Adolfo Cuevas

Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Adolfo G. Cuevas, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at NYU's School of Global Public Health, where he also co-directs the BioSocial Research Initiative (BSRI). His research examines how psychosocial stressors influence health across the lifespan, using epidemiological, psychological, and biological approaches to understand these relationships.

Dr. Cuevas currently leads three NIH-funded projects, totaling nearly $7 million, that investigate the effect of psychosocial stressors on biological dysregulation. These studies investigate how psychosocial stress contributes to biological dysregulation. His first project (R01DK137805; 2024–2029) addresses a key gap in the field by examining how social adversity affects allostatic load across three life course stages and identifying gene expression pathways that link adversity to biological stress. It is also the first study to assess how social relationships—such as kinship and community ties—buffer the impact of social adversity on gene expression and stress physiology. His two additional projects (R01DK137246 and R01MD019251) explore the role of neighborhood and interpersonal stress in obesity across developmental stages, from childhood to older adulthood, with a focus on molecular indicators of stress-related proinflammatory biology that may contribute to adipose tissue formation.

Dr. Cuevas’ work has appeared in leading journals including Annals of Internal Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, and American Journal of Public Health. It has also been featured by media outlets such as Forbes, USA Today, and NPR’s Code Switch.

In recognition of his contributions to research on stress and health, Dr. Cuevas has received numerous honors, including the Herbert Weiner Early Career Award, the National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health Award, and the Diversity Scholar Award from the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard University.

Prior to joining NYU, he was the Gerald R. Gill Assistant Professor of Race, Culture, and Society at Tufts University. He earned his PhD and MS in applied psychology from Portland State University and completed postdoctoral training at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Education

PhD, Applied Psychology, Portland State University

MS, Applied Psychology, Portland State University

BA, Psychology, City College of New York, 2010

Certificate, Applied Biostatistics, Harvard Catalyst

Honors and awards

National Institute of Health Loan Repayment-Renewal (2021)

Diversity Scholar Award, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Harvard University (2019)

National Institute of Health Loan Repayment (2019)

40 Under 40 Leaders in Health, National Minority Quality Forum (2018)

Neubauer Faculty Fellowship, Tufts University (2017)

Portland African American Leadership Fellowship (2013)

National Cancer Institute R25E Summer Research Experience, The University of Texas MD, Anderson’s Cancer Prevention Research Training Program (2012)

Bernard R. Ackerman Foundation Award for Outstanding Scholarship (2010)

Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge Graduate of the Year (2010)

City University of New York Pipeline Fellowship (2009)

City University of New York Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) Scholarship (2009)

Psi Chi Honor Society (2009)

Dean’s List Scholar (20082009)

Chi Alpha Epsilon (XAE) Honor Society (2008)

City College of New York’s William Wright Scholarship (2008)

City College of New York Community Service Award (2008)

SEEK Scholarship (2008)

Areas of research and study

Obesity

Psychosocial Stress

Racial/Ethnic Disparities