Health research project puts empathy into action

09/29/2026

SUNY Cortland senior Andy Rivera Ramirez migrated on her own to the United States six years ago, encouraged by her family to pursue new educational opportunities.

Now, through an undergraduate research project focused on community health, her own experiences are supporting migrant families as they navigate life in the U.S.

Rivera is conducting health equity research through SUNY Cortland's Health Department, under the mentorship of Professor Jena Curtis, the department's chair.

Thanks to a partnership with the Cortland Migrant Education Tutorial and Support Services (METS) Program and Family Planning of South-Central New York, Rivera researched how migrant agricultural families experience U.S. healthcare, with a focus on reproductive health.

To do that, she has interviewed METS tutors to learn about the challenges migrant families face when accessing reproductive healthcare. She also has joined home visits alongside METS staff.

By understanding how the program serves families, and building a better rapport with them, Rivera's work will help ensure future outreach is better tailored to their needs, all of whom have members working on local farms.

"I was very happy and it made me feel very excited and motivated to work with these communities and to make them feel like they're not alone and that somebody cares," she said. "And if I am that resource after being here for almost six years, that's great. I grew a lot personally, professionally and academically."

Rivera was seeking a way to get research experience during her senior year and approached Curtis about potential opportunities.

"The timing was uncanny," Curtis said. "I had been talking with local healthcare providers about ways to improve access for migrant communities, and then Andy stopped me after class one day to ask whether I was conducting any research that summer."

Curtis saw Rivera as the perfect student to develop an authentic relationship, as the work has also involved transcribing interviews, translating posters and analyzing data.

"This project would not be possible without Andy's language skills and deep cultural understanding," Curtis said.

The information collected aims to support the development of culturally responsive health education resources, professional development opportunities for METS tutors and stronger partnerships with local healthcare providers.

"We're seeing a lot of issues with healthcare and access to reproductive health, but the barrier was the language and people not feeling comfortable because it was a different culture," Rivera said.

By identifying challenges such as language barriers, transportation limitations and healthcare navigation - as well the community's strengths - this work aims to improve reproductive healthcare access for migrant communities across the counties METS serves.

The migrants helped are mostly Mexican, Rivera said. She herself migrated from Mexico six years ago at the age of 18. Her parents stayed in Mexico, so she learned firsthand the difficulties of adapting to a new culture and new requirements.

It was frustrating then, but invaluable for her work now.

"The healthcare system is completely different. I have never had to deal with insurance - the different types of care that you get here," she said.

Both of Rivera's parents earned a Ph.D. in Mexico, so applying to colleges in the U.S. also introduced her to a new education system. She benefited from attending in bilingual schools and speaking English most of her life.

"I had also come to the U.S. many times before, which is maybe something that's very different from what the families are facing," she said. "But I still understand it, because in some ways I'm still an outsider just like they are, and it feels like it sometimes."

After migrating, Rivera worked two gap years as an au pair on Long Island. She started college in Mexico and volunteered as a paramedic there for three years, so she already had exposure to the medical sector.

"I knew I didn't want to be a doctor," Rivera said. "Looking at different programs in SUNY, I found Cortland's healthcare management program."

Rivera still views her career path as wide open but said that her time on the project has opened her eyes to new possibilities after graduation. She and Curtis continue to work on the project, developing educational materials, with plans to publish their research.

"Right now, we're still working on how to connect families directly to clinics to get treatments."