Clinical/Research Interests

Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is an internationally renowned expert on mental health in ethnic populations. As on-site principal investigator of the Mexican American Prevalence and Services Survey - the largest mental health study conducted in the United States on Mexican Americans - he identified the most prevalent mental health disorders in the Mexican-origin population in California's central valley; showed that the rate of disorders increases the longer the individual resides in the United States; and demonstrated that children of immigrants have even greater rates of mental disorders. From this study, he developed a model of service delivery that increased access to mental health services among the Central Valley's low-income, underserved, rural populations.

Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola conducts cross-national epidemiologic studies on the patterns and correlates of psychiatric disorders in general population samples. He is the coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Health Organization's Mental Health Survey, and coordinates the work of the National Mental Health Institute surveys in Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica and Portugal. He also develops culturally and linguistically sensitive diagnostic mental health measures, and translates mental health research into practical information for consumers and their families, health professionals, service administrators and policy makers.

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Select Recent Publications:

Kessler RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Andrade L, Bijl R, Borges G, Caraveo-Anduaga JJ, DeWit DJ, Kolody B, Merikangas KR, Molnar BE, Vega WA, Walters EE, Wittchen HU. Cross-national comparisons of comorbidities between substance use disorders and mental health disorders: Results from the International Consortium in Psychiatric Epidemiology. In: W.J. Bukoski and Z. Sloboda (Eds.), Handbook for Drug Abuse Prevention, Theory, Science and Practice. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation. (In Press)

Borges G, Walters E, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Bijl R, Caraveo-Anduaga JJ, Colmenares E, DeWit DJ, Kolody B, Vega W, Wittchen H-U, Andrade L, Kessler RC. The epidemiology of inhalant-use disorders in the International Consortium for Psychiatric Epidemiology. Addiction. (In Press)

Aguilar-Gaxiola SA, Zelezny L, Garcia B, Edmonson C, Alejo-Garcia C, Vega WA. Translating research into action: Reducing disparities in mental health care for Mexican Americans. Psychiatric Services. (In Press)

Aguilar-Gaxiola SA, et al. Social consequences of adolescent-onset substance use disorders: A cross-national comparison of six countries. Chapter to be included in R.C. Kessler and T.B. Üstün (Eds.) and published by Cambridge Press, 2002.

Vega WA, Kolody B, Aguilar-Gaxiola SA. Help-seeking for mental health problems among Mexican-Americans. Journal of Immigrant Health, 3(3):133-140, 2001.

Kessler RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Andrade L, Bijl R, Borges G, Caraveo-Anduaga JJ, DeWit DJ, Kolody B, Merikangas KR, Molnar BE, Vega WA, Walters EE, Wittchen HU, Ustun TB. Mental-substance comorbidities in the ICPE surveys (English). Psychiatria Fennica, 32(2):62-79, 2001.

Kessler RC, Aguilar-Gaxiola SA, Berglund PA, Caraveo-Anduaga JJ, DeWit DJ, Greenfield SF, Kolody B, Olfson M, Vega WA. Patterns and predictors of help-seeking after first onset of substance-use disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58(11):1065-1071, 2001.

Alderete E, Vega WA, Kolody B, Aguilar-Gaxiola SA. Lifetime prevalence of and risk factors for psychiatric disorders among Mexican migrant farmworkers in California. American Journal of Public Health, 90(4):608-614, 2000.

Alarcon RD, Aguilar-Gaxiola SA. Mental health policy developments in Latin America. Bulletin of the WHO: The International Journal of Public Health, 78(4):483-490, 2000.

Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alegria M, Andrade L, Bijl R, Caraveo-Anduaga JJ, DeWit DJ, Kolody B, Kessler RC, Ustun TB, Vega W, Wittchen H-U. The International Consortium in Psychiatric Epidemiology. In: E. Dragomirecká, A. Palcová, H. Papežová (Eds.), Social Psychiatry in Changing Times, pp. 86-95, Prague, Czech Republic: Prague Psychiatric Center, 2000.