Alice Cepeda
Assistant Professor
- Phone: (713)743-3950
- Email: acepeda2@uh.edu
- Office: 468 Philip G. Hoffman Hall
Dr. Alice Cepeda is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Houston where she is also Senior Researcher at the Office for Drug and Social Policy Research. Dr. Cepeda received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the City University of New York, Graduate Center. She has authored articles on the relationship between drugs and violence, sex workers on the U.S./Mexico border, gang affiliated adolescent females and risks associated with transitioning to injecting heroin use. She has worked on various National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grants focused on substance use and related health consequences among minority populations including those of Mexican-origin (Mexican Americans and Mexicans). More recently, she is co-investigator of a NIDA funded R01 study examining how disaster related experiences associated with Hurricane Katrina impact changes in substance use and abuse patterns. Dr. Cepeda is also project director of a 5 year research project as part of the University of Houston Drug Abuse Research Development Program recently funded by NIDA. The research uses a “network facilitation” approach used to focus on the extent to which networks facilitate (or impede) injecting drug use and related risk behaviors among aging Mexican American heroin users in Houston.
Dr. Cepeda is currently a member of the American Sociological Association Council as representative of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs Section. She recently was awarded her 2nd two year term as a NCMHD Scholar with the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program, Department of Health and Human Services.
Education
- Ph.D., City University of New York Graduate Center
- M.S., The University of Texas at San Antonio
- B.A., The University of Texas at San Antonio
Honors
- NCMHD Scholar, 2007-2009, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), Loan Repayment Program, National Institutes of Health.
Selected Publications
- Cepeda, A. & Valdez, A., “Sex Work, High-Risk Sexual Behavior and Injecting Drug Use on the U.S. – Mexico Border: Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas,” Journal of Border Health, (7)1, 84-94, 2002.
- Cepeda, A. & Valdez, A., "Risk Behaviors among Young Mexican American Gang Associated Females: Sexual Relations, Partying, Substance Use and Crime," Journal of Adolescent Research, 18 (1), 91-107, 2003.
- Valdez, A., Mikow, J. & Cepeda, A. “The Role of Stress, Family Coping, Ethnic Identity and Mother-Daughter Relationships on Substance Use among Gang Affiliated Hispanic Females,” Journal of Social Work Addictions, 6(4), 31-54, 2006.
- Valdez, A., Kaplan, C., & Cepeda, A. “The Drugs-Violence Nexus among Mexican American Gang Members,” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 38(2), 109-121, 2006.
- Valdez, A., Neaigus, A., Cepeda, A. “Potential Risk Factors for Transitioning to Injecting among Mexican American Non-Injecting Heroin Users,” Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 6(2) 2007.
- Valdez, A., Cepeda, A., Neaigus, A. & Russell, A. “Heroin Transition Risk among Daily and Non-Daily Marijuana Users who are Non-Injectors of Heroin”, International Journal of Drug Policy, In Press (2007).
Research Interests
Substance Use, Crime, Violence, HIV/AIDS, and other related Public Health Issues
Current Projects
- Co- Investigator, 2006 - 2009, “Substance Use and Other Health Consequences among Hurricane Katrina Evacuees in Houston,” National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 1 R01 DA021852, University of Houston (UH). http://www.uh.edu/odspr/ODSPR%20Folder/Research/Katrina_Project.htm
- Project Director, 2007 – 20012, “Social Networks and Aging Mexican American Injecting Heroin Users,” University of Houston Drug Abuser Research Development Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 1R24DA019798-01A1, University of Houston (UH).
Teaching
- Deviance
- Criminology
- Sociological Research Methods
- Drugs and Alcohol
Affiliations
- American Sociological Association
- Society for the Study of Social Problems
- American Society of Criminology
