USC Provost Professor William Vega, one of the nation's leading experts on health disparities affecting ethnic minority groups, has received the 2010 Excellence in Hispanic Mental Health Research Advocacy and Leadership Award from the National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health.

Vega, the executive director of the USC Roybal Institute on Aging at the School of Social Work, was honored for a distinguished research career that has contributed to improved mental-health outcomes for Latinos, organization officials said.

An elected member of the National Institute of Medicine, Vega has spent the past four decades studying the negative effects of poverty on human development. And as a vocal leader in the public policy arena, he has frequently testified before government agencies and professional panels concerning the need for more culturally and linguistically competent health services for the nation's increasingly foreign-born residents.

"We recognize Bill Vega for countless contributions to the Latino community. Through his extensive research and advocacy work, he has greatly highlighted the disparities that exist in quality of care and worked tirelessly to be part of the solution," said Henry Acosta, executive director of the National Resource Center. "He's just been an amazing role model for many young Latino behavioral health professionals."

A mentor to younger Latino professionals in the field, Vega's own career was shaped by his experiences growing up in East Los Angeles in the 1950s and 1960s.

A bright young man, Vega was nonetheless steered by guidance counselors away from college preparatory courses and into the shop classes filled with other sons of Mexican immigrants. He graduated high school only to begin life on the graveyard shift at a factory manufacturing supplies bound for American troops at war in Vietnam.

Looking at the effects of back-breaking labor and low wages on the older men around him, Vega decided he needed to change his life, drastically. He applied to the University of Oregon—the only school he could find that didn't require prep courses for admission. When he didn't receive a reply, he drove to Eugene and walked into the admissions office.

"Apparently, they thought it was such a joke they didn't have to bother responding," Vega recalled. "But the officer said, 'well, since you are already here, I'll give you a chance.' I figured if I worked as hard as possible I could make all C's."

His grades were good enough to earn a transfer to the University of California, Berkeley, where he stayed on long enough to receive both a master's degree and a doctorate in criminology.
Then, after a five-year stint teaching American college students in Europe, Vega returned to the states to pursue a career in research.

"Growing up, I really understood firsthand the handicap that disadvantaged circumstances can play on human development," he said. "I wanted to devote my career to helping mitigate the negative effects of poverty."

Vega took a job working for the state mental health care system and never looked back. He has since conducted hundreds of field and clinical research projects on health, mental health and substance abuse, with an emphasis on comparative epidemiologic and service research with Latino adolescents and adults.

In addition to his executive director position at the Roybal Institute, Vega also holds joint appointments at USC within social work, preventive medicine, psychiatry and family medicine. A volunteer with the National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health, he has contributed to training programs for healthcare professionals, professional conferences and mentoring programs. His research has also been distributed in the center's collection of best practices.

He accepted the achievement award during the organization's 7th annual "Shining Lights: Outstanding Leaders for a Brighter Future for Hispanics Awards Gala" in May in West Orange, New Jersey.