On a weekday afternoon in a Redwood City middle school classroom, a Stanford student volunteer stands at the front of the room, leading a lesson on nutrition and healthy eating behaviors. The students follow closely, asking questions, role-playing scenarios, and talking through the choices that shape their everyday lives. When the class ends, one student lingers behind and says to the volunteer, “I want to be like you when I grow up.” Moments like this are the result of years of research, teaching, and community engagement by Dr. Eunice Rodriguez, Professor of Pediatrics and the Faculty Director of the Cardinal Health Education Collaborative (CHEC). In the classroom and in the community, Rodriguez encourages students to think critically about health disparities and the social forces that shape well-being.
Rodriguez began her career at the bedside as a nurse in Catalonia, Spain, before moving to the U.S. While here, she quickly discovered public health and decided to change paths. “Even as a nurse, I was always interested in social issues and their connection to health,” she reflected. She pursued an MPH and DrPH at UC Berkeley, followed by postdoctoral work in social epidemiology and health services research at Harvard and teaching at Cornell. Over time, she gravitated toward work that combined research, education, and community engagement, a focus that became central when she joined Stanford in 2006.
As CHEC Director, Rodriguez brings Stanford students into two local Title 1 schools to provide health education and mentorship to underserved students. Stanford students who are active members of the CHEC Club (affiliated with the Hass Center for Public Service) develop leadership skills and learn to be effective teachers while engaging with local communities. The curriculum, developed with input from parents, teachers, students, and public health experts, consists of roughly 8-10 lessons tailored to meet the students’ specific needs. For Rodriguez, the program’s strength lies not only in what volunteers teach, but in how they deliver it. “We know that just providing the knowledge is not sufficient to change behavior; we need something else,” she explained. The initiative leverages near-peer teaching, pairing Stanford undergraduate, graduate, and medical students with over 300 young learners each quarter in interactive, discussion-based classrooms. CHEC also helps students build developmental assets such as self-efficacy, confidence, and resilience, skills that Rodriguez sees as foundational to long-term health. “We aim to give students not just basic information but also tools they can use in their daily life to problem solve and empower themselves,” Rodriguez said.
This year, Rodriguez’s team is assessing students’ growth in knowledge and developmental assets to understand how the program influences behaviors. “We know that children who have higher developmental assets are more resilient, more likely to be good at problem solving, and more likely to feel good about themselves,” she commented. “We want to see if what they learn causes shifts in behavior related to things such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and other indicators of health and well-being.” Her long-term goal is to refine the curriculum and make it freely available to other schools and communities across the country.
The same principles that guide Rodriguez’s work with CHEC shape her classroom teaching in Human Biology. In HumBio 122E, Reducing Health Disparities and Closing the Achievement Gap through Health Integration in Schools, and HumBio 122M, Challenges of Human Migration: Health and Healthcare of Migrants and Autochthonous Populations, she invites students to examine how health disparities emerge at the intersection of education, migration, policy, and social context, and to consider what meaningful evidence-based intervention actually looks like. Many of the questions raised mirror those that drive Rodriguez’s CHEC efforts–How do social influences shape health over time? Why do some interventions succeed while others fall short? And how can institutions work collaboratively with communities rather than acting upon them?
In HumBio 122E, students learn about the inextricable relationship between children’s health and their ability to learn in underserved communities. The class is co-taught by Drs. Rodriguez, Padrez, and Sorcar. Together, they bring an interdisciplinary perspective–from public health, medicine, and education–on how schools can address health-related barriers to student learning.
In HumBio 122M, Rodriguez challenges students to consider how migration shapes health across populations, healthcare systems, and generations. From asylum seekers and refugees to economic and educational opportunity migrants, students analyze a range of migration experiences and case studies to understand how policy, environment, and social context shape health outcomes.
Rodriguez’s work in the classroom and in the community with CHEC is especially resonant in today’s sociopolitical climate. Politicians and media frequently frame issues of immigration, inequality, and public investment in health and education in polarizing terms. Rather than centering division, Rodriguez emphasizes intellectual growth, community improvement, and the possibility of meaningful interventions. In the classroom, she encourages students to examine their own assumptions and perspectives and look at “what the data is concretely telling us.”
She is equally deliberate in how she frames social conditions. “I don’t like to say the social determinants of health,” she shared. “Instead, I think of it as social influences on health because those things constantly change and have an influence, but do not determine you or your well-being.” That distinction highlights her broader philosophy: understanding complexity without treating inequity as inevitable and unchangeable, and recognizing the possibility for meaningful intervention. For Rodriguez, questioning, evaluating, revising, and refining are foundational not only to further knowledge but also to enact real change.
Reflecting on her journey, her work with CHEC, and her teaching HumBio, Rodriguez quickly shared her gratitude for her students and for the opportunity to teach and learn alongside them. “I love the energy the students bring to the table,” she said. “Their curiosity, creativity, and genuine desire to contribute to their communities in meaningful ways is inspiring.” Whether in a Stanford seminar or a middle school classroom, she sees education as a shared endeavor, one that requires humility as much as expertise.
Across her work, Rodriguez asks herself how research and community efforts can serve people in tangible, immediate ways. Real change, she believes, comes through connection, context, and creating spaces where students feel empowered to act. In times of uncertainty and division, Rodriguez views her work as a privilege. “With so much going on around us, I think many of us are looking for some grounding. We need to know we can still make a difference,” she emphasized. Seeing her impact–on students, in classrooms, and in communities–is what continues to drive her work.
The Cardinal Health Collaborative (CHEC) is made possible by the Dr. T.W. Wiedmann Health Education Endowed Fund. It honors Dr. Wiedmann’s robust legacy of mentoring Stanford students and supporting youth in local, medically underserved communities, including founding Health Education for Life for Kids (HELP for Kids).
In addition to Dr. Rodriguez, HumBio 122E is co-taught by Dr. Ryan Padrez, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics and community pediatrician, and Dr. Piya Sorcar, an adjunct professor of medicine, adjunct lecturer of education, and the founder and CEO of TeachAids.
As part of a new initiative, CHEC is seeking Stanford alums who are interested in engaging with local underserved youth through tutoring (in person or on Zoom). Please reach out to Dr. Rodriguez (er23 [at] stanford.edu (er23[at]stanford[dot]edu)) or CHEC’s Alumni Liaison Abigail Maldonado (abigailn [at] stanford.edu (abigailn[at]stanford[dot]edu)) for more information on how to get involved.