Adolfo Cuevas

Scroll

Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Adolfo G. Cuevas, PhD, is an Assistant 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

Publications

Experiences of patient-provider concordance in healthcare among All of Us participants, 2017–2023

From Discrimination to Disease: The Role of Inflammation

Genetic and environmental contributions to the associations between midlife personality and late-life metabolic health

Intersecting race/ethnicity and gender in physiological dysregulation profiles and associations with socioeconomic status among older adults in the United States

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders: Disparities in the Prevalence of Multiple Chronic Conditions

Representation of Hispanic Patients in Clinical Trials for Respiratory Failure: A Systematic Review

Safeguarding SNAP as an Effective Antihunger Program: Myths and Potential Harms of Adding Diet Quality as a Core Objective

A novel approach to model cumulative stress: Area under the s-factor curve

Associations between perceived discrimination over the life course, subjective social status, and health literacy: A racial/ethnic stratification analysis

Breaking Academic Silos: Pedagogical Recommendations for Equitable Obesity Prevention Training and Research During an Age of Nutrition Polarization

Discrimination in Medical Settings across Populations: Evidence From the All of Us Research Program

Education, Income, Wealth, and Discrimination in Black-White Allostatic Load Disparities

Intersectionality matters for hispanic health: A replication study using the All of Us Research Program

Love after lockup: examining the role of marriage, social status, and financial stress among formerly incarcerated individuals

Multi-discrimination exposure and biological aging: Results from the midlife in the United States study

Neighborhood Opportunity and Obesity in Early Adolescence: Differential Associations by Sex

Racial Discrimination, Religious Coping, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among African American Women and Men

The cost of doubt: assessing the association between attributional ambiguity and mental health

The Influence of Contested Racial Identity and Perceived Everyday Discrimination Exposure on Body Mass Index in US Adults

Association of Racial Discrimination With Adiposity in Children and Adolescents

Discrimination Exposure and Polygenic Risk for Obesity in Adulthood: Testing Gene-Environment Correlations and Interactions

Genetic Liability, Exposure Severity, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Predict Cognitive Impairment in World Trade Center Responders

Intersectional vulnerability in the relationship between discrimination and inflammatory gene expression

Length of Residency in the United States and Obesity Across Race/Ethnicity

Cofie, L. E., & Cuevas, A. G. (n.d.).

Publication year

2023

Journal title

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

Volume

Issue

Page(s)

241-245

10.1007/s10903-022-01362-4

Abstract

Abstract

We examined whether the association between length of US residency (LUSR) and obesity is dependent on race/ethnicity and sex, among foreign-born individuals. Adult’s body mass index (N = 151,756) were analyzed using the 2013–2017 National Health Interview Surveys. Among foreign-born adults living in the US < 5 years, non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics had the highest obesity prevalence compared to non-Hispanic Whites and Asians. Blacks and Hispanics also had the highest incremental percentage point increase in obesity (13%) between < 5 years and ≥ 15 years LUSR. Foreign-born black men had the lowest obesity prevalence among men in the US < 5 years (5.3%) but had the sharpest percentage point increase in obesity among men in the US ≥ 15 years (21%). Foreign-born black women in the US < 5 years had a 30.1% obesity prevalence. Obesity prevention interventions should account for differences in LSUR among foreign-born individuals.