Alice Cepeda
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Mail code: 3020Campus: Dtphx
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Alice Cepeda, PhD is a Professor at the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. She is a sociologist whose research centers on the social epidemiology of drug use and health disparities among minoritized populations, with a strong focus on Mexican-origin and urban communities.
Dr. Cepeda’s work examines substance use, violence exposure, HIV/STI risk, and mental health outcomes through socio-ecological and community-based frameworks. Her scholarship highlights gendered experiences of substance use and risk, particularly among women, and documents how family, neighborhood, and structural determinants shape health behaviors and trajectories. Her research supports the development of culturally tailored, age-graded interventions designed to advance social, economic, and health equity.
Dr. Cepeda has received multiple federal research awards from the National Institutes of Health and has served as principal investigator and co-investigator on National Institute on Drug Abuse–funded studies, including projects on the long-term health consequences of adolescent gang membership and the diffusion of crack cocaine use in Mexico City. She is also a multiple-time scholar of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program.
Her honors include the National Award of Excellence in Research by a New Investigator from the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse and the Junior Scholar Award from the Drinking and Drugs Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She has also held national leadership roles within the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse.
Ph.D. in Sociology, City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, New York
M.S. in Sociology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
B.A. in Sociology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
- Substance use and drug epidemiology
- Opioid use disorder (OUD)
- Polysubstance use
- Health disparities
- Mexican-origin and Latino/a/x health
- Urban health
- HIV/STI risk
- Violence and victimization
- Mental health comorbidity
- Social determinants of health
Cepeda, A., Saint Onge, J. M., Zhao, Q., Perdue, T., Ramirez, E., Nowotny, K. M., & Valdez, A. (2025). Polydrug use patterns among Mexican American women. Journal of Drug Issues. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220426251398372
Frankeberger, J., Perdue, T., Ramirez, E., Cepeda, A., & colleagues. (2024). Correlates of current methamphetamine use and opioid co-use among Latina women in a low-income community. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Advance online publication.
Morales, L., Cepeda, A., & Valdez, A. (2024). Typologies of deported parents. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Advance online publication.
Robles, E. H., Ramirez, E., Cepeda, A., Valdez, A., & colleagues. (2024). Latina co-victimology: The drug nexus of untimely deaths, socioeconomic consequences, psychosocial processes, and coping. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Advance online publication.
Cepeda, A., Nowotny, K. M., Frankeberger, J., & Valdez, A. (2024). HIV prevention and crack harm reduction using projection mapping in Mexico City. Health Education Journal. Advance online publication.
Courses
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| HCR 230 | Culture and Health |
| HCR 480 | Adv Team-Based Research Pract |
| HCR 280 | Team-Based Research Practicum |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| HCR 280 | Team-Based Research Practicum |
| HCR 480 | Adv Team-Based Research Pract |