WHY THIS TEAM
The work of Martija-IHPE is shaped by who we are and where we come from. These are the stories behind the team.
LEADERSHIP & PROGRAM TEAM
Core Team
He is a health professions educator and emerging academic leader focused on evidence-based teaching, mentorship, and community-engaged education. He teaches didactic, pre-clinical, and clinical dental hygiene courses within a dental school environment, emphasizing the development of confident, clinically competent professionals.
His work extends beyond the classroom through leadership in faculty development and sustainable pipeline initiatives that expand access to health careers in underserved communities. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene and a Master of Science in Health Professions Education, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health Professions Education at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, where his scholarship centers on academic leadership, systems improvement, and equitable workforce development.
A first-generation college graduate, immigrant, and Harvard-trained education leader. Her career has been built at the intersection of systems-level strategy and community-centered practice. She holds an M.Ed in Educational Leadership, Organization, and Entrepreneurship from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Her record includes expanding a statewide contract portfolio from 20 to 80 institutional partnerships at the California Association for Bilingual Education, and co-developing bilingual LCAP-aligned family engagement curriculum delivered statewide.
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Diego is a phlebotomist born and raised in Imperial Valley, a medically underserved area and health professions shortage area. He didn’t know about phlebotomy as a career path until he discovered it himself. Recognizing this gap, he decided to expand his work into community health and continue exploring areas like health workforce development. Diego is currently completing his bachelor’s degree in finance while working with MIHPE on institutional outreach and partnerships.
Grew up in the Coachella Valley, in a household shaped by her parents’ work as field laborers and no family pathway into formal education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Teaching from La Sierra University.
Within Martija-IHPE, Jessica’s focus is on students: helping them explore career pathways honestly, identify what fits, and make informed decisions about their futures in health professions, not based on what looks good on paper, but on what is genuinely right for them.
Blanca Rodriguez is a 2nd-grade teacher and elementary education professional with a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University (2021). Her career has been rooted in Title I public school settings, where she has worked to ensure that every student has a structured, equitable, and supportive learning environment in which to grow.
Recognized as Teacher of the Year in 2023, Blanca brings a practitioner’s understanding of how learning is designed, delivered, and adapted to meet the needs of diverse student populations. Her expertise spans instructional planning, classroom environment design, and equitable pedagogy, particularly within under-resourced communities where intentional teaching carries the greatest weight.
Within Martija IHPE, Blanca contributes as an Elementary Education Specialist, supporting the development of age-appropriate outreach programming and community learning initiatives. Her focus is on creating meaningful educational experiences for younger learners and the communities that surround them, ensuring that pipeline and outreach efforts are grounded in sound pedagogical practice from the earliest stages.
Born and raised in a medically underserved area and HPSA, Francisco understands firsthand the structural gaps that exist between communities and health professions institutions. He brings that perspective directly into his work coordinating outreach for Martija-IHPE.
Francisco serves as a bridge between the organization and the communities it aims to serve, ensuring engagement is grounded in trust and authentic relationship.
SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS
Clinical & Field Expertise
Marc Long built his path into critical care nursing without a family roadmap into healthcare. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2020 and has since developed a clinical profile at the highest-acuity end of inpatient care; managing patients through respiratory failure, acute stroke, traumatic brain injury, and cardiogenic shock across surgical trauma, transplant, and neuroscience ICU settings.
A consistent investment matches his clinical depth in education: ensuring that patients, families, and colleagues understand what is happening and why. That same orientation is what he brings to MIHPE. As a Subject Matter Expert, Marc supports educators in health professions programs by grounding curriculum and instruction in what critical care nursing actually looks like, closing the gap between classroom preparation and clinical reality, so that the professionals those programs produce are truly ready.
Andrea Gargallo entered the dental field without a family connection to healthcare to guide her. She completed her Dental Assistant certification at American Career College in 2022 and has since built a practice in general dentistry grounded in procedural competence, patient-centered care, and a genuine investment in the communities she serves, primarily Hispanic and mixed-income populations.
Andrea understands what it means to enter a health profession without insider knowledge of how it works. Within MIHPE, she brings that perspective directly to health professions educators, helping them understand the day-to-day realities of dental assisting so that instruction is accurate, accessible, and reflective of what students will actually encounter.
Her contribution bridges the operatory and the classroom, making dental education more grounded for the educators delivering it and more meaningful for the communities they ultimately serve.
Dr. Cristina Ruelas is a Doctor of Occupational Therapy and Department Lead at a pediatric therapy clinic, where she specializes in oral motor assessment, sensory integration, and teletherapy for children from four months through early adulthood. She serves children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, and developmental delays, centering family education and caregiver training as integral components of every treatment plan. She holds a Doctor of Occupational Therapy from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from La Sierra University.
Within MIHPE, Dr. Ruelas supports health professions educators by bringing occupational therapy’s clinical depth into educational conversations — helping instructors and program developers understand what OT practice involves, why it matters, and how to represent the field accurately to the students and communities they reach. She sees this as an extension of work she already does: ensuring that the people around her have the knowledge they need to make good decisions for those in their care.
Martija Institute of Health Professions Education 