A longtime health care leader at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Maria Alvarez Amaya, PhD, combines knowledge of nursing protocols with a focus on advancing innovation in primary care, including OB/GYN services. As a professor of nursing, Dr. Maria Alvarez Amaya demonstrated excellence across administrative, academic, and clinical settings and served as a lead or co-investigator on externally funded projects.
Taking the helm of the UTEP Nursing Research program, Dr. Amaya coordinated Director's office-informed initiatives that paired nursing researchers and undergraduates. She oversaw ambitious work in environmental and public health. She guided teams in investigating childhood lead exposure, asthma, and vulnerable populations across geographies. Dr. Amaya has been published extensively in journals such as the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, the Journal of the American Nurses Association, and an Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry special issue on Rare Earth Materials (2020).
Dr. Amaya’s experience as a nurse practitioner includes overseeing OB/GYN care at the University of Texas at El Paso tailored to the needs of vulnerable women in the Hispanic community. She was a University Grand Marshall at the UTEP Commencement Ceremony and has earned the UTEP Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Research.