Elys Vasquez-Iscan

Elys Vasquez-Iscan is an assistant professor and Presidential fellow at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York where she holds a dual appointment in the Health Education Unit and the Aging and Health Unit. She also teaches for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice prison to college pipeline (P2CP) program at Otisville Correctional Facility. This program provides college credit courses to inmates as well as assistance with re-entry to post-secondary educational institutions upon release from the correctional system. 

Elys holds a master’s of public health degree in international community health from New York University and a doctorate degree in Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She was a Fulbright Fellow in 2003 in Brazil. Elys is a member of the planning committee and contributor to the health curriculum of the Health Education and Research Opportunity (HERO) high school in the South Bronx. HERO High School has been noted by Mayor Bill de Blasio for serving as a bridge to college programs that awards high school students from the South Bronx the opportunity to simultaneously obtain a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. Elys also mentors a vast number of ethnic and racial minority doctoral students during the dissertation process. She has worked as a program planner for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Bureau of HIV/AIDS and has served as a consultant for the U.N.