Lucrecia Mena-Meléndez she/her/ella Assistant Research Professor | College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati
Mena-Meléndez is a mixed-methods researcher focused on sexual and reproductive health, including abortion, contraceptive use, health disparities, and reproductive health policy in the United States and Latin America.
She received her PhD and MA in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her work examines how structural, cultural, and linguistic barriers shape access to care and reproductive autonomy, with a focus on Latine and Spanish-speaking communities, and has been supported by the Society of Family Planning, where she is also a recipient of the Next Generation Award and a Changemaker in Family Planning award.
Within OPEN, Mena-Meléndez serves as a Co-Investigator and contributes to projects on Ohio patients’ experiences of abortion, clinic closures, and legal vulnerabilities in the post-Dobbs context, and reproductive equity.