Kristina Lopez

Kristina Lopez is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work within Arizona State University's Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. Her research focuses on racial/ethnic disparities in autism diagnosis and culturally informed interventions for Latinx families. She maintains additional affiliations with the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center and National Hispanic Science Network.

• Education: Ph.D. in Social Work & Psychology (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 2013)
• Research Grants: $471,000 HRSA Autism Transitions Research Project (2022-2024)
• Key Programs: Director of Parents Taking Action intervention program

Her work integrates DisCrit and LatCrit frameworks to examine:

• Family Systems impacted by developmental disabilities
• Early Intervention access disparities
• Maternal Mental Health outcomes
• Culturally Adapted Interventions for Navajo and Latinx communities
• Health Equity through Medicaid policy analysis
• Transition-Age Youth challenges in healthcare systems

She has received multiple awards including:

• CSWE Disability Manuscript Award (2020)
• International Society for Autism Research Diversity Award (2018)
• Watts College Community Research Award (2017)

Her recent publications analyze:

• 2024 Parent-mediated intervention adaptations
• 2023 Navajo community program implementation
• 2022 Long-term intervention effectiveness
• 2021 Intersectional epilepsy analysis
• 2020 Diabetes disparities through CRT