Principal Investigator
Adrian Aguilera, Ph.D. | aguila@berkeley.edu
Associate Professor
University of California, Berkeley
University of California San Francisco, Psychiatry
Director, Latino Mental Health Research Program
Adrian Aguilera, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley and the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Francisco. He received his B.A, from Stanford University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. Dr. Aguilera’s research has focused on studying the influence of culture, community and socioeconomic status on mental health along with developing interventions to address health disparities in low-income and minority populations. Dr. Aguilera’s current work has focused on utilizing mobile phone technology to improve mental health interventions in primary care settings with vulnerable populations. He has conducted research using text messaging as a companion to cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) for depression to increase engagement and improve outcomes. He is currently developing a personalized, machine learning based texting intervention to improve physical activity among people with comorbid diabetes and depression. He is committed to utilizing innovative technologies to reduce health disparities.
Research Coordinator
Rosa Hernandez-Ramos, B.A. | rhernandezramos@berkeley.edu
Rosa Hernandez-Ramos, B.A. is the Project Coordinator for the Digital Health Equity and Access Lab (dHEAL). Rosa received her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Education Studies from UCLA in Spring 2018. During her time as an undergrad, Rosa worked as a Research Assistant for UCLA’s Department of Psychology where she studied the needs of underserved groups including children with anxiety disorders, Latinos, and rural populations. Within the Digital Health and Equity Lab, she organizes, manages, and implements a variety of different digital interventions for patients with depression and diabetes. Rosa’s current research interests include analyzing the impact of socio-demographic factors in treatment adherence and the linguistic analysis of depressed populations. Rosa intends to pursue a PhD in the near future and focus on alleviating racial mental health disparities in underserved populations.
Post-Doctoral Candidates
Caroline Figueroa, MD, Ph.D. | c.a.figueroa@berkeley.edu
Caroline Figueroa, MD, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare. She obtained her MD degree and Ph.D. degree at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. During her PhD, she spent 1,5 years at the University of Oxford for a research traineeship. Her research has focused on cognitive and neurobiological vulnerability factors for recurrence of depression in patients recovered from Major Depressive Disorder. Dr. Figueroa's current research interest is on digital interventions for depression, with an emphasis on developing cutting-edge innovations that tailor to the needs of underserved populations. She is involved in the analysis, testing, and implementation of digital applications for depression and diabetes in ethnic minority patients with a focus on Latinx patients. Through these innovative projects, she hopes to contribute to improving the impact and efficacy of digital interventions for Latinx communities.
Graduate Students
Laura Gómez-Pathak, MSW | lauraelizabethg@berkeley.edu
Laura Gomez is a combined MSW/PhD student at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare. Laura obtained her B.A. in Psychology and Spanish, also from UC Berkeley. After college, she worked as a Program Director in a Berkeley-based community non-profit serving Latinx immigrants, and as a Product Manager at a nonprofit healthcare technology startup, where she performed extensive user research for the development of mobile health interventions for low-income patients. More recently, Laura worked for a government consulting firm, where she supported several research, data analysis and technical assistance projects in social and public health policy. Laura’s current research interests focus on digital mental health and on developing innovative mHealth interventions for marginalized populations. Through her research Laura hopes to work towards greater integration of technology into social work.
Claire Boone, MPH | cboone@berkeley.edu
Volunteer Research Assistants
Vivian Yip | vivianyip@berkeley.edu
Vivian Yip is a second-year undergraduate Molecular Environmental Biology major at UC Berkeley and is working as a research assistant. Vivian is passionate about being a part of shaping and improving healthcare coverage in the United States and addressing social determinants of health within her community. As a volunteer for Health Advocates and position as a peer counselor at UC Berkeley, she has seen how there are still limits to medicine and health disparities that need to be recognized in order to improve patient care. She hopes to understand the research that drives public and mental health in order to make health care services more accessible to low-income populations. As a research assistant, she is involved in a pilot project on mHealth intervention ethics and data privacy, which entails qualitative data collection and analysis.
Cindy Tenorio | tenoreos@berkeley.edu
Cindy Tenorio is a senior at UC Berkeley majoring in Public Health with a passion for reducing health disparities. Cindy was previously involved in FETCH, a pilot program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, where she coordinated transportation for underserved diabetic patients and families who lacked transportation to necessary appointments. She was also involved in the UCSF ECHO study looking at different environmental exposures that could potentially be detrimental to pregnant women. Growing up in a predominantly Latinx community, she witnessed a multitude of mental health issues and inequities and is thrilled to be part of the Digital Health Equity and Access Lab (dHEAL). She will be working with the DIAMANTE team investigating how technology interventions can be used to combat diabetesanddepression. As a research assistant, she’s involved in data management, social media usage for recruitment and shadowing study visits.
Guillermo Bustamante | g.bustamante@berkeley.edu
Guillermo Bustamante is an undergraduate senior who is majoring in Philosophy with a Journalism minor. His role as a research assistant is a new endeavor that he is excited to be part of. Assisting with data management, outreach via advertisement, and other tools for this project will play a significant role in his personal development as a new researcher at Cal. He is likewise passionate about mental health issues, especially those affecting the lower-income minorities. When he is not busy with school work, Guillermo tries to maintain his own well-being through fitness, meaningful relationships, and the simple things that bring him joy.