Patricia Cavazos, Ph.D.
I am a clinically trained licensed psychologist who has been involved in biomedical research for nearly 20 years. My research program is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is at the cutting edge of research into the use of technology to combat barriers to addiction and mental health treatment. Specifically, my research portfolio addresses health inequities and the use of technology to improve mental health and substance use assessment and treatment. For example, in a newly funded NIH study my team will implement an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to track race-related microaggression experiences and drinking behaviors in real time among African American adults to evaluate associations between racial microaggressions and alcohol use in this high-risk group.
I am a Professor and Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM). In 2017, I was named Director of the Mentored Training Program in Clinical Investigation at WUSM, which promotes the career development of junior faculty and postdoctoral fellows who have committed their careers to academic medicine by training them to become clinical and translational researchers. In 2019, I received NIH funding to co-lead the Training Leaders to Accelerate Global Mental Health Disparities in Research, a program funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (T37MD014218) that focuses on global mental health disparities and trains advanced pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral trainees from diverse backgrounds in the US. In recognition of outstanding mentoring, in 2020 I was named Outstanding Global Health Mentor by the Institute of Public Health at WUSM, and in 2014, 2018 and 2021, I was named Course Master of the Year in the Master of Science in Applied Health Behavior Research program. Most recently, since 2022, I serve as Associate or Co-Director of two institutional Career Development Award programs: a NIDA-funded K12 at WUSM and NCATS-funded KL2 at the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences.
Phone: 314-362-2152
Email: pcavazos@wustl.edu
My Research Team: Investigators Connecting Health and Social Media (iCHASM)
My specific research areas include:
- Technology and Social media: Use of technology is a popular activity. In my research, I study how social media posts and mobile applications can be used to understand and help emotional wellbeing.
- Policy: Many young people engage in behaviors that can jeopardize their health such as substance abuse and unprotected sex. My goal is to understand how policies can help to reduce health risk behaviors.
- Mental health epidemiology: My research addresses why and how certain risk behaviors cluster with psychiatric illnesses, especially among marginalized populations.
Recent findings:
I focus my clinical research on minoritized populations that disproportionately struggle with mental health problems.
Baiden, P., Szlyk, H. S., Peoples, J. E., Vázquez, M. M., Harrell, D. R., & Cavazos-Rehg, P. (2023). Association between sexual identity, health risk behaviors, and mental health outcomes among Black adolescents: Findings from a population-based study. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 12, 100511, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100511
My research leverages social media to understand trends in psychiatric illnesses and substance use behaviors.
Wu, D., Kasson, E., Singh, A. K., Ren, Y., Kaiser, N., Huang, M., & Cavazos-Rehg, P. A. (2022). Topics and Sentiment Surrounding Vaping on Twitter and Reddit During the 2019 e-Cigarette and Vaping Use–Associated Lung Injury Outbreak: Comparative Study. Journal of medical Internet research, 24(12), e39460.
I have strong interest in addressing the behavioral health challenges within our local community and beyond.
Szlyk, H. S., Li, X., Filiatreau, L. M., Bierut, L. J., Banks, D., & Cavazos-Rehg, P.A. (2023). Principal component regression analysis of familial psychiatric histories and suicide risk factors among adults with opioid use disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Our active projects include:
Ecological Momentary Assessment of Racial Microaggressions and Alcohol Use in African American Young Adults: In the proposed study, we will assess racial microaggressions as antecedents to alcohol use among African American young adults via ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture the association at a granular level during the peak developmental period of risk for heavy alcohol use.
Testing the feasibility and acceptability of social media and digital therapeutics to decrease vaping behaviors: This study outlines the use of detection models to identify teens and young adults socially networking about vaping, the use of a chatbot to screen for the needs of eligible users, and the use of a digital intervention system (i.e., quitSTART with an embodied chatbot) aimed to support vaping cessation efforts by increasing risk awareness and decreasing pro-vaping attitudes.
mHealth to help pregnant and postpartum women in recovery for opioid use disorder: In this study we will recruit pregnant women with opioid use disorder and test a newly developed digital therapy that delivers engaging, credible, and relevant information about medication assisted treatment.
uMAT-R: A mobile application to support pregnant women in Missouri who are recovering from Opioid Use Disorders (OUD)
We will implement the uMAT-R app in several clinics throughout Missouri who treat pregnant women with OUD. uMAT-R is designed as an add-on to routine in-person clinical care so that patients of these clinics can access the skills and strategies they need outside of scheduled visits.
Recreational Marijuana Marketing and Young Adult Consumer Behavior: The overall goal of this research is to inform regulatory efforts to minimize marijuana (MJ) use in disproportionately- impacted populations, in states with legalized recreational MJ and those that subsequently legalize it; this proposal’s immediate objective is to examine the recreational MJ market, MJ use, and related perceptions in market segments of diverse young adults.
Suubi-Mhealth: A mobile health intervention to address depression and improve ART adherence among Youth living with HIV (YLHIV) in Uganda: The proposed Suubi-Mhealth study seeks to develop an mhealth intervention for use among Ugandan youth (14-17 years) with comorbid HIV and depression, taking into account their unique contextual, cultural, and developmental needs.
Implications of Social Media Content and Engagement for Alcohol and Marijuana Use: We are studying the marijuana and alcohol-related content to which young people are exposed via social media and their associations with marijuana and alcohol use behaviors and norms.
Understanding Depression Displays on Twitter and Identifying Ways to Intervene
We are exploring strategies for identifying and helping individuals who are feeling depressed, contemplating suicide, and/or engaging in self-harm behaviors and expressing these struggles on Twitter.
Investigating the Promotion of Eating Disorders on Twitter: Implications for Online Intervention
We are taking the first steps towards engaging individuals who are networking on social media about eating disorder symptoms and risk factors. Additionally, we are garnering suggestions/receptivity for the delivery of technology-based prevention/treatment messages on social media platforms.
Policy as Environment: Long-term Effects of Laws Restricting Youth Substance Use
We are studying whether policy environments in which adolescents have easier access to alcohol and tobacco lead to elevated risk for addiction and related health effects later in adulthood.
Smoking, Suicide and Mental Health: Using Policy Change to Probe Causality
The global aim of this study is to examine whether smoking is a contributing cause for suicide and more proximal adverse mental health outcomes.
Building on Bridging the Gap: Environmental Influences on Teen Substance Use (recently completed)
We are conducting an in-depth investigation of the processes through which prevention efforts (e.g., school-based efforts and state-level penalties) reduce the substance use behaviors they target.
Funding:
Opioid Epidemic Research Funding Program
Digital Therapy to Support Recovery among Pregnant Women with Opioid Use Disorder
My Role: Principal Investigator
SAMHSA State Opioid Response (P19-00792)
uMAT-R: A mobile application to support pregnant women in Missouri who are recovering from Opioid Use Disorders (OUD)
My Role: Principal Investigator
R01 DA039455
Implications of Social Media Content and Engagement for Alcohol and Marijuana Use
My Role: Principal Investigator
K02 DA043657
Leveraging Social Media for Substance Use Behavioral Insight
My Role: Principal Investigator
Once Upon a Time Foundation
Leveraging Social Media to Accelerate Mental Health Treatment
My Role: Principal Investigator
R03 MH109024
Understanding Depression Displays on Twitter and Identifying Ways to Intervene
My Role: Principal Investigator
R21 MH112331
Investigating the Promotion of Eating Disorders on Twitter: Implications for Online Intervention
My Role: Principal Investigator
R01 DA031288
Policy as Environment: Long-term Effects of Laws Restricting Youth Substance Use
My Role: Co-Investigator
R01 DA042195
Smoking, Suicide and Mental Health: Using Policy Change to Probe Causality
My Role: Co-Investigator
R01 DA032843 (recently completed)
Building on Bridging the Gap: Environmental Influences on Teen Substance Use
My Role: Principal Investigator