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Chrystal Vergara-Lopez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is a licensed psychologist with expertise across the lifespan and provides integrated behavioral health services and individual therapy. Her research employs experimental and longitudinal methods to examine cognitive, biological, and contextual mechanisms underlying mental health and substance use. Her work focuses on cognitive control, repetitive negative thinking, and the influence of adversity on stress physiology, particularly across key developmental periods like adolescence and young adulthood. Dr. Vergara-Lopez’s program specifically aims to identify neurobiological mechanisms that underlie psychopathology related to substance use. Her laboratory utilizes a developmental perspective to explore cognitive biases, stress, and sex/gender differences in mental health outcomes. She is also involved in numerous funded projects exploring the intersection of cognitive control and stress as predictors of substance use and mental health issues in young adults. Her research is recognized by distinguished funding entities, including the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Brain and Behavior Foundation. Moreover, Dr. Vergara-Lopez is dedicated to culturally responsive care, particularly for Spanish-speaking individuals and Latine communities.
Department: Department of Economics