Adolfo Cuevas
Adolfo Cuevas
Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences
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Professional overview
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Adolfo G. Cuevas, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at NYU's School of Global Public Health, where he also co-directs the BioSocial Research Initiative (BSRI). His research examines how psychosocial stressors influence health across the lifespan, using epidemiological, psychological, and biological approaches to understand these relationships.
Dr. Cuevas currently leads three NIH-funded projects, totaling nearly $7 million, that investigate the effect of psychosocial stressors on biological dysregulation. These studies investigate how psychosocial stress contributes to biological dysregulation. His first project (R01DK137805; 2024–2029) addresses a key gap in the field by examining how social adversity affects allostatic load across three life course stages and identifying gene expression pathways that link adversity to biological stress. It is also the first study to assess how social relationships—such as kinship and community ties—buffer the impact of social adversity on gene expression and stress physiology. His two additional projects (R01DK137246 and R01MD019251) explore the role of neighborhood and interpersonal stress in obesity across developmental stages, from childhood to older adulthood, with a focus on molecular indicators of stress-related proinflammatory biology that may contribute to adipose tissue formation.
Dr. Cuevas’ work has appeared in leading journals including Annals of Internal Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, and American Journal of Public Health. It has also been featured by media outlets such as Forbes, USA Today, and NPR’s Code Switch.
In recognition of his contributions to research on stress and health, Dr. Cuevas has received numerous honors, including the Herbert Weiner Early Career Award, the National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health Award, and the Diversity Scholar Award from the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard University.
Prior to joining NYU, he was the Gerald R. Gill Assistant Professor of Race, Culture, and Society at Tufts University. He earned his PhD and MS in applied psychology from Portland State University and completed postdoctoral training at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Education
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PhD, Applied Psychology, Portland State UniversityMS, Applied Psychology, Portland State UniversityBA, Psychology, City College of New York, 2010Certificate, Applied Biostatistics, Harvard Catalyst
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Honors and awards
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National Institute of Health Loan Repayment-Renewal (2021)Diversity Scholar Award, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Harvard University (2019)National Institute of Health Loan Repayment (2019)40 Under 40 Leaders in Health, National Minority Quality Forum (2018)Neubauer Faculty Fellowship, Tufts University (2017)Portland African American Leadership Fellowship (2013)National Cancer Institute R25E Summer Research Experience, The University of Texas MD, Anderson’s Cancer Prevention Research Training Program (2012)Bernard R. Ackerman Foundation Award for Outstanding Scholarship (2010)Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge Graduate of the Year (2010)City University of New York Pipeline Fellowship (2009)City University of New York Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) Scholarship (2009)Psi Chi Honor Society (2009)Dean’s List Scholar (20082009)Chi Alpha Epsilon (XAE) Honor Society (2008)City College of New York’s William Wright Scholarship (2008)City College of New York Community Service Award (2008)SEEK Scholarship (2008)
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Areas of research and study
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ObesityPsychosocial StressRacial/Ethnic Disparities
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Publications
Publications
Parental educational attainment, the superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability among american children : A test of marginalization-related diminished returns
Failed retrieving data.Parents’ Perceived Neighborhood Safety and Children’s Cognitive Performance : Complexities by Race, Ethnicity, and Cognitive Domain
Failed retrieving data.Reply to Letter to the Editor : ‘Discrimination and systemic inflammation: A critical review and synthesis’
Failed retrieving data.Skin Tone, Discrimination, and Allostatic Load in Middle-Aged and Older Puerto Ricans
Failed retrieving data.The Adaptation and Evaluation of a Pilot Mindfulness Intervention Promoting Mental Health in Student Athletes
Failed retrieving data.The relative contributions of behavioral, biological, and psychological risk factors in the association between psychosocial stress and all-cause mortality among middle- and older-aged adults in the USA
Failed retrieving data.Tip of the iceberg : Measuring racial discrimination in studies of health
Failed retrieving data.A national study of gender and racial differences in colorectal cancer screening among foreign-born older adults living in the US
Failed retrieving data.Assessing racial differences in lifetime and current smoking status & menthol consumption among Latinos in a nationally representative sample
Failed retrieving data.Assessing the Role of Health Behaviors, Socioeconomic Status, and Cumulative Stress for Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Obesity
Failed retrieving data.Diminished Health Returns of Educational Attainment Among Immigrant Adults in the United States
Failed retrieving data.Discrimination and systemic inflammation : A critical review and synthesis
Failed retrieving data.Educational mobility and telomere length in middle-aged and older adults : testing three alternative hypotheses
Failed retrieving data.Greater social cohesion is associated with lower body mass index among African American adults
Failed retrieving data.Health Inequities Among Latinos/Hispanics : Documentation Status as a Determinant of Health
Failed retrieving data.Maternal Health Behaviors and Infant Health Outcomes Among Arab American and Non-Hispanic White Mothers in Massachusetts, 2012-2016
Failed retrieving data.Preparing African American men to make informed prostate cancer screening decisions : Development and pilot testing of an interactive online decision aid
Failed retrieving data.Sociodemographic correlates of cancer fatalism and the moderating role of religiosity : Results from a nationally-representative survey
Failed retrieving data.Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among Indigenous Australian children aged 0-3 years and association with sociodemographic, life circumstances and health factors
Failed retrieving data.The religion variable in community health promotion and illness prevention
Failed retrieving data.What Predicts a Mayoral Official’s Opinion about the Role of Stress in Health Disparities?
Failed retrieving data.Can patient-centered communication reduce the effects of medical mistrust on patients' decision making?
Failed retrieving data.Intra-Ethnic Racial Differences in Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking among Latinos?
Failed retrieving data.Psychosocial Stress and Overweight and Obesity : Findings from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study
Failed retrieving data.Racial centrality may be linked to mistrust in healthcare institutions for African Americans
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