Marisa Westbrook¹
Biography
I am an Assistant Professor in Health Promotion and Community Health at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health at Portland State University, teaching courses related to program planning and evaluation, urban and community health, health equity, and social justice. I am a community-engaged researcher studying the impacts of the affordable housing crisis and urban inequity on mental health and wellbeing among low-income communities of color. In my work on the spectrum from houseless to precariously housed, I identify the mental stressors present with uncertainty, waiting, transition, and displacement pressures due to public policies and structural neighborhood-level interventions. I focus on populations that have been made structurally vulnerable through exclusion, racism, and discrimination. My research approach emphasizes lived experience through ethnographic, qualitative, and participatory research methods. I aim to contribute to changing the narrative in public health towards structural solutions to advance equity in mental health and housing. My research has been published in outlets including Social Science & Medicine, Critical Public Health, Journal of Adolescent Health, and Geoforum. I have a PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Colorado Denver and an MPH in Health and Social Behavior from the University of California Berkeley. I grew up in Portland and enjoy walks in the forest, cooking & baking, and reading dystopian fiction. I am always happy to meet with students and community members interested in housing & neighborhood research and qualitative and/or community-based research methods.
Education, Degrees
- 2022 – PhD Health and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado Denver
- 2017 – MPH Health & Social Behavior, University of California, Berkeley
- 2012 – BA International Affairs, George Washington University
Awards and Honors
- National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families’ Fellowship Program for Research on Economic Well-Being (2025-2026)
- National Alliance to End Homelessness Grant for Improving the Effectiveness of Permanent Supportive Housing (2023-2025)
- Portland State University Faculty Development Grant (2023-2025)
- National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families’ Professional Development Grant (2023)
- CU Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Outstanding PhD Graduate (2022)
- Colorado Public Health Association, Outstanding Community Service Award (2022)
¹ CEPH Primary Instructional Faculty
² CEPH Non-Primary Instructional Faculty
Experienced Faculty With Diverse Backgrounds
More than 150 faculty members work within the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. They have a wide range of expertise, from monitoring and assessing health risks and opportunities in populations, to helping build health-supporting social environments through policy, advocacy, and programs. They are educators, advisors, researchers, practitioners and community leaders. They come from backgrounds in quantitative, behavioral, environmental and social sciences, policy and government, exercise and health sciences and anthropology, among many other areas. They all work in collaboration with each other and with community partners, and are especially focused on the training and education of future leaders and practitioners in the public health fields.
Have Questions About Our Faculty?
Contact us to learn more about our expert faculty and their experience in improving public health in the community.