Perla Vargas

Perla A. Vargas is an associate professor of psychology in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at ASU's New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. Vargas received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Arizona in 1995 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in 1998. She earned a master's degree in psychology from University of Arizona in 1989 and a bachelor's degree in the subject from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico City) in 1983. Before joining the ASU New College faculty in 2007, Vargas worked in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where in collaboration with allergists / immunologists, she studied asthma and allergic diseases in children.

Using a behavioral epidemiology framework, she studies behavioral processes involved in the management of oral health, asthma, food allergy, sleep, obesity, depression and suicidal behaviors; and is interested in identifying effective methods to improve the management of these conditions among high-risk, underserved populations. She has established research opportunities for students, who can register for 1-6 credits of supervised research or independent study.

Dr. Vargas is widely published and her work has appeared in such peer-reviewed and professional journals as the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology; Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Current Obesity Reports, Journal of American College Health, Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis; Pediatric Pulmonology, and Behavioural Processes. She has presented at conferences for national and international organizations such as the International Society for the Prevention of Tobacco Induced Diseases, Pediatric Academic Societies, and the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse.

At ASU's West campus, Vargas teaches environmental psychology and health psychology. She directs individualized instruction and supervised research.