Lucia Abascal Miguel
Assistant Researcher
GHS - Programs
Chancellor/EVC/FAS

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.

• Bridging Language Barriers in COVID-19 Research: Descriptive Study of AccesoCovid.com's Reach and User Engagement.
  JMIR formative research 2024 Abascal Miguel L, Forster M, Gallalee S, Carson M, Fieldhouse JK, Keir A, Maya S, Rahman S, Reid MJA, Vasilopoulos H, Lima Sanchez DN
• COVID-19 vaccine uptake and barriers among Indigenous language speakers in Mexico: Results from a nationally representative survey.
  PLOS global public health 2024 Abascal Miguel L, Mendez-Lizarraga CA, Rojo EM, Sepúlveda J
• A Co-Created Tool to Help Counter Health Misinformation for Spanish-Speaking Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
  International journal of environmental research and public health 2024 Abascal Miguel L, Maiorana A, Saggese GSR, Campbell CK, Bourdeau B, Arnold EA
• Barriers to COVID-19 vaccine acceptance to improve messages for vaccine uptake in indigenous populations in the central highlands of Guatemala: a participatory qualitative study.
  BMJ open 2023 Skinner NA, Sanders K, Lopez E, Sotz Mux MS, Abascal Miguel L, Vosburg KB, Johnston J, Diamond-Smith N, Kraemer Diaz A
• Barriers and Enablers to COVID-19 Vaccination in San Francisco's Spanish-Speaking Population.
  Global implementation research and applications 2023 Abascal Miguel L, Christian C, Accurso EC, Najmabadi A, Athavale P, Diala JA, Sachdev D, Philip S, Reid MJ, Handley MA
• Evaluating the impact of a linguistically and culturally tailored social media ad campaign on COVID-19 vaccine uptake among indigenous populations in Guatemala: a pre/post design intervention study.
  BMJ open 2022 Abascal Miguel L, Lopez E, Sanders K, Skinner NA, Johnston J, Vosburg KB, Kraemer Diaz A, Diamond-Smith N
• The yield of tuberculosis contact investigation in low- and middle-income settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
  BMC infectious diseases 2021 Velleca M, Malekinejad M, Miller C, Abascal Miguel L, Reeves H, Hopewell P, Fair E