MÓNICA GUERRERO VÁSQUEZ

Executive director of Centro SOL I oversee programs and research. I have worked at Centro SOL since 2014! I am an immigrant from Ecuador, working with and for immigrants professionally since the early 2000s. In 2006, I worked as a field expert for the United Nations in Ecuador. In 2009, I worked as an IT consultant for the UN Headquarters in New York. In Spain, I worked as a computer science engineer for several years. I migrated to the U.S. in 2011. In 2018, I worked as an independent researcher at University of Cuenca in Ecuador.

Currently, I serve as a commissioner for the State’s Commission on Suicide Prevention and the 211 Maryland since 2022. As a member of the Recruitment Innovation Unit, I have collaborated with the JH ICTR in making efforts to represent marginalized and immigrant communities in research. For example, in 2019 we established the Community Leaders Advisory Board (CLAB) to inform best practices to recruit and engage research participants who are often underrepresented in scientific research. Similarly, during COVID9 research with the CEAL coalition, I supported the work to recruit and engage Latinos in the project using participatory action and mentoring community members who became staff in our institution.

I oversee programs and research to address mental health as a public health concern in Baltimore and beyond, using innovative and participatory action approaches and models. As a first-generation college graduate, I am passionate about working with youth and immigrant families to promote human development. I manage the Centro SOL Youth Programs offering mentoring and summer enrichment educational programs for bilingual and newly arrived Latino youth in collaboration with their families. When I am not working, I run, dance and hike.