Northcentral University

Maria Antonia Rodriguez joined NCU in September 2017 as a lead faculty member in the Health Psychology Master´s program. She received her PhD in 2011 in Clinical Psychology with a Health Emphasis from Yeshiva University. Maria worked as a bilingual therapist with children, adolescents, and adult Latino immigrants in New York City and Springfield, Massachusetts for nearly six years. She also spent eight years in the Research Department at Manhattan's Department of Veteran´s Affairs, where she designed, implemented and evaluated phone-based health counseling interventions to improve treatment adherence among patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and congestive heart failure. Prior to this, Maria spent five years in Lima, Peru at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. She became a full professor there in 2015, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and chairing theses in Clinical Health Psychology. While in Peru, she also taught research methodology at a police academy, qualitative research at a private university for doctoral students and served on a department ethics committee. In addition, she organized conferences and educational events to promote Health Psychology and served on the executive committee of the Revista de Psicología (Journal of Psychology). She also had the opportunity to travel throughout the country, learning different health beliefs and practices (for example, the belief that an egg should be ´´passed over¨ the head of a crying child to remove negative energy.) Maria is licensed to practice in the state of New York and in Peru. Aside from her full time position at NCU, she is still active in research projects at the Manhattan VA and serves on the executive committee for the Revista de Psicología. During her free time, Maria enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, dancing and spending time with her toddler. She has published articles in both English and Spanish, including the following most recent articles in English: • Rodriguez, M.A. (2017). The experience of stress and anxiety in older adults with Type II Diabetes. In K. Moore & P. Buchwald (Eds.), Stress and Anxiety: Coping and Resilience (pp. 187-197). Berlin, Germany: Logos Verlag. • Friedberg, J.; Rodriguez, M. A.; Watsula, M.; Lin, I.; Wylie-Rosett, J.; Allegrante, J.; Lipsitz, S. & Natarajan, S. (2015). Effectiveness of a tailored behavioral intervention to improve hypertension control: Primary outcomes of a randomized controlled trial. Hypertension, 65, 440-446. MARIA ANTONIA RODRIGUEZ, PHD Full-Time Faculty, Department of Psychology FACULTYSPOTLIGHT School of Social and Behavioral Sciences

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