Say hello to Mikey!

The CHC is pleased to welcome Mike Garcia to our team as a Program Coordinator.

Mike has been passionate about health promotion and disease prevention since his time as an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. During his time at UT, he started an interdisciplinary student organization aimed at raising students’ general awareness of public health issues and conducted original research alongside researchers at the UTHealth School of Public Health. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Biology in the spring of 2017, Mike attended the UTHealth Science Center School of Public Health to pursue a Master’s degree in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences. In graduate school, Mike focused his coursework on violence prevention and mental health promotion in child and adolescent populations. He also volunteered as a research assistant on a mHealth study aimed to prevent substance misuse, violent victimization, and mental illness among individuals experiencing homelessness. Here at the Center, he will be continuing his work around substance misuse and violence prevention through his work with the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program and Texas Safe Babies Father’s Playbook project.

Mike is originally a native of Dallas,  but has lived in Austin for the past six years. He travels to his hometown to hang out with his family and close friends. In his spare time, you can find Mike reading poetry at one of Austin's many wonderful coffee shops or checking out new places to eat with his roommates.