Jose F Colon-Burgos

Jose F Colon-Burgos,

AST PROF

Department: Department of Environmental and Global Health
Business Phone: (352) 273-9188
Business Email: jcolonburgos@ufl.edu

About Jose F Colon-Burgos

José Félix Colón Burgos is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Environmental and Global Health at the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions. José completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey campus, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Community Mental Health and a minor in Sociology. He continued his graduate studies at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Puerto Rico, Health Sciences campus, where he earned a Master’s in Science in Health Systems Research and Evaluation and a doctorate in Public Health specializing in studying the Social Determinants of Health. After his fieldwork in the Dominican Republic studying post-deportation and health, José completed two Postdoctoral fellowships at Florida International University at the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) and the Center for Research on US Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA).

José Félix has worked as a research evaluator with various community, state, and international organizations aiming to tackle social and public health problems from a social justice perspective. His research interests include the study of the social determinants of health and the social determination of health, the effects of inequality and social structures in health, maternal and child health, substance abuse, and sexual risk behaviors, access to health services, and the study of the political economy of health. José incorporates social theory, critical medical anthropology, and critical public health with ethnographic, qualitative, and quantitative research techniques to explore the pathways of health risk in socially marginalized populations.

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Teaching Profile

Courses Taught
2024
HSC4970 Public Health and Health Professions Senior Honors Thesis
2024
PHC7979 Advanced Research
2024
PHC6605 Social Determinants of Health
Teaching Philosophy
As an educator, I ground my work in the pedagogical approach of Paulo Freire, which demands that an educator does not perceive their students as passive receptors of information, but instead as empowered and active creator of knowledge. I firmly believe in creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for critical discussion in the classroom, visualizing the classroom as a microcosm of our society. To maintain a classroom environment conducive to learning and that encourages critical dialogue, both the professor and the students need to comprehend that learning is a reciprocal process where all participants influence each other. Focusing then on a collective rather than a lecture-centered approach, I will integrate the use of classical sociological, anthropological, and public health theories and new evidence-based knowledge with the student’s own social experiences into my courses. This gives the student the analytical skills to critically analyze the current global socio-political and health issues by applying the concepts and theories discussed in class.

Research Profile

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID)

0000-0002-0038-8899

Areas of Interest
  • Medical Anthropology
  • Community Programs
  • Drug abuse
  • Drug addiction
  • Global Health
  • HIV Prevention
  • Health disparities and Social determinants of health
  • Innovative Public Behavioral Health Intervention Models
  • Program evaluation
  • Qualitative Research

Publications

2023
A qualitative community health assessment of HIV prevention awareness in a semi-rural Latinx seasonal farm working community in South Florida
Culture, Health & Sexuality. 1-16 [DOI] https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2023.2296483.
2023
Exit is the answer: The political nature of Central American migration
International Migration. [DOI] 10.1111/imig.13206.
2023
“The familiar taste of poison”: a qualitative study of multi-level motivations for stimulant use in sexual minority men living in South Florida
Harm reduction journal. 20(1) [DOI] https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00787-w.
2022
Coping with stress and anxiety: an ethnographic comparison of labor and health vulnerabilities among Dominican deportees in two transnational industries
Critical Public Health. 32(3):345-356 [DOI] 10.1080/09581596.2020.1826031. [PMID] 35614902.
2022
COVID-19, science, vaccines and family in a multi origin Latinx population in South Florida
Frontiers in public health. 10 [DOI] https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.997449.
2021
Associations of Objective and Perceived Neighborhood Ethnic Density on Hazardous Alcohol Use among Latinx Emerging Adults
Substance Use & Misuse. 56(3):339-344 [DOI] 10.1080/10826084.2020.1840588. [PMID] 33459146.
2021
Male transactional sex in the Dominican Republic: The politics of labor exclusion
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2020
An institutional ethnography of prevention and treatment services for substance use disorders in the Dominican Republic
Global Public Health. 15(5) [DOI] https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2019.1701059.
2020
Psychosocial Stress, Bicultural Identity Integration, and Bicultural Self-efficacy among Hispanic Emerging Adults
Stress and Health. [DOI]  https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2993.
2019
Adaptation of PhotoVoice methodology to promote policy dialog among street-based drug users in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Arts & Health. 11(2):147-162 [DOI] 10.1080/17533015.2018.1444647. [PMID] 31038444.
2019
An ethnographic study of ‘touristic escapism’and health vulnerability among Dominican male tourism workers
Global public health. 14(11) [DOI] https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2019.1651370.
2018
Tourism labor, embodied suffering, and the deportation regime in the Dominican Republic
Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 32(4) [DOI] https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12447.
2016
Methods of mapping ethnographic data on migration, tourism labor, and health risk in the Dominican Republic
The Florida Geographer. 47 [DOI] http://journals.fcla.edu/flgeog/article/view/88312/84874.
2014
Disparities and barriers encountered by immigrant Dominican mothers accessing prenatal care services in Puerto Rico
Journal of immigrant and minority health. 16 [DOI] https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9875-8.
2014
Percepciones y experiencias sobre los determinantes sociales de la salud en una muestra de profesionales y estudiantes de Psicolog{\’\i}a y Educaci{\’o}n para la Salud en Puerto Rico
Salud \& Sociedad. 5(2) [DOI] https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=439742475004.

Grants

Jun 2023 ACTIVE
Testing a culturally tailored behavioral intervention to reduce co-occurring substance use and HIV risk among stimulant-using Latinx Men who have sex with Men in South Florida
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding: NATL INST OF HLTH NIDA

Education

DrPH, Social Determinants of Health
2017 · University of Puerto Rico, Graduate School of Public Health
MS, Health Systems Research and Evaluation
2011 · University of Puerto Rico, Graduate School of Public Health
BA, Psychology and Mental Health
2008 · University of Puerto Rico, Cayey

Contact Details

Phones:
Business:
(352) 273-9188
Emails:
Addresses:
Business Street:
1225 CENTER DR
GAINESVILLE FL 32610

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