Alberto Ortega joined O’Neill as an assistant professor in 2019. He is an applied microeconomist with primary research interests in race and ethnicity, education, and health policy. ​Some of his current research evaluates the effect of social policies on racial and ethnic differences in substance use disorder treatment. Other work examines the effect of immigrant English proficiency on the well-being of their children.

Previously, Ortega taught economics at Whitman College. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from the University of Florida. He also studied economics at the undergraduate level at Florida International University.

Ortega is currently a RCMAR scientist with USC’s Minority Aging Health Economics Research Center. He was an NSF Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics Fellow as well as an American Economic Association Summer Program Fellow. He also serves on the communications committee for the American Society for Hispanic Economists.