Curriculum Vitae
Samantha Diaz
30 West Harriet Ave, Palisades Park, NJ, 07650
Phone: (646) 774-8060
Cell: (646) 549-1923
Email: Diazsam@nyspi.columbia.edu
Education:
M.A., Psychology, St. John’s University, 2015
Concentration: General Experimental Psychology
GPA: 3.55
B.A., Psychology, Siena College, Loudonville, NY, 2013
Inducted into the national honors society in psychology, Psi Chi chapter at Siena College,
March 2012
GPA: 3. 5
Research Experience
Research Assistant at the New York State Psychiatric Institute
6/2014- Present
Supervisor: Dr. Roberto Lewis-Fernandez
Research assistant for the Hispanic Treatment program within the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and
the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence.
Duties include:
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Assisted in the development and submission of IRB protocols including the creation of
recruitment materials, consent forms, etc. for various studies
Lead the development and submission of IRB protocols under senior research staff
Created SPSS data base, supervised data entry, data quality control, and assisted in
descriptive analysis of quantitative data for financial and psychosocial wellness of people
with severe mental illness (SMI)
Assisted with qualitative data coding both in Spanish and English
o For an evaluation of a Latina suicide prevention program
o For the coding of data obtained from a Peruvian field trial on the feasibility,
acceptability, and clinical utility of the Cultural Formulation Interview (published
in the DSM-V)
Assisted in the training of interviewers to conduct surveys
Conducted surveys on the oral health of people with SMI
Assisted with the preparation and submission of various manuscripts
Drafted newsletter editorials for the New York State Office of Mental Health to
disseminate the Center’s research projects and priorities
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Assisted in the preparation of a grant application, which was awarded to the Center by the
National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration
Overall, assisted in the cultivation, design and implementation for various research
projects in different capacities.
Phlebotomy and EKG administration for clinical trials
Projects involved with:
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Clinical trial, researching the effectiveness of Duloxetine in the treatment of symptoms of
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in individuals who also suffer from depression.
Conducted phone screenings to decide potential participant’s eligibility to participate in
the study.
Study examining the unmet dental care needs among a population with serious mental
illness in two community-based clinics in Northern Manhattan.
Partnership with the Life Is Precious program, an initiative aimed at reducing suicidality
in Latina adolescents, to evaluate its effectiveness and possible replicability in various
high risk communities.
Assistance with the design, implementation, and fieldwork of a NAMI/SAMHSHA grant
funded research project aimed to develop strategies for empowering mental health
consumers and families to access and actively participate in culturally and linguistically
competent service. Specifically, assisted in two studies underway with the following
goals:
o To examine the factors affecting the access of Spanish- and Mandarin-speakers to
language interpreters in mental health care settings and
o To examine the life goals, expectations of care, of young adults with a firstepisode psychosis, in the context of their cultural backgrounds and identities. This
project is part of the Center’s initiative to educate individuals with SMI and their
families about the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview and empower them to
talk about their cultural views and expectations in mental health care.
Assistance with drafting data collection instruments and the selection of appropriate
instruments consistent with research goals for a project aimed at assessing the financial
capability of individuals with SMI engaged in employment services. This project also
seeks to examine the association between financial capability and psychosocial factors
such as social support, quality of life, and hope for the future.
Research Assistant at Siena College
9/2012-5/2012
Supervisor: Professor Lauren Berger
Research objective was to examine whether or not color blind racial attitudes affect individuals
feelings of responsibility toward social justice.
Duties included: Assistance with data collection, analysis, and write up of results.
Intern at the Child Study Research Center
Supervisor:
9/2012-12/2012
The Child Study Research Center works in conjunction with Schenectady New York’s chapter of
the Head Start program. The research center has been charged with collecting longitudinal data
of the programs efficacy.
On Site duties included: Organizing teaching plans for the children, evaluating each child’s
individual achievement through the admission of Peabody exams and observing their play.
Research center duties included: compiling all data from the pea body exams, demographic
information on the children and their immediate families and putting all relevant data into SPSS
for analysis.
Conduction of research study for undergraduate course:
Research methods in psychology II
Supervisor: Dr. Karen Boswell
9/2012-12/2012
Conduction of a research study as part of course requirements. This study examined the implicit
perceptions of others focusing on whether people hold implicit attitudes or opinions about
cultural norms and the role of the minority population within those norms that differ from their
expressed ones. Here we studied college students, measuring both their implicit and explicit
attitudes with a focus on any difference between them.
Duties: Along with a research partner, responsible for all facets of study conduction, from the
design, implementation, and statistical analyses, to the final presentation of study results at Siena
College’s annual psychology department poster presentation.
Skills
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Bilingual- Proficient in English and Spanish
Knowledge of French- A year and a half of French study at the collegiate level
Microsoft office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EndNote, and Publisher
SPSS, STATA, & Mplus
Publications
Office of Mental Health Editorials
Humensky, J., Coronel, B., Gil, R., Diaz, S., & Lewis-Fernandez, R. (2015). Life is Precious:
Reducing Suicidal Behavior in Latina Adolescents.
Diaz, S., Jimenez-Solomon, O., Humensky, J., Chang, D., Alvarado-Little, W., LewisFernandez, R., (2015). A Great leap forward: Improving language Access for New Yorkers with
Psychiatric conditions.
Manuscript pending review
Jimenez-Solomon, O., Mendez-Bustos, P., Swarbrick, M., Diaz, S., Silva, S., Kelley, M., LewisFernandez, R., (2015). A peer-supported economic empowerment model: Fostering financial,
emotional and social wellness. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal.
Humensky, J., Coronel, B., Gil, R., Mazzula, S., Diaz, S., Lewis-Fernandez, R. (2015). Life is
precious: View of adolescents and their mothers on methods to reduce suicidal behavior in
Latinas. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
References
Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD
Email: rlewis@nyspi.columbia.edu
Phone: (646) 774-8102
Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center
Director, NYS Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, and Hispanic Treatment Program,
New York State Psychiatric Institute
Lecturer, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University
Oscar Jimenez-Solomon, MPH
Email: jsolomo@nyspi.columbia.edu
Phone: (646) 774-8247
Research Coordinator for the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence at
the New York State Psychiatric Institute
Karen Boswell, PhD
Email: boswell@siena.edu
Phone: (518) 786-5066
Professor of Psychology at Siena College