About Health Psychology

 

The Health Psychology area provides training to prepare graduate students for careers in academia, industry, medical center settings, federal, state, and local non-profit organizations. Four core faculty guide the research training of health psychology doctoral students in labs that conduct applied and basic research and that offer exciting training and career opportunities. Doctoral students can also pursue a Master’s in Public Health as part of their graduate training. The University of Texas at El Paso’s location on the Texas-Mexico border offers unique opportunities for lab-based and community-based research within a metroplex of 2.2 million residents.

Health area faculty research includes: addictive behaviors, substance use disorders, alcohol intoxication, judgement and decision making, sexual violence, and emotion regulation. These are approached from both public health and clinical perspectives. Primary themes across faculty interests emphasize Latino/Hispanic and other minority health disparities, social determinants of health, and treatment inequities. Core coursework includes topics to include community health, clinical health and behavioral medicine, research methods, as well as high level quantitative offerings. Students are guided by a primary health faculty mentor throughout their time in the program and are also encouraged to work collaboratively with other faculty mentors, as well as like-minded graduate students. Through mentored, yet increasingly independent work on theses and dissertations, students develop their own lines of research, publish in strong journals, and often seek and receive funding to support their efforts.   

Explore Our Website

• Learn more about the People in our program, including faculty, current graduate students, and alumni.
• See our Laboratories & Research Infrastructure and learn about the research conducted in our program.
• Learn more about the Health Psychology Curriculum.
• Prospective graduate students should read our Application Information. Those interested in our program are encouraged to contact faculty regarding research interests and/or any questions related to the application process.
• View the UTEP Department of Psychology homepage to learn more about our faculty and other graduate programs

 

For proSPective graduate students - available faculty mentors

To see a list of faculty considering applications for admissions in the upcoming cycle click here. Our most recent faculty addition Dr. Mitch Kirwan brings significant expertise in experimental approaches to examining sexual violence, emotional regulation, and alcohol intoxication. We encourage students interested in working with specific faculty to contact them in advance of submitting an application.