Melissa McCarron
PhD
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Affiliate Faculty
Research and Teaching
Healthcare communication; language access and health equity; applied linguistics; linguistic anthropology; public health and the health humanities; Spanish for the Health Professions; multilingual care systems; Caribbean Spanish; Spanish in clinical and community health contexts; language ideologies in healthcare; interpreter-mediated communication; trust, consent, stigma, and vulnerability in patient-provider interaction; community-engaged research; ethical AI and language-learning technologies; culturally responsive clinical simulations; critical approaches to Languages for Specific Purposes.
Education
- PhD, University at Albany, SUNY
- MA, Spanish, New York University
- MA, Anthropology, Yale University
- BA, Spanish and Anthropology, University at Albany, SUNY
Selected Publications
“Vital Signs: Interdisciplinary Innovation in Languages for Specific Purposes.” How do we Build That? An Interdisciplinary Toolbox for Humanities Practices, Projects, and Programs. (forthcoming, Lever Press, 2026)
“Impact of a social/structural determinants of health module combining community-based interviews and sequential active learning on student pharmacist actual and perceived knowledge, skills, and attitudes.” (With William Allan Prescott, PharmD, Ijeoma S Anadi, PharmD, Kelly Foltz-Ramos, PhD, APRN, Collin M Clark, PharmD, Maya R Chilbert, PharmD, Sarah Lynch, PharmD, Jaime Maerten-Rivera, PhD. Melissa McCarron, PhD; Erin E Pauling, PharmD; Emily M Polischuk, PharmD; Gina M Prescott, PharmD; Ashley E Woodruff, PharmD; Christ Ange Cellino, PharmD). Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. (forthcoming, 2026)
“Beyond Compliance: Reframing Accessibility as Pedagogical Practice.” With Jessica Kruger and Sarah Vincent. Innovations in Learning: A SUNY focused Teaching Journal. 2025.
Courses Taught
- SPA104, Transitional Elementary Spanish
- SPA152, Intermediate Spanish, 2nd semester
- SPA207, Spanish Conversation and Language Workshop
- SPA208, Spanish Composition and Language Workshop
- SPA215, Intermediate Review of Spanish Grammar
- SPA314, Advanced Communication for Students of Spanish
- SPA324, Medical and Health Spanish
- SPA151 HRP, Intermediate Spanish for the Health Professions I
- SPA152 HRP, Intermediate Spanish for the Health Professions II
- SPA522, Introductory Spanish for the Health Professions
Affiliations
- National Association for Medical Spanish
- Center for Information Integrity
- Digital Scholarship Studio and Network
Recent Awards and Grants
- PI: “From Translation to Transformation: Building Health Equity Networks through Language, Culture, and Global Engagement.” (2026-2027 SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines [CID])
- PI: "The Botánica Model: Traditional Neighborhood Care Systems and Cultural Competence in Navigating Social and Structural Determinants of Health in Western NY’s Latinx Population." UB Office of International Education Faculty Grant. 2024-2025.
- PI: “Measuring Trust among Older Adults in Erie County: A Multidisciplinary Collaboration between UB’s Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Erie County Department of Senior Services.” UB Civic Engagement Research Fund. 2024-2025
- PI: Bridging Cultures Through AI: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Ethical Health Communication. UB Office of Curriculum, Assessment & Teaching Transformation (CATT) AI Seed Grant. 2024-2025.
- PI: "Promoting Culturally Competent Communication in Spanish Across Healthcare Professions: A Mobile Application Utilizing AI Conversational Tools” SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) 2024.
- Co-I: "Teaching Social Determinants of Health Through Patient Interview and Virtual Simulation" SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) 2024. (PI: William Prescott, Jr., PharmD, UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences).