Vanessa Diaz is a doctoral student in the clinical psychology program at University of Illinois Chicago. She moved to Chicago, IL from San Diego, CA, where she received her B.S. and B.A. degree from UC San Diego. She looks forward to further developing her research interest in mental health disparities among underrepresented populations, barriers to mental health access, perception of mental health. Vanessa looks forward to working and building relationships with the community through her work.