PROJECT: A social support public health intervention for overweight/obese children and children with special health care needs in Riverside County, California.

Purnima S. Mudnal-Bharath is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her research focuses on improving health care access and quality of care for patients, particularly for children with special health care needs, and reducing disparities in receipt of care and care quality for families and communities. The impetus for this work stems from her diverse research experience at UCLA and West Los Angeles VA Medical Center in enhancing and supporting the patient-centered medical home model and improving teamwork behaviors in primary care teams.

In her dissertation project, Mudnal-Bharath hopes to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s health by examining patterns in health care access and care-related disparities. Her research priority is to support interventions and practices that can help children avoid chronic long-term disease consequences owing to disruptions in accessing needed screening, therapy, and specialty care services.