Paola Echave, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and an Affiliate Scholar at the Urban Institute. Her scholarship sits at the intersection of population health, migration, and public policy, drawing on rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods. Echave has extensive experience in the design and implementation of large-scale social science and demographic surveys.

Some of her more recent research focuses on the role of immigration enforcement on the health, economic, and social well-being of immigrant communities. Her other work is taking a closer look at the structural conditions, including environmental disasters, that contribute to migration, health disparities, and labor exploitation in the US and globally. As part of the U.S. Department of State's Program to End Modern Slavery, she leads collaborative work spanning institutions and organizations across Mexico and the United States to develop an intervention program aimed at preventing labor trafficking in Mexico. She is also part of the 2026–2027 cohort of the Increasing Diversity in and Equitable Access to Applied Learning in Disaster Response (IDEAAL DR2) Fellowship. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and has been featured in many media outlets, including DC News Now, ScienceDaily, Ohio State News, Fox 8 News, Chicago Tribune, and international outlets, such as The UK Times.

Before joining UTEP, Echave worked as a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, where she was the project manager of the Annual Survey of Refugees, led research on access to public programs for immigrant families and identification of policy areas that can be advanced to protect the well-being of immigrant communities. Echave holds a doctorate in sociology from the Ohio State University, master’s degrees in sociology from the same university and BA in criminology from the University of New Mexico.