Lucía Abascal Miguel is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Institute for Global Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a physician and public health researcher focused on advancing health equity through implementation science and digital health innovation. Her work centers on designing and evaluating culturally tailored, scalable interventions—such as WhatsApp-based chatbots and social media campaigns—to improve vaccination, family planning, and preventive health among Spanish-speaking and Indigenous populations in the U.S. and Latin America.

Lucía has led and co-led multiple mixed-methods studies in Guatemala, Mexico, and California, often in partnership with Ministries of Health and community organizations. She serves as a public health spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health, where she leads Spanish-language risk communication strategies, including recent efforts on H5N1. Her research combines social network analysis, human-centered design, and participatory approaches to address misinformation and strengthen trust in health systems. She earned her MD in Mexico and a PhD in Global Health Sciences at UCSF, where she also completed a Master’s degree.