Title: Associate Dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences and of Counseling Psychology in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, and Director of the Institute on Urban Health Research.
Department: Health Sciences, Counseling Psychology, Institute on Urban Health Research
School/Center: School of Health Professions
Office Location: 310 International Village
Phone: 617.373.7601
Fax: 617.373.7309
Email: h.amaro@neu.edu
Education: Ph.D. Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Honorary Degree in Humane Letters by Simmons College.
Specializations: Public Health, Social and Developmental Psychology
Research:
In a distinguished career that has spanned scholarly research, translation of science to practice, top-level policy consultation, and service on four Institute of Medicine committees, Dr. Hortensia Amaro has dramatically advanced our understanding of substance abuse disorders treatment, HIV prevention, and other urgent public health challenges. Based in academia, she has authored more than 118 scholarly publications – many widely-cited. Alongside this research, she has made landmark contributions to improving behavioral health care in community-based organizations – launching addiction treatment programs that have helped thousands of sufferers and that have been adopted around the world.
Over the past 27 years, Dr. Amaro has forged vital connections between public health research and practice. Her studies have focused on alcohol and drug use and addiction among adolescents and adults; the development and testing of behavioral interventions for HIV/AIDS prevention, including innovative HIV prevention models targeted to Latina and African American women; substance abuse and mental health treatment for Latina and African American women and incarcerated men; alcohol and drug use among college populations; and behavioral interventions for HIV medications adherence. Dr. Amaro’s article “Love, Sex and Power” (American Psychologist, 1995) was a signal contribution to the field of HIV prevention among women, and received the 1996 Scientific Publication Award from the National Association of Women in Psychology. The article was based on her keynote address for the 1993 Award for Distinguished Contributors to Psychology in the Public Interest: Early Career Award, by the American Psychological Association.
Her groundbreaking studies on clinical strategies for treating women with co-occurring drug addiction, mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder have provided strong evidence supporting integrated treatment for these conditions. Compared to women receiving traditional drug addiction treatment, those receiving integrated treatment stayed in treatment longer; had lower rates of post-treatment drug use, mental health symptoms and trauma symptoms; and had lower rates of HIV risk behaviors. The treatment model (Boston Consortium Model: Trauma-Informed Substance Abuse Treatment for Women) was recently approved for inclusion in SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-Based Practices. This work has also been distilled in treatment manuals tailored to community agencies. Most recently, Dr. Amaro partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated system of health and behavioral health care for children at risk.
Bringing her research to the frontlines, Dr. Amaro has over the past two decades, in collaboration with the Boston Public Health Commission, founded five substance abuse treatment programs for women in Boston: the MOM’s Outpatient Treatment Program; the Entre Familia Residential Treatment Program; Moving on to Recovery and Empowerment (M.O.R.E.), an intensive outpatient treatment program for low-income women of color with co-occurring disorders; Safe and Sound Return Treatment Model for Incarcerated Women; and the Boston Consortium of Services for Men in Recovery, a family-centered system of substance abuse treatment. After joining Northeastern University in 2001, Dr. Amaro established the Institute on Urban Health Research (IUHR), which promotes interdisciplinary and community-based research that examines the causes of racial and ethnic health disparities in health, and develops and tests strategies that improve health in urban communities. Research at IUHR has shed light on health conditions that disproportionately affect urban and minority populations including: substance abuse, mental illness, interpersonal violence, HIV risk behaviors, discrimination in health care, and obesity.
Dr. Amaro’s lifelong professional contributions have been honored by the American Psychological Association, the Association of Women in Psychology, the Massachusetts Public Health Association, Addiction Medicine Education, Research and Services Association, Hispanic Mental Health Professional Association, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse Research, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, and many community health organizations in Boston. She served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in Women's Health at Ben Gurion University in Israel.
In summary, Dr. Hortensia Amaro’s rigorous and visionary commitment to the science of substance abuse treatment and HIV prevention has had a profound impact on the field of public health. Her singular dedication to translating this scholarship to frontline interventions has made a lasting difference in people’s lives.
Public Service:
Dr. Amaro has served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Public Health and other leading publications, and on Institute of Medicine committees relating to substance abuse and mental health issues in AIDS research, the inclusion of women in clinical studies, ethical considerations in protecting prisoners involved in research, and women’s health research. She has served on review and advisory committees to the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Appointed by Mayor Thomas Menino, Dr. Amaro served for 14 years on the Board of the Boston Public Health Commission, the governing body of the city health department and chaired the Mayoral appointed committee that established it. Since the 1980s, she has collaborated with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as a consultant to commissioners and bureau directors on issues related to race/ethnicity data collection, health disparities, HIV prevention, and evidence-based approaches to treating substance abuse.
Dr. Amaro has also actively participated in professional organizations and community-based service agencies, including the National Hispanic Psychological Association, the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse Research, the National Trauma Consortium, the Latino Health Institute, and the Multicultural AIDS Coalition in Boston.
Courses: PHTH 5120: Race, Ethnicity, and Health: Addressing Disparities in Urban Settings
Web page:
www.iuhr.neu.edu
www.northeastern.edu/bouve/programs/MPH/mpubhealth.html
