pelvic health workshop
In collaboration with LA General Hospital, The Wellness Center,
USC's Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, and Tight Lipped
USC's Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, and Tight Lipped
Alongside my friends at LA County & USC Keck School of Medicine, I run the Pelvic Health Workshop, a free class for all patients hosted at the Wellness Center. We talk about vulvar, vaginal, and clitoral anatomy (body literacy), we share stories and sexual health histories, and we discuss best practices for patient empowerment (ie. how to talk to your provider about your pain). In addition, my friend and colleague Eileen Johnson leads common pelvic floor physical therapy exercises for patients, including diaphragmatic breathing and pelvic stretches. The workshop is run primarily in Spanish, and happens every month.
If you work at LA County / LA General Hospital and want to get involved, email me!
✨our team is going to AUGS in october 2025!
🖤 Ponce, S., Bonfiglio, K., Naranjo, J., Modi, K., Markarian, E., Tafoya, E., Avula, S., Johnson, E., Gonzalez, E. (2025, October). The Pelvic Health Workshop: A Novel Community Health Promotion Program. Podium presentation accepted to 2025 AUGS Annual Meeting (PFD Week, Oct 14-17, 2025). Vancouver Convention Center, Vancouver, British Columbia.
USC GAMES
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Alongside my friend and colleague Marientina Gotsis, I teach CTIN 503 "Interactive Entertainment, Science & Healthcare" and CTIN 510 "Research Methods for Innovation, Engagement, and Assessment" at USC Games.
In CTIN 503, students study and design interactive media ranging from clinical health interventions to games for creative health (Sandra Danilovic). In the beginning of the semester, students play the Brain Architecture Game, which serves as a direct look into the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress on childhood development. We also run a narrative medicine workshop in which students do a "slow viewing" of That Dragon Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016). Students keep a scholarly journal for the course of the semester, engaging with literature about topics ranging from early childhood development to palliative care. In CTIN 510, students get an overview of introductory and intermediate research methods (qualitative and quantitative, mixed methods) that are appropriate for planning different study designs. Students spend the semester learning about different research techniques, and developing their own replicable study on a topic of their choice. |
The Brain Architecture Game,
played in CTIN 510 in Spring 2025 ©️ USC Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, Clinical & Translational Science Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, and the FrameWorks Institute |
k12 education
Before I began working in videogames, and doing public health more formally, I was a K12 educator!
You can see more of my work in the classroom at my digital teaching portfolio here.
You can see more of my work in the classroom at my digital teaching portfolio here.