USC Global Conference

William A. Vega

William A. (Bill) Vega is Provost Professor with appointments in social work, preventive medicine, psychiatry, family medicine, psychology, and gerontology. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Vega is a distinguished scholar in multicultural epidemiologic and services research with adolescents. His community and clinical research on health, mental health and substance abuse in the United States and Latin America has garnered numerous recognitions including the Society for Prevention Research’s Community, Culture and Prevention Science Award, the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse’s National Award of Excellence in Research by a Senior Scientist and the 2010 Research and Advocacy Award from the National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health.

The 2006 ISI Web of Science listed him in the upper half of 1 percent of the most highly cited researchers worldwide in social science literature over the past 20 years. He has published over 190 articles, chapters, and several books.

Vega has served on numerous boards and task forces such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research review panels, NIH workgroups on health disparities, U.S. Attorney General’s Task Force on Methamphetamine, IOM Board on Population Health, Committee on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Effectiveness, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research Advisory Committee and former council member of the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center. He is a former chair of the New Connections program for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in 2012 stepped down as the IOM Health Equity and Disparities Roundtable chairperson.