Clariana Vitoria Ramos de Oliveira, Ph.D, MSC, RN
Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track)
Biography
Clariana Ramos de Oliveira, Ph.D., MSc, RN, joined the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) School of Nursing faculty in July 2022. Prior to UNLV, she completed her postdoctoral training at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where her work focused on early child development within global health contexts.
Ramos is a nurse scientist and public health researcher with over a decade of experience in maternal and child mental health, parenting, and early childhood development across diverse global settings. Her work spans low- and middle-income countries—including Brazil, Pakistan, Tanzania—as well as underserved communities in the United States. Across these contexts, she has developed and evaluated culturally responsive parenting and mental health interventions aimed at improving caregiver well-being and child developmental outcomes.
Her current research program focuses on understanding and addressing social and structural determinants of maternal mental health among Latina mothers in the United States. Using community-engaged and mixed methods approaches, Ramos leads projects that co-design culturally tailored, scalable interventions in partnership with community members, clinicians, and local organizations. Her work is supported by multiple funding mechanisms, including the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the Hillman Emergent Innovation Program.
In addition to her research, Ramos has extensive clinical and public health experience. She has worked as a registered nurse, providing care to families experiencing poverty, violence, and social vulnerability, and as an epidemiologist in preventive medicine in Brazil. In the United States, she also served as a mental health and child development consultant within the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) in Massachusetts, supporting community-based services for children and families.
Ramos’s scholarship is grounded in a commitment to health equity, culturally responsive care, and strengthening systems to better serve vulnerable populations. Her long-term goal is to design, implement, and disseminate evidence-based interventions that promote maternal mental health, positive parenting, and early child development in underserved communities.
Expertise
Ramos is an interdisciplinary global health scientist whose work integrates community-based programs, epidemiologic methods, and clinical practice to address health disparities among vulnerable children and families across diverse global settings.
Classes Taught
At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Nursing, Ramos teaches courses across undergraduate and graduate programs, with a focus on research methods, population health, and communication in diverse healthcare settings.
- NURS 325 – Professional Communication in Diverse Healthcare Settings (Baccalaureate, Pre-Licensure Program)
Focuses on patient-centered communication, therapeutic relationships, and culturally responsive care. - NURS 350 – Population Health Nursing (Baccalaureate, Pre-Licensure Program)
Explores population-focused healthcare concepts to promote health across diverse groups defined by socio-demographic and geographic factors. Emphasizes community partnerships, assessment of health data, and application of a community health model of care. - NURS 716 – Population Health: Analysis and Evaluation (DNP Program)
Prepares graduate nursing students to apply epidemiologic methods and advanced practice nursing concepts to analyze and evaluate health problems among populations. Emphasizes critical thinking, data-driven decision-making, and the application of population health strategies relevant to nurse practitioner practice. - NURS 732 – Clinical Synthesis (DEMSN Program)
A culminating master’s-level course in which students integrate knowledge and competencies developed throughout the program. Students analyze a clinical case, identify a gap in practice, and develop an evidence-based solution. - NURS 742 – Foundations of Research Design in Nursing (PhD level)
Introduces conceptual, theoretical, and empirical (C–T–E) frameworks for rigorous research design. - NURS 749 – Interdisciplinary Research and Scholarship Seminar (PhD level)
Engages doctoral students in advanced research discussions, scholarly development, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Education Background
Ramos brings a strong interdisciplinary foundation that integrates nursing, public health, and global health research. She completed her Bachelor of Science in nursing and Master of Science at the Federal University of Rio Grande (Brazil), where she developed early expertise in clinical practice, epidemiology and population health. She earned her Ph.D. in nursing from the University of São Paulo, where she was competitively selected for an international research scholarship that supported her training as a visiting graduate student at Harvard University. She further advanced her methodological and research leadership skills through a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Research
Ramos is a nurse scientist and global health researcher whose program of research advances understanding of how social and structural determinants shape maternal mental health, parenting, and early child development. Her work integrates epidemiologic methods, mixed methods research, and implementation science to identify mechanisms of risk and resilience and to develop culturally responsive, scalable interventions for families living in contexts of social vulnerability.
Her scholarship is organized around three interconnected and sustained lines of inquiry: (1) examining the effects of social adversity—including community violence, poverty, and structural inequities—on maternal and child mental health; (2) investigating how maternal mental health influences parenting practices and early developmental outcomes; and (3) designing and evaluating community-based mental health and parenting interventions to reduce disparities and strengthen systems of care for underserved populations.
Since joining the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Ramos has successfully established an independent, community-engaged research program focused on Latina mothers in the United States. Her current work uses participatory and implementation science frameworks to co-design culturally responsive mental health and parenting interventions in partnership with community members, clinicians, and local organizations. This work is supported by competitive funding, including the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the Hillman Emergent Innovation Program.
Ramos’s research demonstrates a clear trajectory toward sustained external funding and national leadership in maternal and child mental health. Her long-term goal is to develop and scale evidence-based, culturally grounded interventions that improve maternal mental health, promote positive parenting, and enhance early child development outcomes, particularly among underserved and historically marginalized populations.
Awards, Recognitions, or Group Affiliations
Ramos received an International Fellow from CAPES Federal Agency at Harvard University in 2017. She received the 2009 Junior Researcher Award at the Federal University of Rio Grande during her BSN program. Ramos has been a member of the Society for Research in Child Development since 2019.