Dr. Castro is Associate Professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. A recipient of a recently completed K01 career development award from the National Cancer Institute (2011-20117), she is PI on the current study, “Assessing smoking dependence among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers,” (R21 MD011431), funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Her research focuses on disparities among minority and underserved populations, with an emphasis on smoking cessation among Latinos. More specifically, her research examines how cultural variables, including acculturation, gender, and minority status stressors, combine with known key determinants of smoking to affect determinants of smoking and smoking relapse. She is also involved in collaborative research examining the influences of a variety of social and intrapersonal factors on smoking and alcohol use behavior in racially/ethnically diverse populations of low socioeconomic status and other special populations of smokers. Dr. Castro earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from The Florida State University in 2008 and completed her postdoctoral training cancer prevention health disparities at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
