Dr. Patricia Foxen is the Deputy Director of Research at UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), and a Research Fellow at American University’s Center for Latino American and Latino Studies. She oversees UnidosUS’ policy-oriented research and focuses on developing new research on Latino children and youth, race/ethnicity, discrimination, socioemotional health and wellbeing. She is a cultural anthropologist who has worked extensively with Latino immigrant and refugee communities in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Latin America. At UnidosUS, she has authored numerous reports including Mental Health Services for Latino Youth: Bridging Culture and Evidence (2016), Resilient Latino Youth: In Their Own Words (2015) and Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States (2010).

Foxen’s anthropological research focuses on the intersection of migration, culture and mental health, particularly among indigenous Central American migrants; she is the author of the book In Search of Providence: Transnational Mayan Identities (Vanderbilt University Press, 2008. Updated Edition, 2020), and has published articles on this subject in the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, the Journal of Refugee Studies, and Transcultural Psychiatry, among other publications. She has taught at Vanderbilt University and the University of Toronto and has been a visiting fellow at Yale University and American University. She has served on various boards and advisory bodies including the Child Trends Hispanic Institute Advisory Council, the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, and the Alianza for Latino Youth Justice. She holds a doctoral degree in anthropology and a master’s degree in medical anthropology from McGill University in Montreal, a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Bryn Mawr College.

PUBLICATIONS

• The State of Public Education for Latino Students
• Resilient Latino Youth: In Their Own Words
• Mental Health Services for Latino Youth: Culture and Evidence
• Toward A More Equitable Future: The Trends and Challenges Facing America’s Latino Children
• Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States