Yessenia Castro

Yessenia Castro serves as Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Doctoral Education at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin. Her research program centers on reducing health disparities among Latino populations through culturally tailored interventions targeting smoking cessation and alcohol use, with significant attention to how cultural, gender, and racial factors intersect with health behaviors.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, The Florida State University (2008)
• Postdoctoral Training, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (2010)

Dr. Castro's work pioneers culturally adapted frameworks for understanding cancer risk behaviors, particularly examining how acculturation variables interact with determinants of smoking cessation among Latinos. She extends this focus to multiple risk behaviors and low-socioeconomic-status populations, employing psychometric approaches to assess dependence in Spanish-speaking cohorts. Her methodology integrates community-based participatory research to ensure ecological validity in intervention design.

Analysis of her publication trajectory reveals sustained innovation in culturally responsive health behavior models, with chronological progression from foundational psychometric assessments (2016-2017) toward multi-systemic analyses of ENDS use and cardiovascular equity (2019-2028). This evolution demonstrates increasing complexity in addressing structural determinants while maintaining cultural specificity.

As Associate Dean for Doctoral Education, Dr. Castro oversees doctoral curriculum development and student mentorship. Her research program is supported by grants examining social determinants of smoking cessation, culturally adapted interventions for heavy drinking, and equity-focused cardiovascular/respiratory health initiatives.

She operates within the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute, collaborating across disciplines to implement interventions in real-world healthcare settings and leveraging 'teachable moments' to maximize intervention efficacy among vulnerable populations.