Denise E. Herrera is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Denise grew up in a large Hispanic family, and is a first generation college student. She is also the first person on both sides of her family to pursue and complete a doctoral degree. Her strong interests in child/adolescent health, and positive youth development, were fueled by her drive to improve the standard of health and wellness for all individuals. In particular, Denise is interested in the health of individuals from underserved communities. Her years of volunteerism sparked her desire to work toward providing greater access to healthful information, while promoting disease prevention and health education.

Denise has collaborated on various statewide program design, implementation, and evaluation projects. She worked with school-based health centers; the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Worksite Wellness Program for staff in Texas; and more recently, with current and former AmeriCorps members who served in the state of New Mexico. She actively seeks out opportunities to work with underrepresented or “forgotten” populations. Denise earned her B.S. in Health Education from the University of New Mexico, an M.S. in Family Studies and Human Development/Public Health from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in Health Education/Behavioral Health from the University of Texas at Austin. 
 
Denise believes the Robert Wood Johnson Evaluation Fellowship Program is the ideal opportunity to strengthen research and evaluation skills while focusing on culturally responsive evaluation. Obtaining skills that most appropriately address the needs for culturally responsive program evaluation will greatly enhance her capabilities as a health educator/researcher and behavioral scientist. Denise’s motto is “first things first,” which means for her that one must first examine whether or not an intervention and/or program is effective before labeling it a gold standard in a field. With focused training, mentorship, and peers from which to learn from as an RWJF evaluation fellow, Denise hopes to be better equipped to make valuable contributions to the evaluation field.