Principal Investigator

Dr. Violeta J. Rodriguez

I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s Department of Psychology Clinical Community Division. I completed my PhD at the University of Georgia (UGA), and before this attended the University of Miami (M.S.Ed.) and Florida International University (B.A.). I am a former Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow (2017-2021), a PEO Scholar (2021-2022), and an NIMH R36 recipient (2021-2023).

The overall aims of my research are the following:

• First, I aim to better understand causal and maintaining factors in youth and parent mental health disorders in understudied, underserved, and underprivileged groups, including health disparities in these groups.
• Second, I am interested in developing improved assessment methods in parenting and family dynamics that are valid in different cultural, research, and clinical contexts.
• Third, I aim to translate evidence-based health promotion strategies and interventions in underserved settings to promote health equity.

Specifically, my goals are to maximize the impact of research aimed at improving mental health outcomes and programs for children and families from understudied, underserved, and underprivileged backgrounds by improving quantification of the complex influence of parenting and family factors on the development of psychopathology.