctoral Scholar (2021-2023)
Amílcar is a NIA-funded Postdoctoral scholar (2021-2023) co-hosted by the Crossnational Aging Research Lab (CARL). He is affiliated with the Population Research Institute and the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State. His research focuses on aging, psychosocial measures, and health among Hispanic older adults in the United States, Puerto Rico and Latin America. Amílcar finished his PhD in Social Epidemiology at the University of Michigan in 2021. You can find his published work here. As of Fall 2023, he will be working at the Carlos Albizu University as a faculty with a focus on Methodology.
With NIA funding, he has published the following works:
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Matos-Moreno, A., Santos-Lozada, A.R., Mehta, N., Mendes de León, C., Le Scherban, F., and De Lima-Friche, A. (2021). Migration is the Driving Force of Rapid Aging in Puerto Rico: A Research Brief, Population Research and Policy Review. (Link)
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Matos-Moreno, A., Verdery, A.M., Mendes de Leon, C.F., De Jesus-Monge, V., and Santos-Lozada, A. R. (2022). Aging and the Left Behind: Puerto Rico and Its Unconventional Rapid Aging. The Gerontologist (Link).
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Quashie, NY, Garcia, C., Meltzer, G.m Andrade, F.C.D., and Matos-Moreno, A. (2023). Neighborhood socioeconomic position, living arrangements, and cardiometabolic disease among older Puerto Ricans: An Examination using PREHCO 2002-2007. PloS One. (Link)
- Matos-Moreno, A., Alburez-Gutierrez, D., Williams, I., Verdery, A., Fernandez, M. and Santos-Lozada, A. (2025). Kinship Structures for Left Behind Older Adults in High Outmigration Contexts: Evidence from Puerto Rico. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
Past Affiliates
Sarah Sharmin, PhD, Research Assistant in Population Health
Sarah is a population health scientist and demographer. Sarah supports work on health outcomes of opportunity youth focusing on substance use. Her areas of interest include women’s health, substance use and risky health behaviors. Sarah finished her M.S. in Applied Demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a MS and BA in Sociology at the University of Dhaka. Within MOMA-D, Sarah’s work portfolio includes the (1) opportunity youth and substance use and (2) she is supporting grant-writing activities. Sarah worked with us from August 2022 until December 2023. She completed her PhD during her last semester with us. In 2024, she joined the Division of Vaccine Excellence in the New York State Department of Health as a Research Scientist. LinkedIn.
De’jah R. Coates, Honor Thesis Researcher
De’jah joined MOMA-D Lab as Senior in the Department of Biobehavioral Health. Before being at Penn State she completed her Associate Degree in the Prince George Community College. Under Dr. Santos’ mentorship she completed her Honor’s thesis project titled “Genetic, Behavioral, and Health-Related Associations in the Journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence: A Scoping Review“. De’jah conducted a bibliometric analysis of genetics and substance use focused on the evolution of this scholarship from 2000-2023. She graduated on May 2024 and joined the Pharmacology Program at the University of Pennsylvania. LinkedIn.
Mizael joined MOMA-D Lab as a Senior in the University of Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Dr. Santos’ mentorship he completed his Thesis Project titled “Social Determinants of HIV/AIDS in Puerto Rico: a county-level analysis”. Mizael conducted data compilation, regression analysis, prepared and presented a research poster, and prepared the final report in line with the requirements for the University of Puerto Rico and his undergraduate program. He completed his B.S. in Natural Sciences in 2022, and joined the School of Law also at the University of Puerto Rico, where he will be completing his Juris Doctor. LinkedIn.
Kent Jason Cheng, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar (2023-2024)
Kent is a social demographer and gerontologist who is interested in life course determinants of health in the United States and the Philippines. His work centers on the health implications of family characteristics and social policy. More specifically, he delves into the role of the family in providing essential safety nets in contexts with limited government support. Kent is funded by the NIA T32 Pathways Program. As a Pathways Fellow he will be expanding his research scope to include physiological measures of health to his projects. He was mentored by Dr. Santos between 2023 and 2024. You can find his published work here.
Erik Dolgoff, MEd, MCAP, RCP, Graduate Student
Erik, or Erik D, is a third year Ph.D. student at the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. He is co-mentored by Drs. Bo Cleveland and Alexis Santos. He is the recipient of a Demography Graduate Research Assistantship which allows him to focus his time on researching the Demography of Recovery. His interest lie on substance use recovery and factors associated with transitions to recovery. He is particularly interested in leveraging clinical and population-based data to understand factors associated with recovery and recovery treatment. Before joining the Department he earned a Masters in Education with a focus on Human Development (Vanderbilt University), a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (University of Tampa) and an Associate of Arts (Palm Beach Community College). He has also supported work conducted under Dr. Santos’s R03 Project testing the reliability of recently modified census products. In Spring 2024 he completed his thesis on the on facilitators/constraints associated with recovery status among adults in the United States.