Laura Vargas (she/her/ella)

Dr. Laura Vargas, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She was a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow with the Developmental Psychobiology Research Group at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (NIMH, T32MH015442) and a Vice-Provost Postdoctoral Fellow at the Penn Injury Science Center and School of Nursing in the University of Pennsylvania. She received her MSW and Ph.D. from Columbia University School of Social Work, and her MPA from the School of International and Public Affairs also from Columbia. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and Fine Arts from the University of Notre Dame. She is funded by the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD, K01MD015768) and researches exposure to trauma and mental health of recent Latinx immigrants in the United States. She focuses on understanding how phenotypes of depression, anxiety and PTSD are shaped by traumatic experiences, individual characteristics, and symptom severity among Latinx adult immigrants. She is a Mexican/American bi-cultural researcher and clinician focused on mental health and health service utilization among Latinx populations. Dr. Vargas has regional expertise on violence and health policy issues in Latin America through past professional and research experience in Mexico and Brazil. She is an advisory council member for the University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center and a member of the Issue Advisory Committee for the Nationwide Public Awareness and Education Campaign Aimed at Reducing Firearm Deaths, Injuries and Impact of Gun Violence on Youth in America by the Ad Council.