William Vega, provost professor and executive director of the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the USC School of Social Work, has been recognized with two honors for his decades-long career as one of the nation’s leading experts on health disparities affecting aging ethnic minority populations.

Vega, who also holds joint appointments at USC in preventive medicine, psychiatry and family medicine, has been appointed as a member of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Behavioral and Social Sciences Section Program Committee. The committee works to organize and oversee the scientific and professional program for the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting, the premier gathering of gerontologists from the United States and around the world. GSA is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization dedicated to research, education and practice in the field of aging.

For a distinguished research career that has contributed to improved health outcomes for Latinos, Vega was selected as the conference honoree for the 19th annual Latino Behavioral Health Institute (LBHI).

Considered the premier Latino behavioral health conference in the United States, LBHI’s annual event includes workshops and plenary sessions that cover life span issues and various aspects of Latino mental health, substance abuse, health and related topics. LBHI’s mission is to enhance skills of persons interested or involved in providing behavioral health services to the Latino community.

An elected member of the Institute of Medicine, Vega has conducted community and clinical research projects in health, mental health and substance abuse throughout the United States and Latin America. He has served on numerous boards and task forces, including health disparities work groups of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Attorney General's Task Force on Methamphetamine, the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health, the Committee on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Effectiveness and the Institute of Medicine Health Disparities Roundtable. 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.