RAÍCES Lab

Where we come from shapes how we age

The RAÍCES Lab takes its name from the Spanish word for roots — a nod to the ancestry, culture, and community that ground every life as it grows older. The lab is rooted in my own heritage as a multiracial Latina of Honduran and Puerto Rican descent, and in the people and places that shaped me.

We study aging as something deeply situated: in identity, in culture, in family, and in the conditions that make later life more or less equitable. The name also carries the six threads of our work:

• Research — rigorous, community-grounded science
• Aging — health and well-being across the life course
• Identity — race, ethnicity, language, and belonging
• Culture — heritage, family, and community context
• Equity — fairness in health and later life
• Studies — training the next generation of scholars

Minority aging, studied with care

As a population aging and health scientist, I lead work that centers the experiences of Latiné and other minoritized older adults — populations too often overlooked in aging research. We ask how culture, identity, and structural inequities shape health and well-being in later life.

Latiné Aging — How heritage, immigration, language, and family caregiving shape the health and well-being of older Latinés across diverse communities.

Minority Aging and Equity — How structural inequities accumulate across the life course to produce disparities in how different groups experience growing older.

Population Health — Population-level patterns in aging and health, using rigorous quantitative methods to surface what drives differences between groups.

Selected publications

A selection of recent and representative work. For the full, current list, see Google Scholar or ORCID.

• García, C., Kemp, B. R., Boen, C., & Garcia, M. A. (2026). Heterogeneity in healthy aging among U.S. Latinos: A dual functionality perspective. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

Train with us

The RAÍCES Lab is a training home for undergraduate and graduate students who want to do meaningful work on Latiné aging and minority aging. Students learn to design studies, work with population data, and ask questions that matter for equity — mentored every step of the way. If you’re a student curious about aging, identity, and health, I’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch

Prospective students, collaborators, and community partners are all welcome to reach out.

• Email
• Contact form
• Google Scholar
• ORCID
• LinkedIn

In loving memory of my father — whose roots are part of everything that grows here. ✿