Rachel A. Banawa, MSPH, is a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. She currently assists with data analysis on a project that aims to explore the individual, family, and neighborhood correlates of vaccine intention, vaccine uptake, and face covering among Black/African American adults in California. She also assists with California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) projects related to understanding the social, economic, and neighborhood factors associated with gun violence.

Banawa has worked previously as a research associate at the GWU Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, a graduate research assistant at the UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and a public and patient engagement intern at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Banawa has a Master of Science in Public Health from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health."