Rate My Professor Tracy Becerra-Culqui

Dr. Tracy Becerra-Culqui serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy within the College of Health, Human Services and Nursing at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Epidemiology and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California. Licensed as an occupational therapist since 2006, she initiated her clinical practice at Pediatric Therapy Network in Torrance, California, gaining experience across diverse pediatric settings, including community mental health, school-based services, early intervention, prevention programs, social-skills groups, clinic-based sensory integration, and feeding therapy. Following her MPH, Dr. Becerra-Culqui joined a team establishing an Early Head Start program tailored for families with children aged 0-3 years in an underserved community, blending her occupational therapy and public health expertise to enhance family support.

After completing her PhD, she advanced her research career at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, conducting health services research that integrated her occupational therapy perspective. Her investigations addressed vaccine safety, the effectiveness of medical procedures in mitigating disease burden, health equity in access and quality of care delivery, patterns of preventive care utilization, health outcomes for special populations, post-treatment quality of life, associations between hormones and acute cardiovascular events, and modifiable failures in cancer detection. Dr. Becerra-Culqui's scholarship agenda emphasizes discovery in maternal and child health, focusing on early life experiences as a sensitive period for interventions that can alter health trajectories and reduce disparities across the life course. She has examined the etiology and phenotypic heterogeneity of autism spectrum disorder, along with parental experiences including first concerns, diagnosis timing, access to services and treatments, and impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notable peer-reviewed publications include "Prenatal Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Acellular Pertussis Vaccination and Autism Spectrum Disorder" (Pediatrics, 2018), "Mental Health of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth Compared with Their Peers" (Pediatrics, 2018), "Challenging Norms: The Impact of Transgender and Gender-Diverse Realities on Work and School Participation" (American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2024), and "Parent intentions to vaccinate children with autism spectrum disorder against COVID-19" (Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 2022). At CSUDH, she teaches "Occupations Across the Lifespan," "Case Seminar - Pediatrics," and "Interactive Reasoning."