Alison Cerezo
CRML Affiliated Faculty
Associate Professor, Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology
Alison is a health equity researcher, licensed psychologist (CA) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara. Their research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and California Department of Public Health. Alison also serves in the role of Head of Research and Health Equity at mpathic.ai where they bring thought leadership as a health equity researcher and practitioner to develop innovative data methods that demonstrate the potential of ML/AI to address health equity at scale.
Alison Cerezo is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. They received their B.A. in Psychology and Women & Gender Studies (double majors) from UC Los Angeles; M.A. degree in Psychology, Research Emphasis from CSU Los Angeles; and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon. Prior to joining the faculty at UCSB, Dr. Cerezo was an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, College of Health and Social Sciences, San Francisco State University where they coordinated the College Student Personnel Counseling Specialization (2013-2018) and served as Affiliate Faculty with the Health Equity Institute.
Dr. Cerezo’s primary line of research centers on reducing social and health disparities for sexual and gender diverse communities. Most recently, their work has focused on the links between stigma, discrimination and alcohol misuse and alcohol risk behaviors in sexual minority women. They are also interested in reducing barriers to mental health treatment for this community. Dr. Cerezo uses qualitative, quantitative and mixed methodologies and has carried out research on sexual and gender diverse communities in the U.S. and Mexico.
Dr. Cerezo's scholarly work is rooted in an intersectional and critical race theory perspective - always cognizant of the ways systems of power impact health outcomes and can thus be changed to better serve underserved communities.