Leah Varga

Leah Varga is the Health Literacy Program Manager in the Office of Health Equity at the District of Columbia Department of Health. Drawing upon 20 years of experience in health research with minority populations, she participates in developing and implementing plans to increase health literacy in underserved areas and conduct needs assessments to identify gaps and determine priorities for services.  She has had the opportunity to be involved in HIV prevention and testing initiatives with at-risk adolescents, injection drug users, men who have sex with men, migrant workers, Latinas, club-drug users, and most recently, street-based sex workers. Additionally, she worked on longitudinal projects examining coping behaviors of low-income breast cancer patients and access to care and treatment among Caribbeans living with HIV/AIDS. Having served as a recruiter, field coordinator, assessor, interventionist, and project director on these various projects solidified her capability and commitment to all aspects of the research process. This exposure also influenced her interest in the roles race/ethnicity, discrimination, socioeconomic status, and structural issues have on health and the experience of health.