Scott Carvajal

Scott C. Carvajal, PhD, MPH, is the Chair of our Health Promotion Sciences Department and the Director of the Arizona Prevention Research Center (AzPRC), and is a multi-discipline trained applied social and quantitative psychologist with expertise in health promotion theory, Latino/cultural behavioral research methods, intervention design and evaluation methods. His principal research (funded by NIDA, NIAAA & currently NICHD & CDC) has focused on understanding a range of health behaviors that convey risk or protection (e.g., substance abuse, sexual risk taking, healthy food choice, physical activity) and mental health outcomes (e.g., bicultural stressors, depressive symptoms, coping strategies), with a major emphasis on testing social ecological models within minority populations. Dr. Carvajal was the Director of Substance Abuse Core for an NCMHD/NIH-funded (2003-2009) Center for Health Equality, a Center of Excellence focusing on eliminating health disparities in Arizona Latinos and American Indians. As part of that Center he had an important role in review and oversight of pilot research activities, and in the mentoring of junior investigators and fellows. More recently as Director/PI of the CDC funded University of Arizona Prevention Research Center, he is responsible for the research oversight of multiple CBPR lead programs that include aims of the promotion of physical activity, health eating and health screening with under-served border populations. He has also been an important collaborator as a lead quantitative data analyst and/or behavioral science methodologist on five other major, federally-funded (e.g., NCI, CDC, NIMH), health promotion interventions for multi-ethnic or minority populations. Within these projects he has contributed (as lead or co-author) on works focusing on theoretical models for behavioral change, testing new psychosocial measures, and statistical models for evaluating program impact on psychosocial mediators and outcomes. He is also committed to an interdisciplinary science approach in addressing health problems and this is reflecting in his participation in groups such as the Community Influences on Health Behaviors (NIH Chartered Study Section) and the Cancer Prevention and Control Division, Arizona Cancer Center. His principal research (funded by NIDA, NIAAA & currently NICHD & CDC) has focused on understanding a range of health behaviors that convey risk or protection (e.g., substance abuse, sexual risk taking, healthy food choice, physical activity) and mental health outcomes (e.g., bicultural stressors, depressive symptoms, coping strategies), with a major emphasis on testing social ecological models within minority populations. Dr. Carvajal was the Director of Substance Abuse Core for an NCMHD/NIH-funded (2003-2009) Center for Health Equality, a Center of Excellence focusing on eliminating health disparities in Arizona Latinos and American Indians.

Research Interests:  Health Issues for Latino Migrants in the U.S.; Human rights issues along the U.S.-Mexico Border; Central American and Caribbean Migration