As a philosopher specializing in bioethics and health equity, my research investigates how emerging technologies reshape access to healthcare. I examine these technologies not as neutral tools, but as deeply political instruments that either alleviate or exacerbate systemic disparities. My work centers on marginalized communities, particularly Latinx and other communities of color, whose health outcomes are disproportionately affected by technological interventions that often ignore their cultural contexts, linguistic needs, and lived experiences of structural violence.
My research is grounded in three interconnected pillars:
- The ethical implications of AI in clinical and public health contexts.
- The chilling effects of surveillance technologies on healthcare access.
- The co-design of culturally responsive digital health tools through community-based participatory research (CBPR).
CORE RESEARCH THEMES
1. Ethical Implications of AI in Healthcare
This area of my research investigates how current approaches to algorithmic transparency—focusing on technical explainability—are not merely insufficient, but actively deceptive. My work argues that when “explainability” is rendered fluid and unenforceable, it becomes a performative shield: an epistemic gerrymandering that erodes human agency and legal responsibility.
I contend that ethical AI governance must move beyond algorithmic audits toward structural accountability. This involves centering community harm, demanding institutional redress, and reorienting design goals from efficiency to justice. This work challenges bioethical norms that treat AI as a neutral tool, insisting instead on its role in perpetuating systemic inequities.
2. Surveillance, Borders, and the Erosion of Health Access
My work in this area interrogates how state surveillance technologies—including predictive policing systems and border control AI (e.g., facial recognition and drone surveillance)—create environments of fear. This fear deters undocumented immigrants and communities of color from seeking medical care.
In ongoing collaborations with legal scholars, I analyze how the normalization of surveillance translates into health disinvestment as individuals avoid clinics, delay treatment, or forgo preventive care. This research challenges the myth of technological neutrality and reveals how “security” infrastructure functions to deepen existing health disparities, not by accident, but by design.
3. Digital Health in Multicultural Contexts: Co-Designing for Equity in Kentucky’s Latino Communities
This research pillar uses community-based participatory research (CBPR) to investigate the social, cultural, and structural barriers that determine digital health access and adoption. My current CBPR project in Kentucky partners with Latino communities to identify these fundamental barriers to care.
Through community listening sessions, focus groups with Latino families, and partnerships with local clinics, we are analyzing how social determinants of health—such as institutional distrust, language preference, and digital literacy gaps—intersect with cultural values like familismo to shape (or prevent) engagement with health technologies. The primary goal is to understand why existing systems and tools fail these communities by centering their lived experiences and community-defined needs.
ONGOING & FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Scaling CBPR Models: I aim to formalize our Kentucky-based CBPR model into a replicable framework for other states with growing Latinx populations, partnering with the University of Kentucky’s ASCEND initiative.
Predictive Policing & Health: In collaboration with a legal scholar, I am extending my analysis of Predictive Policing Technologies (PPTs) to map how algorithmic policing indirectly undermines public health infrastructure, such as by diverting resources from community clinics to surveillance systems.
AI in National Security & Migration: I am developing a policy brief on the ethical implications of border surveillance AI, with recommendations for federal oversight and civil rights impact assessments.