William D. Lopez

Dr. William D. Lopez is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a faculty associate in the Latina/o Studies program at the University of Michigan. He is the author of the book, Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid, published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

As a clinical assistant professor, William teaches "Health Impacts of Law Enforcement Violence in the U.S." This class focuses on the harms of law enforcement on the individual, family, and community levels and asks what we, as researchers and advocates, can do to address it. Themes include militarized immigration raids, ICE and local police collaboration, routinized fear, the stigma of being targeted by ICE, and the links between state violence in Latinx, Arab and Muslim, and Black communities. His current public health research considers 1) the ways in which fear of immigration enforcement impacts health service utilization in mixed-status communities and 2) community responses to large scale immigration work raids. Dr. Lopez also teaches a variety of public health classes, such as Health Program Planning and Health Communication, both residentially and online.

William has been fortunate to collaborate both in his research and advocacy with the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Synod Community Services, which operate the Washtenaw County ID Program.

Educational background

• PhD in health behavior and health education, University of Michigan School of Public Health (2016)
• MPH,University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston (2008)
• BA in psychology, University of Notre Dame (2005)

Recent publications

• Lopez, W. D., Kruger, D. J., Delva, J., Llanes, M., Ledón, C., Waller, A., Harner, Me., Martinez, R., Sanders, L., Harner, Ma., & Israel, B. (2017). Health implications of an immigration raid: Findings from a Latino community in the Midwestern U.S. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. 19(3), 702-708. Full text.
• LeBrón, A.M.W., Lopez, W. D., Cowan, K., Novak, N. L., Temrowski, O., Ibarra-Frayre, M., & Delva, J. (2017). Restrictive ID Policies: Implications for Health Equity. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. Full text.
• Gámez, R., Lopez, W. D., & Overton-Adkins, B. (2017). Mentors, Resiliency, and Ganas: Factors Influencing the Success of DACAmented, Undocumented, and Immigrant Students in Higher Education. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 16(2), 144-161. Full text.
• Doering-White, J., Horner, P, Sanders, L., Martinez, R., Lopez, W. D., Delva, J. (2016). Testimonial engagement: Undocumented Latina mothers navigating a gendered deportation regime. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 17 (2), 325-340. Abstract
• Horner, P., Sanders, L., Martinez, R., Doering-White, J., Lopez, W. D., Delva, J (2014). "I put a mask on": The human side of deportation effects on Latino youth. (2014) Journal of Social Welfare and Human Rights, 2(2), 33-4.
• Delva, J., Horner, P., Ramiro, M., Sanders, L., Lopez, W. D., & Doering-White, J. (2013). Mental health problems of children of undocumented parents in the United States: A hidden crisis. Journal of Community Positive Practices, 8(3), 25–35.