AlinaEngelman, DrPH, MPH Faculty Profile

Photo of Alina Engelman

Alina  Engelman, DrPH, MPH

Associate Professor

What makes me unique

Dr. Engelman was the recipient of the   from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. She serves as Co-Director of CSUEB's  Center for Disability Justice Research (2025-2026, and 2026-2028) and was previously Director of Outreach and Community Engagement (2024-2025) and Governing Board member. Pre-tenure and promotion, she recieved CSUEB's Outstanding Researcher Award (2020-2021).

Her areas of interest include global health, disability-related health disparities and emergency preparedness communication. Her teaching includes courses in global disability health, epidemiology, health disparities and program evaluation.

She received her Doctor of Public Health degree (DrPH) at UC Berkeley, her MPH in Global Health at Yale University and her BA at Brown University. She served on the Board of the Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education and was a member of the Community Health Commission for the City of Berkeley. 

Her scholarly work focuses on health disparities for the deaf and disabled. For example, exploring global disability justice and the emergency preparedness and response role of community-based organizations serving older adults and people with disabilities in Puerto Rico. Other research in conjunction with the Gallaudet Center on Deaf Health Equity on COVID-19 and food insecurity in the deaf community was tweeted by the CDC as part of its daily credible health and safety updates.

  • DrPH, University of California at BerkeleyMPH, Global Health, Yale UniversityBA, Brown University

  • Not teaching this semester.

  • Selected publications:

    • Rfat, M., Engelman, A., Seaborn, S. (2026). “US forced deportation, language exclusion, and disability justice.” , Volume 407, Issue 10528, 569.
    • Noschese E., Engelman, A., Oakes, L, Farovitch, L.  (2026). “Assessment of the Quality of Life and Communication Needs of Deaf Ecuadorians.” European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. Special issue on Combatting Health Disparities Among Diverse Deaf Individuals: Perspectives from Health, Psychology, and Education. Vol 16(6), 2025.  
    • Engelman, A., Ismail, S., Fenlon, J., Emily Noschese, E., Farovitch, L. (2025). “Water & Food Insecurity and Quality of Life for Deaf Nigerians: A Community-Based Cross Sectional Study.” Water Security. Vol 24: Apr 2025. .
    • Engelman, A., Lin, C., Vien, M., Ivey, S., Farinha, S., Neuhauser, L. (2025). “Mapping the Urban and Rural Divide in Deaf & Disability-Accessible Climate Risk Communication Methods in California’s Offices of Emergency Services.” Journal of Contingency and Crisis Management. 2025; 33:e70073  
    • Engelman, A., Izquierdo, A. (2025)  "Accessible Services for Deaf Immigrants and Refugees in the United States: Exploring the Capacity of Deaf-Serving Organizations." Journal of Migration and Health.
    • Engelman, A., Booze, J., & Izquierdo, A. (2024). Global Deaf and Disability-Led Partnerships for Accessible Emergency Response and Humanitarian Action.  Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare , 51 (1/2), 255.
    • Guzzardo, M., Engelman, A., Todorova, I., Polidoro-Lima, M, Dean-Olmsted, E., Guzzardo-Tamargo, R. "Everything has changed": Functionally diverse older adults’ experiences with Hurricane María in Puerto Rico.” (2023) International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction Vol. 97, Oct. 2023
    • Engelman, A., Craig, L., Iles, A. “Global Disability Justice In Climate Emergencies: Mobilizing People With Disabilities as Agents of Change." Health Affairs (2022) Special Issue on Disability and Health 41(10): 1496–1504.
    • Kushalnagar, P., Ammons, D., Engelman, A., Hanumantha, S., Wilson, J. “’Left behind and ignored’: Recommendations for Policy Makers and Advocates to Increase Awareness and Accessibility of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Resources in the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community.” Public Health Reports (2023). 
    • Engelman, A., Guzzardo, M., Antolin-Muniz, M., Arenas, L., Gomez, A. “Assessing the Emergency Response Capacity of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) Serving People with Disabilities and Older Adults in Puerto Rico Post-Hurricane María and post-COVID19 pandemic.” (2022) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health as part of the special issue "Addressing Disability Inequities: Environments, Society and Wellbeing." 19(4),2156.
    • Engelman, A., Paludneviciene, R., Wagner, K., Jacobs, K., & Kushalnagar, P. (2021). Food Worry in the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Public Health Reports.
    • Engelman, A. and Kushalnagar, P. (2021) “Food Insecurity, Chronic Disease, and Quality of Life among Deaf Adults who use American Sign Language.” Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, 16(2): 1-10.
    • Ammons, D., Engelman, A., Kushalnagar, P. (2020) “Quality of Life and Needs of Deaf Caregivers of Loved Ones with Alzheimer’s and Related Dementia (ADRD).” Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. Vol 6, 1-6.
    • Kushalnagar, P., Engelman, A., Simons, A. “Deaf Women's Health: Adherence to Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Recommendations.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 2019; 57(3): 346-354.
    • Engelman, A., Valderama-Wallace, C., Nouredini, S. “State of the Profession: The Landscape of Disability Justice, Health Inequities and Access for Patients with Disabilities.” Journal of Advances in Nursing Science. 42(3) July/September 2019
    • Engelman, A., Case, B., Meeks, L., & Fetters, M. D. (2019). Conducting health policy analysis in primary care research: turning clinical ideas into action.  Family Medicine and Community Health, 7(2). 
    • Khosla, N., Gamba, R, Taylor, S., Adediji, L, Bovey, J, Engelman, A., Jones-Bey, A, Kwan Lam, T, Vo, H, Washington, V, Inch, E. “Academic goals of college students experiencing food insecurity, housing instability, and other financial challenges in a diverse public university.” Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless. (2019)
    • Kushalnagar, P. and Engelman, A., Sadler G. (2018) “Deaf patient-provider communication and lung cancer screening: Health Information National Trends survey in American Sign Language (HINTS-ASL)” Patient Education and Counseling. 2018; 101(7): 1232-1239. 
    • Meeks, L., Engelman. A., Booth, A. et al. (2018) “Deaf and Hard of Hearing Learners in Emergency Medicine: A Case Study” West J Emerg Med. 2018; 9(6): 1014-1018
    • Keogh, B., Kushalnagar, P., Engelman, A. (2018) “Food Security and Peer Support in Deaf College Students.” Journal of American College Health.
    • Engelman, A., “(Im)Mobilities: HIV/AIDS and VCT Services for Deaf Kenyans” Healthcare in motion: Mobility forms in health service delivery and access. Eds: Vindrola-Padros, Cecilia, Pfister, Anne, and Johnson, Ginger. Berghahn Books, 2018.
    • Engelman, A., Deardorff, J. (2016) “Cultural Competence Training for Law Enforcement Responding to Domestic Violence Emergencies with the Deaf.” Journal of Health Promotion Practice. March 2016; 17(2): 177-185.
    • Ivey, S; Dahrouge, D; Tseng, W; Engelman, A; Neuhauser, L.; Huang D; Gurung S. (2014) "Assessment of State- and Territorial-Level Preparedness Capacity for Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing Populations in Disasters." Public Health Reports Mar/April 2014; 129(2):148-55.
    • Engelman, A; Ivey, S; Tseng, W; Dahrouge, D; Brune, J; Neuhauser, L. (2013) "Responding to the Deaf in Disasters: Establishing the Need for Systematic Training for State-Level Emergency Management Agencies and Community Organizations.” BMC Health Services Research. 13:84