Claudine Lavarin
I believe everyone should have access to quality healthcare and opportunities and resources to improve their overall quality of life. My work at the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health aligns with this value.
Doctoral Fellow Claudine Lavarin works primarily on the evaluation of the Colors of Kindness Bus project’s impact on the social-emotional and mental well-being of migrant children and their families in Massachusetts. In this role, she conducts and co-facilitates surveys, interviews, data analysis, and the development of findings.
Lavarin is a Haitian-American professional with over 10 years of experience in public health. Her research focuses on reducing health disparities in marginalized populations, particularly migrant populations and people living with sickle cell disease. She also studies HIV prevention and maternal and child health. She is passionate about improving public health through research, education, and advocacy.
Claudine has expertise in qualitative data collection, manuscript development, and survey design. She has project management experience, has mentored interns, and has contributed to grant writing, reporting, and training materials. She also co-authored several peer-reviewed publications and presented her research at national conferences.
Previously, Claudine served as interim project manager for a CDC-funded HIV prevention study at New York University and co-facilitated public health training and workshops in Haiti. She received the Center for Anti-racist Research Fellow Award, the Pre-doctoral Research Ignition Award, and the New England Public Health Training Center Student Fellow Award from Boston University (BU).
Claudine’s public health journey began at Montclair State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in public health, with a concentration in community education. As an undergraduate, she interned at the March of Dimes NJ Chapter and developed an interest in maternal and child health. Claudine earned a Master of Public Health degree, with a concentration in management, at New York University. For her practicum project, she served as a research assistant on a CDC-funded study looking at HIV prevention methods of adolescent and young adult Black and Latino couples in the South Bronx. Claudine earned a PhD degree from the Health Services Research program at BU. Her dissertation study is about understanding sexual health and substance use education for young adults living with sickle cell disease.
