Dr. Palacios’ has a Doctoral degree in Health Psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso and is currently an Assistant Professor of Health Science at New Mexico State University. Prior to this she served as Director of Research at Border Research Solutions, a private research company. In this capacity she directed various applied research studies in community health along the U.S./Mexico border, including health needs assessments examining prevalence of overweight and diabetes in adults and children (Pan American Health Organization, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center), the health and functional status of the aging population (UTEP, Texas Tech), service needs of the HIV/AIDS population (Planned Parenthood Administrative Offices), and rural/colonia health (New Mexico Department of Health, UTEP). Dr. Palacios has also conducted program evaluations for a variety of health programs targeting substance and alcohol abuse prevention (BASICS, UTEP; Project ALERT, UTEP; Family Drug Court, 65th District Court), teen pregnancy prevention (Worth the Wait and CHOICES Two Should Know, El Paso City Department of Public Health), and other health education programs. Dr. Palacios has authored over 34 publications, including published articles, peer reviewed abstracts and technical reports. Dr. Palacios has 9 publications in peer reviewed journals related to stress, motivation, Alzheimer’s disease, risk behaviors in college students, and geriatric health. Her current research examines the relation of motivational systems to disease precursors for hypertension and diabetes, including obesity-related risk factors (e.g., unhealthy diet and physical inactivity), family history of hypertension, and stress. Dr. Palacios is currently working on validating two new research instruments that assess motivation for physical activity and healthy eating. As a native to the border region, Dr. Palacios is dedicated to promoting health related research on the Mexican American population. PhD: University of Texas El Paso, 2005

hypertension and diabetes