Mariana Alvarado is a bilingual journalist based in Mexico City with more than 19 years experience as a reporter and editor of web and print. She wrote award winning stories for the Arizona Daily Star on immigration, international business and border issues. She oversaw business coverage for Grupo Reforma in Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city.

Fellowship Project: The link between childhood obesity and socio-economic standing.

We are interested in learning more about childhood obesity and how it affects Tucson, Arizona, where diabetes is rampant. We have a particular interest in how obesity affects our area’s Hispanic and Native American populations, which are plagued by childhood obesity and diabetes, and by adult-onset kidney failure stemming from chronic diabetes.

Articles

Childhood Obesity in Southern Arizona

<p>Southern Arizona children are suffering from adult afflictions — and doctors blame it on a troubling surge in childhood obesity.</p> <p>In Arizona 31 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 are overweight or obese, experts say.</p> <p>Lifestyle, diet and genetics play a role, but the biggest common denominator among them is socioeconomic.</p>