Laura Lopez-Sanders, PhD, MA, MEd

Laura Lopez-Sanders, PhD, MA, MEd, is a researcher and a scholar with expertise in the areas of immigration, inequality, social policy, and race and ethnic relations. Her dissertation research, “Is Brown the New Black? Latino Immigrant Incorporation in New Destinations,” examines immigrant integration in regions undergoing rapid demographic change before and after the Great Recession. Her project is based on nearly 300 interviews and 15 months of participant observation research in which she studied immigrant integration and race relations by working and living alongside Latino immigrants, African Americans, and Whites in the South. This research inspired her to study health as an important dimension in the process of immigrant integration. Her most recent project examines the ways in which health care reform influences access and the delivery of health services for undocumented Latino immigrants and other vulnerable populations at Federally Qualified Health Centers. Lopez-Sanders received an MEd in International Education Policy from Harvard University, an MA in Social Sciences and Education, and a PhD in sociology from Stanford University. She has received various awards and grants, including a National Science Foundation Research Grant and two American Sociological Association awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Papers. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (on leave 2011–2013).