Dr. Velasquez is Centennial Professor in Leadership for Community, Professional and Corporate Excellence and former Associate Dean for Research (2006-2013) at the University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She also holds appointments in the Department of Population Health at UT-Austin’s Dell Medical School. Dr. Velasquez has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a Ph.D. in behavioral sciences, with a minor in biostatistics, from the University of Texas Health Science Center-School of Public Health. Prior to moving to UT-Austin, Dr. Velasquez served on the research faculty in the Psychology Department at the University of Houston from 1995-1999 and as faculty and Director of Research in Family and Community Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston from 2000-2006.
Her program of research focuses on the development and implementation of interventions using the Transtheoretical Model and Motivational Interviewing. With over 20 years of continued support from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Velasquez has developed and studied behavioral interventions in the areas of integrated primary care, screening and brief interventions, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, alcohol and other drug abuse, prenatal health, HIV prevention, and smoking cessation. A more recent emphasis has been on teaching graduate students and health professionals to use brief motivational interventions in medical settings.
She also serves as reviewer (eff. 10/16) on NIH-Center for Scientific Review Interventions to Prevent and Treat Addictions (IPTA) study section. Dr. Velasquez is an internationally recognized trainer in both Motivational Interviewing and the Transtheoretical Model, and is a founding member of the Steering Committee for the International Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. Her list of publications—available through her PubMed/NCBI bibliography —includes numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters.
