Project Title: The Impact of Social-Contextual Stressors on Psychopharmacological Mechanisms of Smoking Cessation and Relapse among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Young Adults who Smoke Cigarettes
Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Institution: Brown University School of Public Health
Funding NIH Institution/Center: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Grant ID: K99DA060983
Mariel Bello was born in Los Angeles, CA and raised by her parents who had immigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. Her commitment to building a career focused on advancing health equity through addiction science was initially propelled by her early exposure to the mistreatment of individuals struggling with addiction during early childhood. Being the first in her family to pursue higher education, she became motivated to better understand the etiology and underlying mechanisms of substance use disorders among diverse groups to inform policy, prevention, and intervention efforts geared towards reducing substance use-related health disparities in disadvantaged, minority groups. Dr. Bello completed her BS in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside and subsequently earned her PhD in Clinical Science with an emphasis in Quantitative Methods from the University of Southern California. As a clinical psychologist and MOSAIC scholar, she will use mixed methods and community engagement approaches to investigate the impact of social and contextual stressors (e.g., financial stress) on mechanisms of smoking cessation and lapse risk among socioeconomically disadvantaged young adults who smoke cigarettes daily. Additionally, Dr. Bello has a long-standing history of leadership, service, and advocacy promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts for underrepresented communities. She is the Founder of Healing Highlanders at UCR—the first collegiate recovery program in the UC system—that provided support and services to students in recovery from addiction, particularly those from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Currently, she is an active member of multiple DEI-related initiatives, where she assisted with improving strategies for recruitment, retention, and promotion of diverse scholars for APA Divisions 28 and 50 (Societies of Psychopharmacology and Substance Use and Addiction Psychology) and Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Lastly, she has served as a mentor for 50+ trainees throughout her academic career, most of whom were from underrepresented backgrounds.