Margarita Echeverri, MSc, PhD
Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Educational Coordinator Health Disparities, Cultural Competence and Diversity
Division of Clinical and Administrative Sciences
Xavier University of Louisiana, College of Pharmacy

Dr. Echeverri is a social and behavioral researcher with a strong background and training in cultural & linguistic competence, health literacy, health disparities, and community-based participatory research.  She serves as the Educational Coordinator in Health Disparities, Cultural Competence and Diversity at the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education at Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy. Dr. Echeverri is the Founder of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Special Interest Group (SIG) in Health Disparities and Cultural Competence and played a key role in the creation of the AACP Minority Faculty SIG, and as a member of the AACP Special Task Force on Diversifying Human Capital. Her work has been presented in national and recognized conferences. She also delivers faculty and preceptors workshops in her topics of expertise at the national level. 

Dr. Echeverri is the Associate Director of the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center (LACaTS) Community Engagement & Outreach Resource Core, and a Co-Leader of the Ochsner/Xavier University Institute for Health Equity and Research (OXIHER). She served as a Co-Chair of the Community Outreach and Stakeholders Engagement Committee of the Louisiana COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, created by state Governor John Bel Edwards. She is also was a member of the Community and Socio-cultural Beliefs Core in the NCI Geographic and Bio-specimen Management Program of Cancer Health Disparities (G/BMaP) Region 2 (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Puerto Rico).

Prior to joining the faculty at Xavier, Dr. Echeverri had a joint position as Research Assistant Professor at Xavier and Tulane Universities. During this time she coordinated the NIH funded collaborative educational program on health disparities, cultural competence and diversity that Xavier and Tulane universities introduced across the curricula at their schools of pharmacy and medicine. Previously, Dr. Echeverri served as Coordinator of the Master in Information Management in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

She is the recipient of the 2011 AACP Rufus Lyman Award for the best paper published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education in 2010, and the 2015 Norman Francis Faculty Excellence in Service Award for outstanding service to the community, the university and the profession.

 

Education:

 

Ph.D.   International Development, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

Major Field: Health, culture, education, and technology as key pillars of international

development

MSc.    Applied Development, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

Major Field: Information technology applied to public health and human development

MSc.    Social Management, University of EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia

Major Field: Social management and community empowerment

 

Clinical Specialties: (as applies)

 

 

 

Teaching Areas: (as applies)

Social and behavioral communications; community-based participatory research; cultural, diversity and linguistic competence; health disparities; health communications and motivational interviewing; and pharmacy ethics. 

Research Interests: (as applies)

Dr. Echeverri research focus on factors influencing patients’ health behaviors and decisions related to prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, as well as development of strategies to improve communication and understanding among healthcare providers, patients, and researchers. Currently she is the Principal Investigator in a behavioral randomized clinical trial to assess the application of shared decision making regarding PSA-based prostate cancer screening among African American men and their primary care providers. The project "Fostering Shared Decision-making about Prostate Cancer Screening among Clinicians and African American men" is funded by NIH/NIMHD (2019-2023).

She has been also the Principal Investigator on three NIH/RCMI funded Community-Based Participatory Research studies assessing the influence of cancer literacy in screening behaviors and willingness to participate in research among different populations in Louisiana. She was also awarded a diversity supplement grant to assess the feasibility and applicability of three educational interventions (print, online and face-to-face) to increase knowledge about cancer and address main misunderstandings, believes, and lack of trust in cancer screening and research.

Select Publications: (as applies)

Invited Publications

 

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), White C, Conway JM, Davis PK, Johnson AM, Juskas JG, Murphy NL, Smith WT, Echeverri M, et al (2017). AACP Special Taskforce White Paper on Diversifying Our Investment in Human Capital. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2017; 81 (8) Article S13.  http://www.ajpe.org/doi/pdf/10.5688/ajpeS13 

 

American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), O’Connell MB,  Rodriguez M, Poirier T, Karaoui LR, Echeverri M, Chen AM, Lee SY, Vyas D, O’Neil CK, Jackson AN (2013). Cultural Competency in Health Care and Its Implications for Pharmacy, Part 3A: Emphasis on Pharmacy Education Curriculums and Future Directions. White Paper approved by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Board of Regents, Pharmacotherapy, 33(12):e347–e367), doi: 10.1002/phar.1353.

http://www.accp.com/docs/positions/whitePapers/ACCP_CultComp_3A.pdf

 

American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), O'Connell MB, Jackson AN, Karaoui LR, Rodriguez de Bittner M, Chen  AM, Echeverri M, Vyas D, Poirier T, Lee SY, O'Neil CK (2013), Cultural Competency in Health Care and Its Implications for Pharmacy Part 3B: Emphasis on Pharmacy Education Policy, Procedures, and Climate. White Paper approved by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Board of Regents, Pharmacotherapy, 33(12):e368–e381, doi: 10.1002/phar.1352.

http://www.accp.com/docs/positions/whitePapers/ACCP_CultComp_3B.pdf

 

Original Research

 

Echeverri M, Unni E, Harper SE, Kavookjian J, Alkhateeb F, Ekong G, Law A. (2021). Identifying areas of improvement for cultural competence in pharmacy curricula: A Multi-School Study using the Self-Assessment of Perceived Level of Cultural Competence (SAPLCC) questionnaire. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. 2021;13(10):1278-1287. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34521520/   

 

 

Echeverri M, Anderson D, Napoles AM, Haas JM, Johnson ME, Serrano SA. (2020). Testing the Preliminary Validity of a Multidimensional Framework for Studying the Effects of Cancer Health Literacy on Cancer Screening Behaviors among Diverse Populations. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020, 17(9):E2987; doi:10.3390/ijerph17092987. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32344860/

 

Echeverri M, Unni E, Harper S, et al (2019). A Multi-School Validation of a Revised Scale for Assessing Cultural Competence in Pharmacy Students. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2019;83(3):6602.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31065164/

 

Echeverri M, Anderson D, Napoles AM, Haas JM, Johnson ME, Serrano SA. (2018). Cancer Health Literacy and Willingness to Participate in Cancer Research and Donate Bio-Specimens. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 15(10), 2091. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30249985/

 

Echeverri M, Anderson D, Nápoles AM (2017). Assessing Cancer Health Literacy among Spanish-speaking Latinos, Journal of Cancer Education, 33(6):1333-1340. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28741268/

Echeverri M, Dise T. (2017). Racial Dynamics and Cultural Competence Training in Medical and Pharmacy Education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (JHCPU), 28(1):266-278. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28239002/

Echeverri M (2016). Cancer Health Literacy, Culture and Language Barriers among Immigrant Latinos in Louisiana, Proceedings from the 2015 International Conference on Communication in Healthcare. Medical Encounter, 30(1), Winter 2016:100, http://www.aachonline.org/Portals/36/Medical%20Encounter%20Archives/AACH_MedicalEncounter_Winter2016_FINAL.pdf

Echeverri M, Chen AM. (2016). Educational Interventions on Culturally Competent Healthcare: A Systematic Review of the Rationale, Content, Teaching Methods, and Measures of Effectiveness. Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity: Research, Education and Policy (JBPHPD), 9(1):1160-1177. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34296221/

Echeverri M, Anderson D, Nápoles AM. (2016). Cancer Health Literacy Test-30-Spanish (CHLT-30-DKspa), a new Spanish-language version of the Cancer Health Literacy Test (CHLT-30) for Spanish-speaking Latinos. Journal of Health Communications: International Perspectives, 21:sup1, 69-78. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27043760/   

Echeverri M. (2014) Cultural Diversity: International Perspective, Impacts on the Workplace and Educational Challenges. 1st ed., Snider M, editor. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc; 2014. Chapter 2, Factors Influencing Students’ Perceptions of Training in Cultural Diversity Competence; p.49-67

Echeverri M, Brookover C, Kennedy K. (2013). Assessing Pharmacy Students’ Cultural Competence. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 24: 64–92.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23395945

Echeverri M, Brookover C, Kennedy K. (2011). Factor analysis of a modified version of the California Brief Multicultural Competence Scale with minority pharmacy students.  Advances in Health Sciences Education, 16: 1-18, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21290177

Echeverri M, Brookover C, Kennedy K. (2010). Nine Constructs of Cultural Competence for Curriculum Development: Results from a Self-assessment Questionnaire. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 74 (10) Article 181. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21436922