Julio Nunes, MD, a third-year resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, and Alisson Paredes Naveda, BS, an intern at the Yale Cocaine Research Clinic, Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit of the Connecticut Mental Health Center, have been awarded travel scholarships to attend and present their research at the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry (ASHP) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, Calif, from May 16 to 17, 2025.
The travel scholarship is the Don Quixote Award (also known as the Critical Research Issues in Latinx Mental Health Award), which recognizes contributions to research and advocacy in Hispanic mental health.
Nunes is mentored by Joao De Aquino, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry, at the Pain and Addiction Interaction Neurosciences (PAIN) Laboratory at Yale School of Medicine. His research examines the intersection of pain management, addiction, and healthcare disparities, with the goal of improving equitable access to care. He is also committed to medical education and mentorship, having been recognized with a teaching award from the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
At the conference, his presentation will focus on racial and ethnic disparities in chronic pain and opioid use disorder treatment, highlighting systemic barriers to care and the role of provider decision-making in shaping treatment outcomes.
Paredes Naveda is a master’s student in psychology at Southern Connecticut State University. At Yale she is mentored by Gustavo Angarita, MD, MHS, assistant professor of psychiatry.
At the conference, she will present a systematic review and meta-analysis study examining sleep alterations in individuals with alcohol use disorder compared to healthy controls. This study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse under grants R01 DA052454-03 and P30 DA046345.
ASHP is dedicated to bridging gaps in mental health services for the Hispanic population in the United States. The organization collaborates with Hispanic mental health professionals to advance research, professional education, and clinical initiatives aimed at eliminating health disparities among Latino and other minority populations.