Lopez wins APA minority fellowship to address behavioral, mental health needs of minorities
Acacia Lopez
A doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at Mississippi State University has won a fellowship from the American Psychological Association, the largest conference in the psychology field, for two years of intensive research in a capacity that addresses the behavioral and mental health needs of racial and ethnic minority populations.
Acacia Lopez, a second year doctoral student in MSU’s clinical psychology program, received the APA Minority Fellowship Program Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Predoctoral Fellowship this spring. The MFP MHSAS fellowship is funded through a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. MSU also will provide funds for the first year of the renewable three-year fellowship.
“I became interested in this fellowship after completing a research project for the Grandfamilies Lab related to discrimination and racial trauma in children raised by their grandparents,” Lopez said.
Her paper, “Racial Trauma in Children Raised by Grandparents: Protecting Against Discrimination,” received “Most Outstanding Graduate Student Poster” by the 53rd Division of the APA at last year’s APA Convention.
“This fellowship has a strong commitment to supporting ethnic minority behavioral health, and I found this to fit with my research and clinical interests,” said Lopez. “I am honored to receive this fellowship, and I hope it will further my pursuit to become a culturally competent health service provider for racial and ethnic minorities both in graduate school and in my professional career.”
A native of Boulder, Colorado, Lopez works in the Grandfamilies Lab at MSU, advised by Danielle Nadorff, an associate professor in the psychology department.
“Beyond just her willingness to complete her work, Acacia is truly passionate about her research and clinical work with marginalized populations and communities of color,” Nadorff said. “This is not a ‘convenient’ new area of interest that coincides with her fellowship application. Rather, she stated these goals in her personal statement when applying to graduate school, has independently designed an APA award-winning research project assessing outcomes related to perceived discrimination in these communities, has focused on them within her clinical work, and has co-led support groups for minority caregivers. Working with these populations is a clear and present goal in both her graduate career and for her post-graduate positions.”
Research from MSU’s Grandfamilies Lab indicates more one-third of children raised by grandparents identify as black, a person of color, or indigenous (BIPOC), and many are at risk for disrupted attachments because of traumatic circumstances surrounding their separations from parents.
For more information on the psychology department’s Grandfamilies Lab, visit www.grandfamilieslab.com/support.html.
Lopez received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas in psychology in 2019. She intends to graduate from MSU with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2025.
Part of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Psychology is available at www.psychology.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
Sarah Nicholas | College of Arts and Sciences
