Biography
Dr. Nervi is an international health scholar with extensive experience in teaching, research, mobilizing resources and working with multi-disciplinary teams in cross-cultural settings. Her academic background includes a bachelor’s in social anthropology, a master’s degree in social sciences, a master’s degree in public health, a PhD in medical anthropology, and a residency at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s International Health Training Program.
She has focused her research on national and international health policies associated with health systems and services reform; the importance of community participation as a critical factor in these reforms; the composition, trends and engagement of the health workforce; and the technical and financial factors that strengthen health systems at home and abroad. Dr. Nervi has worked in nearly every country of the Americas with universities, governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, communities and nongovernmental organizations. She has led baseline studies and implementation of evidence-based health programs and policies and built stakeholder networks for global health initiatives to contribute to the democratization of knowledge and to address health inequities that afflict underserved, low-income, and vulnerable populations. Currently, she is an assistant professor of health systems, services and policies at the UNM College of Population Health where she continues focusing her teaching, research and community service on the long road to equity and health justice locally and globally.
Areas of Specialty
- Health systems, services, and policies
- Global health policies and health sectoral reforms
- Implementation/CBPR Sciences in health systems change
Key Publications
Nervi L, Jacobson H, Buckley B, Soto Mas F. Health Equity and Social Justice. In: Gan J (Ed). Health Promotion Moving Forward: A Population Level Approach. Springer Publishing. Forthcoming Sept. 2024.
Nervi, L, Birn, A.E. Critical Political Economy of Latin America's Healthcare Systems: A Century of Struggles. In The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Health and Healthcare (pp. 309-321). Routledge, 2024.
Soto Mas F, Sebastian R, Rosero D, Nervi L, Casanova V, Guldan S. Safety and Injury of US-Certified Organic Crop Producers in the Southwest Region. J Agromedicine. 2024; 29(2), 168-178. Special issue on Surveillance. Published ahead online in Nov 2023.
Rosero DV, Soto Mas F, Nervi L, Sebastian R, Casanova V, Guldan S. Impact of COVID-19 on USDA-certified organic producers: exploring the role of sociodemographic and contextual factors. Org. Agr. 2023;13(2):133–44. doi: 10.1007/s13165-023-00430-9.
Johnson A, Soto Mas F, Nervi L, Erhardt E, Qeadan F. We Need You Here! Predictors of Job Placement and Practice among New Mexico Family Medicine Residents. South Med J. 2022 Oct;115(10):734-739. doi: 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001451. PMID: 36191908.
Soto Mas F, Nervi L, Rosero DV, Sebastian R, Guldan S, Casanova V. COVID-19 and Essential Workers: Healthcare Delays among Organic Farmers, Journal of Healthcare Quality Research 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhqr.2022.02.001
Jacobson H, Soto Mas F, Nervi L. Health Equity, Social Justice & Health Promotion. In: Carl I. Fertman (Editor). Health Promotion Programs: From Theory to Practice (3rd Edition). Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2022.
Rosero D, Soto Mas F, Sebastian, R, Guldan S, Casanova V, Nervi L. COVID-19 Prevalence and Prevention Behaviors Among US Certified Organic Producers. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2021. Vol October 07 doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002411.
Jin Q, Boyce TW, Kang H, Nervi L, Sussman AL, Guest D. Acceptability of Phone Calls and Texts to Promote Healthy Behaviors among Hispanic Spanish-Speaking Populations. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2021; Vol 1-16. doi: 10.1177/07399863211034950.
Gravitt P, Silver M, Hussey H, Arrossi S, Huchko M, Jeronimo J, Kapambwe S, Kumar S, Meza G, Nervi L, Paz-Soldan V, Woo Y. Achieving Equity in Cervical Cancer Elimination in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs): Strengthening Health Systems Using a Systems Thinking Approach. Preventive Medicine. 2021; Vol 144: 106322.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106322
Whitaker D, Snyder F, San Miguel-Majors S , Bailey LA, Springfield S; for the S2S Collaborative (Nervi L member of the S2S Collaborative). Screen to Save: Results from NCI’s Colorectal Cancer Outreach and Screening Initiative to Promote Awareness and Knowledge of Colorectal Cancer in Racial/Ethnic and Rural Populations. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020. Vol 29:910–7 doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-0972. Authorship was updated to include S2S Collaborative authors in October 2021.
Gravitt P, Rositch A, Jurczuk M, Meza G, Carrillo L, Jeronimo J, Adsul P, Nervi L, Kosek M, Tracy JK, Paz-Soldan V. Integrative Systems Praxis for Implementation Research (INSPIRE): An Implementation Methodology to Facilitate the Global Elimination of Cervical Cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2020; Vol 20:9. 1710-1719. DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-
Soto Mas F, Nervi L. COVID-19 in the Land of Enchantment. Health Promotion Practice, 2020; invited commentary 62/9.
Birn AE, Nervi L. (Re-)Making a People’s WHO. American Journal of Public Health. 2020; Vol 110:9. 352-1353. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305806Spanish versions of (Re-)Making a People’s WHO: Translation by Nervi L.
- Construyendo una OMS para la gente. Social Medicine. 2020; Vol 13:2.
- HIPA, Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, August 3, 2020.
https://www.hifa.org/rss-feeds/96834259
French version of (Re-)Making a People’s WHO: Re-faire l’OMS pour le people. https://blogs.mediapart.fr/anne-emanuelle-birn/blog/210720/re-faire-l-oms-pour-le-peuple
German version of (Re-)Making a People’s WHO: Die (Wieder-)Herstellung einer WHO für die Menschen. July, 2020. https://www.bukopharma.de/index.php/de/8-aktuelles/361-who-fuer-menschen
Soto Mas F, Nervi L. COVID-19 in the Land of Enchantment. Scientific Blog of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), June 29, 2020. https://www.sophe.org/news/covid-19-in-the-land-of-enchantment/
Gravitt P, Rositch A, Jurczuk M, Meza G, Carrillo L, Jeronimo J, Adsul P, Nervi L, Kosek M, Tracy JK, Paz-Soldan V. Integrative Systems Praxis for Implementation Research (INSPIRE): An Implementation Methodology to Facilitate the Global Elimination of Cervical Cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2020; Vol 20:9. 1710-1719. https://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/29/9/1710
Birn AE, Nervi L. What Matters in Health (Care) Universes: Delusions, Dilusions and Ways towards Universal Health Justice. Globalization and Health. 2019; Vol 15:0. (Special Issue on the political determinants of health inequity and universal health coverage). https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-019-0521-7#ethics
Rodriguez MI (Commissioned), Brito P, Campos F, Nervi L, Rovere M [equal contribution]. Human Resources for Health as Protagonists of Health Systems Based on PHC. High-level Commission of the Universal Health in the 21st Century: 40 Years of Alma-Ata, PAHO/WHO. Report of the HLC (Group 5, Human Resources), Washington DC, September 2019. Spanish (original) and English. http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/50742/9789275120682_eng.pdf?sequence=16
Birn AE, Nervi L, Siqueira E. Neoliberalism Redux: The Global Health Policy Agenda and the Politics of Cooptation in Latin America and Beyond. Development and Change. 2016; Vol.47:4. ttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dech.12247/epdf
Iriart C, Nervi L, Schoj V, Rios, B, Castronuovo L. New challenges to Control Tobacco Consumption in Latin America: International Trade and Investment Agreements. Diversitates International Journal. 2015; Vol 7:2.1-23. http://www.diversitates.uff.br/index.php/1diversitates-uff1/issue/current
Birn AE, Nervi L. Political Roots of the Struggle for Health Justice in Latin America. The Lancet. 2015; Vol 385:14.1174-1175. http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673614618444.pdf?id=eaa78AEMtMO8nbVmqrEKu
Birn AE, Nervi L. Las Raíces Políticas de la Lucha por la Justicia en Salud en América Latina II. [Political Roots of the Struggle for Health Justice in Latin America II]. Social Medicine Journal. 2014; Vol 9:3. 251-255. ttp://socialmedicine.info/index.php/medicinasocial/article/view/850
Nervi L. Acerca de los Procesos de Cooperación Internacional en Salud y sus Problemas. [About the Processes of International Cooperation in Health and their Problems]. Diversitates International Journal. 2014; Vol 6:1. ttp://diversitatesjournal.wordpress.com/vol-06-n-01-2014/
Nervi L. Easier Said than Done in Global Health: A Glimpse at Nonfinancial Challenges in International Cooperation. GESPAM Equilibri, 2014. http://www.peah.it/2014/02/easier-said-than-done-in-global-health-a-glimpse-at-nonfinancial-challenges-in-international-cooperation/
Chiriboga D, Buss P, Birn AE, Garay J, Muntaner C, Nervi L. Investing in Health. Correspondence. The Lancet. 2014; Vol 383: (9921):949. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60473-6/fulltext
Languages
- • English • Spanish • Portuguese (working knowledge) • Italian (working knowledge)
Research
The principles that guide Nervi’s research approach and cooperation with Latin America, the region of her expertise, are based on the recognition of the diversity and heterogeneity of the region; avoiding rapid and superficial explanations for the complexity of its historical processes and struggles; avoid patronizing or idealizing the region; overcome epistemological approaches based on the ethnocentric otherness of Latin America and the populations of Latin American descent in the US; recognize that Latin America has a strong tradition of scientific production and that its educators and researchers are a continuous source of learning and dialogue; and build sustainable, symmetrical, and cooperative relationships with Latin America’s peoples and institutions.
Courses Taught
- Global Health
- Health Systems, Services, and Policies
- Health Care Systems
- International Cooperation in Health