Lexie Contreras, MPH

Lexie M. Contreras, MPH is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. Her interest in violence prevention stems from her experiences growing up in Stockton, California, and desire to better understand how place is associated with health. She is broadly interested in how the built and social environments are associated with youth firearm injury. Lexie’s current research looks at the protective role social support plays in association with youth firearm beliefs and behaviors. Lexie is a strong advocate for the mixed methods and community-engaged research methodologies and strives to incorporate both into her work.

Lexie received her BA in Geography, with a minor in global health, from UCLA and her MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education, with a certificate in social epidemiology, from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. In her spare time, she enjoys trying new restaurants across the city, taking her two dogs to the park, and travelling with her husband.