Marc A. Garcia

• 2024 Spring
  • SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
  • SOC 300 Selected Topics - Health Disparities
• 2023 Fall
  • SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
• 2023 Spring
  • SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
  • SOC 800 Selected Topics - Minority Aging
• 2022 Summer
  • SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
• 2022 Spring
  • SOC/WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities
  • SOC 400/600 Selected Topics - Minority Groups: Black & Latin

Marc A. Garcia (he/him) is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Sociology Department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. At Syracuse University, Garcia teaches classes in Minority Aging and Health including, Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health and Healthcare. 

Prior to joining Syracuse University, Garcia was an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 2018-21 where he taught Physical Health Disparities and Sociology of Health Care and Health Professions.

Garcia’s research is organized around two interrelated themes that seek to explain health disparities across the life course in the United States and Mexico to better inform the development of actionable and culturally appropriate health policies. The first focuses on physical and cognitive health disparities among older racial/ethnic and immigrant adults. The second explores longevity and mortality outcomes among older Latinx subgroups. His work has been instrumental in highlighting the heterogeneity among older Latinxs by furthering our understanding of how nativity, country of origin and immigration experiences intersect with gender to create unique trajectories of functional and cognitive impairment for foreign-born people who migrate to the United States in late life.

Recently published work includes “Educational Benefits and Cognitive Health Life Expectancies: Racial/Ethnic, Nativity, and Gender Disparities” in The Gerontologist and “The Color of Covid-19: Structural Racism and the Disproportionate Impact of the Pandemic on Older Black and Latinx Adults” in The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Past research has been supported by the National Institutes of Aging (NIA) pilot funding from the Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease (MCCFAD) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and by the National Science Foundation through the Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) Network and the CONVERGE facility housed at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

In 2021, Garcia was awarded the Harold & Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a highly prestigious University award for an outstanding junior faculty member who has demonstrated creative research, extraordinary teaching abilities, and academic promise. 

Professor Garcia is a member of the American Sociological Association, Gerontological Society of America, Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science, and Population Association of America. He currently serves as an editorial board member for the Journal of Health and Social Behavior and the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, and associate editor for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. 

Garcia earned a Ph.D. in 2015, from the University of Texas-Austin, an M.S. in 2011 from Texas A&M University, and a B.A. in 2008, from the University of Texas-Pan American University. 

"U.S. State Policy Contexts and Disability Risk among Midlife Latino Adults in the United States", Sponsored by National Institute on Aging .

"Tracing the Health Consequences of Family Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic", Sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH)/DHHS.

• Journal Articles
  • Garcia, M. A., Sáenz, R., "Latino Mortality Paradox Found (Again): COVID-19 Mortality A Tale of Two Years." Journal of Aging and Health, 2023.
  • Garcia, M. A., Diminich, E. D., Lu, P., Arevalo, S. P., Sayed, L., Abdelrahim, R. and Ajrouch, K. J., Caregiving for Foreign-Born Older Adults with Dementia. .
  • Garcia, C., Garcia, M. A. and Ailshire, J. A., "Demographic and Health Characteristics of Older Latino Birth Cohorts in the Health and Retirement Study." The Journals of Gerontology, 2022.
  • Pendergast, C., Garcia, M. A. and Garcia, C., Latinos Report Higher Rates of Cognitive Impairment than U.S.-Born Whites, But Rates Vary Between Latino Subgroups. , 2022.
  • Garcia, M. A., Racial and Ethnic Differences in Sleep Duration Life Expectancies among Men and Women in Mid-to-Late Life. .
  • Garcia, M. A., Saenz, J., Downer, B. and Wong, R., "Rural/Urban Dwelling across the Life-Course and Late-Life Cognitive Ability in Mexico." Population Health, 2022.
  • Garcia, M. A., Thierry, A. D. and Pendergrast, C. B., "The Devastating Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Older Black and Latinx Adults: Implications for Health and Well-Being." The Journals of Gerontology, 2022.
  • Garcia, M. A., The Neighborhood Context and All-Cause Mortality among Older Adults in Puerto Rico. .
  • Garcia, M. A., Warner, D. F., Garcia, C., Downer, B. and Raji, M., "Age Patterns in Self-Reported Cognitive Impairment among Older Latino Subgroups and Non-Latino Whites in the U.S." Implications for Public Health Policy, Innovation in Aging, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Cantu, P. A., "Cognitive Health and Psychological Well-Being among Latinx Older Adults in the United States and Mexico." The Journals of Gerontology, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Garcia, C., Rivera, F. I., Garcia, G. B. and Aranda, M. P., "Contextualizing the COVID-19 Era in Puerto Rico: Compounding Disasters and Parallel Pandemics." The Journals of Gerontology, 2021.
  • Pendergast, C., Garcia, M. A. and Thierry, A., "COVID-19 Has Had Devastating Economic Impacts on Older Black and Latinx Adults." Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion: Population Health Research Brief Series, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Downer, B., Chiu, C., Saenz, J. L., Ortiz, K. and Wong, R., "Educational Benefits and Cognitive Health Life Expectancies: Racial/Ethnic, Nativity, and Gender Disparities." The Gerontologist, 2021.
  • Mejia-Arango, S., Avila, J., Downer, B., Garcia, M. A., Michaels-Obregon, A., Saenz, J. L., Samper-Ternent, R. and Wong, R., "Effect of Demographic and Health Dynamics on Cognitive Status in Mexico between 2001 and 2015: Evidence from the Mexican Health and Aging Study." Geriatrics, 2021.
  • Gauthier, G. R., Smith, J. A., Garcia, C., Garcia, M. A. and Thomas, P. A., "Exacerbating Inequalities: Social Networks, Racial/Ethnic Disparities, and the Covid-19 Pandemic in the United States." The Journals of Gerontology, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Rashoka, F. and Kelley, M. S., "Serving refugees in a pandemic: insights from Yazidis in the midwest." Harvard Public Health Review, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Homan, P. A., Garcia, C. and Brown, T. H., "The Color of Covid-19: Structural Racism and the Disproportionate Impact of the Pandemic on Older Black and Latinx Adults." The Journals of Gerontology, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M. and Garcia, C., "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Precarious Aging: The Importance of an Equity Response." Generations, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Saenz, R., "The Disproportionate Impact of Covid-19 on Older Latino Mortality: The Rapidly Diminishing Latino Paradox." The Journals of Gerontology, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Ortiz, K., Arevalo, S. P., Diminich, E. D., Briceno, E., Vega, I. E. and Tarraf, W., "Age of Migration and Cognitive Function among Older Latinos in the United States." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2020.
  • Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M., "Gender and Age of Migration Differences in Mortality among Older Mexican Americans." The Journals of Gerontology, 2020.
  • Garcia, M. A., Ortiz, K., Briceno, E., Diminich, E. D., Arevalo, S. P., Vega, I. E. and Tarraf, W., "Glycosylated Hemoglobin Level, Race/Ethnicity, and Cognition in Midlife and Early Old Age." Research in Human Development, 2020.
  • Garcia, M. A., Saenz, J. L. and Downer, B., "Late Life Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Function among Older Mexican Adults: The Past and the Present." Aging & Mental Health, 2020.
  • Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M., Garcia, C., Chiu, C. and Marcias, G., "Nativity and Country of Origin Variations in Life Expectancy with Functional Limitations among Older Hispanics in the United States." Research on Aging, 2020.
  • Garcia, M. A., Downer, B., Raji, M. and Markides, K. S., "Cohort Differences in Cognitive Impairment and Cognitive Decline among Mexican-Americans Aged 75 Years or Older." American Journal of Epidemiology, 2019.
  • Garcia, C., Garcia, M. A., Chiu, C., Rivera, F. I. and Raji, M., "Life Expectancies with Depression by Age of Migration and Gender among Older Mexican Americans." The Gerontologist, 2019.
  • Mutambudzi, M., Chen, N., Howrey, B., Garcia, M. A. and Markides, K. S., "Physical Performance Trajectories and Mortality among Older Mexican Americans." The Journals of Gerontology, 2019.
  • Garcia, M. A., Downer, B., Chiu, C., Saenz, J. L., Rote, S. and Wong, R., "Racial/Ethnic and Nativity Differences in Cognitive Life Expectancies among Older Adults in the United States." The Gerontologist, 2019.
• Book Chapters
  • Garcia, M. A., Saenz, J. L., Downer, B., Chiu, C. and Wong, R., "Rural and Urban Differences in Cognitive Healthy Life Expectancies Among Older Adults in Mexico." In In: Angel, J.L., Lopez-Ortega, M., and Gutiérrez Robledo L.M. (eds) Understanding the Context of Cognitive Aging, pp. 131-141. Springer, Cham, 2021.. Understanding the Context of Cognitive Aging, 2021.
  • Garcia, M. A., Garcia, C. and Markides, K., "Demography of Aging." In In Poston Jr. D. (eds) Handbook of Population. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. Handbook of Population. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, 2019.
  • Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M. and Rote, S., "Disability and the Immigrant Health Paradox: Gender and Timing of Migration." In In Vega W., Angel J., Gutiérrez Robledo L., Markides K. (eds) Contextualizing Health and Aging in the Americas, pp. 249-269. Springer, Cham, 2019. Contextualizing Health and Aging in the Americas, 2019.
• Editorial
  • Garcia, M. A., Pendergrast, C., "The Devastating Toll of Structural Racism." Public Health Post, 2021.
• Manuscripts
  • Garcia, M. A., Tarraf, W., Reyes, A. M. and Chiu, C., Gender, Age of Migration and Cognitive Life Expectancies among Older Latinos: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study. .
  • Garcia, M. A., Rashoka, F., Kelley, M. S., Chai, W. and Rashawka, H. N., Serving refugees in a pandemic: insights from Yazidis in the midwest. .
  • Garcia, M. A., Saenz, R., The Impact of COVID-19 on Older Latino Mortality: A Tale of Two Periods: 2020 & 2021. , 2021.

Penn Population Studies Center Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, "U.S. State Policy Contexts and Disability Risk among Midlife and Older Latino Adults in the United States" (September 25, 2023)

Syracuse University (2023)

Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Association (April 25, 2022 - April 26, 2022)

Donald J. Bogue Demography Workshop, University of Chicago (April 21, 2022)

Demography and Health Seminar Series, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (April 18, 2022)

Population Studies Center Colloquium Series, University of Pennsylvania, "Cognitive Decline and Dementia among Older Latinos in the United States: Current Knowledge, Controversies, and Future Directions" (March 21, 2022)

Social, Environmental, and Biological Determinants of Dementia Disparities, Florida International University and Emory University, "The Time for Recognizing Within-group Heterogeneity in Dementia Research is Now!" (January 13, 2022 - January 14, 2022)

Garcia, M. A., Tarraf, W., Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, "The Intersection of Race and Ethnicity, Nativity, and Sex on Cognitive Trajectories of Older Adults in the United States." (November 13, 2021)

Garcia, M. A., Kemp, B., Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Age of Migration and the Health Status of Older Latinos: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study" (November 10, 2021 - November 13, 2021)

Garcia, M. A., Thierry, A. D., Pendergrast, C., Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, "The Devastating Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Older Black and Latinx Adults: Implications for Health and Well-Being" (November 10, 2021 - November 13, 2021)

Interdisciplinary Aging Research to Address Health Disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: A Scientific Training Program presenting Issues in Dementia and Cognitive Change Among Health Disparities Populations in the United States: New Research from Emerging Scientists, The University of Southern California, Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging , "Sex and Age of Migration Differences in Cognitive Life Expectancies among Older Latino Adults in the United States" (November 2, 2021)

Center for Demography & Ecology and the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, Demography Seminar (DemSem), University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Aging and Cognition among Older Latinos in the United States: Current Knowledge and Future Directions" (October 26, 2021)

Garcia, M. A., Saenz, R., International Conference on Aging in the Americas, University of Texas Medical Branch, "COVID-19 Death Trends among Older Latinos: 2020 and 2021" (September 23, 2021 - September 24, 2021)

Garcia, M. A., Kemp, B., Population Association of America Annual Meeting, "Age of Migration and the Health Status of Older Latinos: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study" (May 5, 2021 - May 8, 2021)

Sheehan, C., Garcia, M. A., Chiu, C., Cantu, P., Population Association of America Annual Meeting, "Racial and Ethnic Differences in Sleep Duration Life Expectancies Among Older Adults in the United States" (May 5, 2021 - May 8, 2021)

Garcia, M. A., Saenz, J., Downer, B., Wong, R., Population Association of America Annual Meeting, "Rural/Urban Dwelling Across the Life-Course and Late-life Cognitive Ability in Mexico" (May 5, 2021 - May 8, 2021)

Garcia, M. A., Tarraf, W., RCMAR Annual Meeting, "A Nuanced Portrait of How Race/Ethnicity and Nativity Influence Cognitive Trajectories among Older Adults in the United States" (March 29, 2021 - April 2, 2021)

The PSU Population Research Institute & Syracuse University CPR/Lerner Joint Symposium, PSU, "Covid-19, Social Demography, and Population Health" (January 1, 2021)

Medical Branch Preventive Medicine and Population Health Fall Symposium, University of Texas , "The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Older Latinos: Implications for Future Health and Well-being" (December 17, 2020)

Garcia, M. A., Chiu, C., Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Age of Migration and Cognitive Life Expectancies Among Older Latinos: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study" (November 4, 2020 - November 7, 2020)

Garcia, M. A., Warner, D., Chiu, C., Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting , "Heterogeneity in Self-Reported Cognitive Impairment Life Expectancies Among Older Latino Subgroups in the United States" (November 4, 2020 - November 7, 2020)

Fall Symposium “Addressing Diverse Populations in Aging Research: Implications of COVID", Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR), "The Impact of COVID-19 on Latino Mortality: Consequences for Cognitive Aging among Older Latinos in the United States" (October 13, 2020)

Garcia, M. A., Ortiz, K., Arevalo, S., Diminich, E., Briceno-Abreu, E., Vega, I., Tarraf, W., Population Association of America Annual Meeting , "Age of Migration and Cognitive Functioning among Older Latinos in the United States" (April 22, 2020 - April 25, 2020)

Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M., Garcia, C., Chiu, C., Macias, G., Population Association of America Annual Meeting, "Demographic Heterogeneity in Life Expectancies with Functional Limitations among Older Hispanics in the United States" (April 22, 2020 - April 25, 2020)

RCMAR Annual Investigators Meeting, "Age of Migration and Cognition: The Importance of Contextual Factors in Cognitive Aging among Older Latinos in the United States" (April 1, 2020)

Garcia, M. A., Garcia, C., Warner, D., Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Socio-cultural Variability in Self-Reported Cognitive Impairment Among Older Latino Subgroups in the United States." (November 13, 2019 - November 17, 2019)

Garcia, M. A., Ortiz, K., Arevalo, S., Diminich, E., Briceno-Abreu, E., Vega, I., Tarraf, W., International Conference on Aging in the Americas, "Age of Migration and Cognitive Functioning among Older Latinos in the United States" (September 30, 2019 - October 2, 2019)

Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M., American Sociological Association 114th Annual Meeting, "Racial/Ethnic and Nativity Differentials in Cognitive Trajectories" (August 10, 2019 - August 13, 2019)

Garcia, M. A., Garcia, C., Reyes, A. M., Chiu, C., American Sociological Association 114th Annual Meeting, "Variations in Functional Life Expectancies among Older Hispanics in the United States by Nativity and Country of Origin" (August 10, 2019 - August 13, 2019)

Garcia, M. A., Reyes, A. M., Center for Life Course and Longitudinal Studies, Department of Sociology, and the College of the Liberal Arts at Pennsylvania State University, "Age of Migration and Cognitive Functioning among Older Latinos in the United States" (May 1, 2019)