Trained as a medical anthropologist, Dr. Higashi is Assistant Professor in the O’Donnell School of Public Health at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Throughout her career she has used qualitative methods to elucidate how and why underserved populations experience suboptimal health outcomes and to identify strategies and interventions to enhance health care.

Recently Dr. Higashi's research has focused on the problem of “techquity” (technology equity). In the last 2 years, she successfully procured multiple intramural awards as Principal Investigator to evaluate digital health literacy and reduce disparities in awareness, uptake, and use of telehealth and the portal (i.e. MyChart): Texas Health Resources (THR) Clinical Scholars Award ($750K), Simmons Office of Outreach, Equity & Inclusion ($100K), Cary Council Award ($50K), and Simmons Community-Engaged Research Award ($50K). 

Given her expertise in qualitative methods, Dr. Higashi also serves as Co-Investigator on several large mixed methods interventional cancer studies, including: evaluating factors related to cervical cancer screening and treatment disparities (NCI UM1CA221940 Tiro/Haas/Kamineni, NCI 1R01CA178414-01 Tiro/Baldwin), reducing hepatocellular cancer by understanding barriers to hepatitis C virus screening (CPRIT PP150079 and Gilead – Singal), enhancing care coordination for patients with cancer and multiple comorbidities (NIH 5R01CA20385602 Lee/Balasubramanian), and evaluating cancer treatment barriers for patients in rural TX border communities (NIH P30CA142543 Arteaga).

Leveraging her proficiency in Spanish, Dr. Higashi is Director of the Spanish Language Resource in the O’Donnell School of Public Health. The Resource provides translation and cognitive response testing to ensure accuracy, conceptual equivalence, and cultural appropriateness of study materials. Her own research also emphasizes the need to address inequities for Spanish-speakers, who comprise an estimated 34% of Dallas County’s population. For example, she evaluated English and Spanish websites to assess equity of information about COVID-19 for cancer patients (JMIR Cancer 2021).

Dr. Higashi is actively involved in teaching and mentoring clinical faculty and research staff new to qualitative methods. Several of her publications are with physician-investigators new to qualitative methods, including those with K awards (NIH K23AI112477 Nijhawan, NIH K2HX001916 Makris, and NIH K23DK104065 Bowen). She also regularly conduct lectures at UT Southwestern Medical School to increase student and trainee awareness of the challenges faced by underserved and stigmatized populations, including those served by Parkland. These teaching and mentoring activities further the capacity of the institution to conduct rigorous qualitative research and to work more effectively with underserved populations.