Dillon, Frank R., PhD
PI, Recent Latina Immigrant Research Subproject
Co-I, Research Education and Training Core

Office: PCA 369
Tel: 305-348-7351
Fax: 305-348-7405
Email: fdillon@fiu.edu

Dr. Frank Dillon received his PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2002. From 2002-2007, he was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Miami – Miller School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. In 2008, he joined CRUSADA as Visiting Assistant Professor and Scientific Director. In 2009, he joined the FIU School of Social Work faculty as an Assistant Professor while continuing his collaboration with CRUSADA.

In 2010, Dr. Dillon was awarded a two-year NIH Loan Repayment Award to conduct HIV/AIDS and drug abuse health disparities research concerning Latinos at CRUSADA. This award was renewed in 2012 in support of his continued collaboration with CRUSADA on an R01 grant, titled A Longitudinal Study of Substance Abuse and HIV Risk among Latina Mother-Daughter Dyads (R01NR012150; Dr. De La Rosa, Principal Investigator). Dr. Dillon is a co-investigator of this study. Also in 2010, he was recognized in a review of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) research in counseling psychology (Smith, 2010) as a leader in LGBT research for his dissertation and early career research. In July 2012, he became Principal Investigator of a longitudinal, community-based participatory research sub-project within CRUSADA’s NIMHD P20 Center of Excellence (2P20MD002288-06, Sub-Project ID: 6064). It is a 5-year study titled Social Determinants Predicting Trajectories of HIV with Recent Latina Women Immigrants. In July 2012, he also began serving as a co-investigator of C-SALUD’s Research/Education Training Core.

Dr. Dillon’s program of research addresses health disparities and mental health issues affecting racial, ethnic, and sexual minority groups in the United States. He aims to promote culturally informed psychosocial interventions. His principal research themes are (a) elucidating cultural and social determinants of substance use disorders and HIV risk behaviors, (b) developing culturally relevant and valid psychosocial measures, and (c) promoting multicultural competent counseling practice. Dr. Dillon has co-authored over 40 journal articles/book chapters concerning these themes. Dr. Dillon also has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Counseling Psychology and the Journal of Diversity of Higher Education.