Alan is a Mexican immigrant with dual citizenship who arrived in the United States when he was 13 years old and since then has earned degrees in psychology, criminology, and social work. Alan received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Dallas and his two master’s degrees in social work and criminology from The University of Texas at Arlington. These degrees eventually allowed him to become a licensed clinical social worker, while working as a behavioral health provider in the community clinics at Baylor Scott and White Health. He has worked for four years in this setting providing therapy mostly to underrepresented or marginalized patients presenting diagnoses of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, among others. Alan is now a Ph.D. candidate in his final year at The University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include implementation science, technological innovations (e.g., artificial intelligence), mental health, and health disparities. In addition, he has a special interest in quantitative research methods and has participated in workshops, classes, and training to improve these. He is mainly interested in social network analysis and the use of the R programming language for statistical analysis. However, Alan also recognizes the value of qualitative data and is actively engaged in mixed methods research projects that combine quantitative and qualitative findings. Alan hopes that his research will guide the implementation of technological innovations, like artificial intelligence, so that these can be implemented in an ethical and equitable way that does not increase or exacerbate health disparities.
