Iveris Luz Martinez

Iveris L. Martinez, Ph.D., is the Archstone Foundation Endowed Chair in Gerontology and Director of the Center for Successful Aging at California State University, Long Beach. Professor Martinez is an applied anthropologist who has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Macarthur Foundation, and others for her research on health and aging, with an emphasis on minority populations. An applied anthropologist, she has been working in the fields of public health, medicine, and aging since 1997. Her current interests include addressing disparities in services for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, interventions to address social isolation, as well as interprofessional efforts to promote aging in place.  She recently completed a study on The Experience of Alzheimer’s Disease Family Caregivers in a Hispanic Community: Cultural congruence and disparities in utilization of support services (NIA 7R03AG054142).

Between 2007 and 2018, she developed and taught courses on cultural competency, social determinants of health, and interprofessional teamwork for Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University where she also served as Associate Director of Population Health and Aging. She is co-editor of Anthropology in Medical Education: Sustaining Engagement and Impact (Springer, 2021) which seeks to improve how anthropologists contribute to health science education.

Dr. Martinez is co-founder and Chair of the Long Beach Aging Services Collaborative and member of the Los Angeles Alliance for Aging and Community Health (LAACHA). She previously served as the Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Aging, Inc., the local area agency on aging for Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties in Florida and President of the Association for Anthropology, Gerontology, and the Life Course. She holds a joint Ph.D. in Anthropology and Population & Family Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University.

  • Design for Social Inclusion of Older Adults
  • Application of the Social Sciences in Medical and Health Professions Education
  • Health Disparities in Aging

  • Experiences of Latino Family Caregivers for Persons with Alzheimer’s
  • Improving services for diverse aging population through workforce development

Last 5 years

  • Martinez IL, Acosta Gonzalez E. Care v. Caring: Obligation, duty, & love among Latino Alzheimer's Caregivers. Journal of Applied Gerontology First published online: April 28, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221084998
  • Puttock, E. J., Marquez, J., Young, D. R., Shirley, A. M., Han, B., McKenzie, T. L., ...Martinez IL,… & Cohen, D. A. (2022). Association of Masking Policies with Mask Adherence and Distancing during the SARS-COV-2 Pandemic. American Journal of Infection Control. May 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2022.04.010
  • Martinez, Iveris L. & Dennis W. Wiedman, Eds.  (2021) Anthropology in Medical Education: Sustaining Engagement and Impact. Springer.  https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-62277-0
  • Martinez IL, Acosta Gonzalez E, Quintero C, Vania MJ. The Experience of Alzheimer's Disease Family Caregivers in a Latino Community: Expectations and incongruencies in support services, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2021; gbab170,  https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab170  
  • Goebel J, Bird M, Martinez IL. Empowering the Latino Community Related to Palliative Care and Chronic Disease Management through Promotores de Salud (Community Health Workers).  Journal of Palliative Medicine. Mar 2021; 24(3): 423-427. http://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2020.0332 
  • Cannon ML, Perkinson MA, DeLaTorre AK Martinez IL., Ozer E, Sweatman WM, Browne R, Claver ML., Dobson E. Service-learning through conference-based, interdisciplinary workshops on age-friendly design.  Geriatrics & Gerontology Education, 2019; 41(2):200-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2019.1643337
  • Martinez IL, Largaespada V, Ceruto J, Baron A, Chaves PH.  Social Correlates of Depressive Symptoms among Cuban and Other Latino Older Adults in South Florida. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 2019; 26(4).
  • Uddin MS, Martinez IL. The Importance of Revising Florida’s Motorcycle Helmet Laws to Prevent Traumatic Brain Injury – A Commentary.  Florida Public Health Review. 2019; 16, 45-47.
  • Vieira ER, da Silva RA, Severi MT, Barbosa AC, Amick BC, Zevallos JC, Martinez IL, Chaves PH. Balance and Gait of Frail, Pre-Frail, and Robust Older Hispanics Geriatrics 2018, 3(3), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics3030042
  • Wiedman D, Martinez IL. Organizational Planning and Applied Anthropology:  An Analysis of Strategic Planning in Medical Education Human Organization. Sept 2017; 76(3): 264-274.

      For a full list of publications, refer to her CV(PDF)