Violeta J. Rodriguez, PhD, clinical psychology

Violeta J. Rodriguez’s research is focused on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to, maintain and/or exacerbate health disparities among minoritized youth and their families.  By focusing on both youth and their parents, she explores how the intricate association between parenting and health inequities can either mitigate or exacerbate these disparities, particularly in understudied and underserved populations (e.g., Global South countries, racially and ethnically minoritized people, immigrant families, Spanish-speaking caregivers and youth, LGBTQIA+ families, families disproportionately affected by chronic illness). 
She is committed to improving assessment methods used to evaluate health outcomes and predictors (e.g., parenting) in parents and youth, ensuring their validity across different cultural (cross-cultural and multicultural), research, and clinical contexts. Through the development of culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate assessment tools, she aims to improve the accuracy of how we assess various factors (e.g., parenting) in research and interventions. She is interested in the translation of evidence-based health promotion strategies and interventions into underserved settings to promote health equity using community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, and informed by implementation science frameworks (e.g., MOST, CFIR).
Education
PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Georgia
MS, Psychology, University of Georgia
MSEd, Research, Measurement and Evaluation, University of Miami
BA, Psychology, Florida International University
Website
https://psychology.illinois.edu/directory/profile/vjrodrig