Michelle Hospital

Focus

Structural Equation Modeling, Weighted Data, Data Analysis for Intervention Studies, Health Disparities, Youth Risk Behavior Program Evaluation

Biography

Dr. Michelle Hospital is the Associate Director of Research and Development of FIU’s Community-Based Research Institute (CBRI). She also currently serves as a co-leader of South Florida’s first Health Disparities Research Center at a Minority Institution (RCMI) from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).  She graduated from Florida International University with a doctoral degree in Applied Life-Span Developmental Psychology.  She received an M.S. in Counseling Psychology at FIU and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the University of Miami with a concentration in Accounting. She is also a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Florida (LMHC License # MH 9226).  Dr. Hospital completed her Post-Doctoral training in advanced statistical analyses including Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Growth Curve Modeling (GCM) as well as national weighted longitudinal datasets. Dr. Hospital also currently serves as the Chair of the FIU Health Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Dr. Hospital has served as a co-investigator for over 10 NIH and other federally funded grants including multiple R01 randomized clinical trials (RCTs).  She has served as the primary internal evaluator for a multi-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.  She has extensive experience conducting school and community-based prevention research. Dr. Hospital and her colleagues at CBRI have been awarded more than $50 million in extramural grant funding from federal agencies (e.g., NIDA, NIAAA, NIMHD and SAMHSA) and other private foundations (e.g., Aetna Foundation and Ware Foundation).

Dr. Hospital is a first generation Hispanic, fully fluent in Spanish, and has a particular interest in working on health disparities research.  Her clinical and research interests have been primarily centered on the reduction of risk behaviors and the promotion of well-being among adolescent and young adult diverse populations. She has served as the principal investigator of multiple funded community-based research studies evaluating the impact of positive youth development programs (e.g., music education, mindfulness, yoga and equine facilitated psychotherapy) among at-risk urban youth.

Dr. Hospital has mentored, trained and supervised dozens of undergraduate, Masters, and Doctoral students as well as Post-Doctoral Fellows from various disciplines including Psychology, Social Work, Public Health, Nursing, Biology, Dietetics and Nutrition and Women and Gender Studies.

Education

• Florida International University, Ph.D., Applied lifespan developmental psychology
• Florida International University, M.S., Counseling psychology
• University of Miami, B.B.A., Accounting

Laboratory

Publications/Research

Selected publications:

Mallett, K. A., Turrisi, R., Reavy, R., Cleveland, M. J., Hultgren, B. A., Larimer, M. E., Geisner, I. & Hospital, M. M. (2019). An Examination of Parental Permissiveness of Alcohol Use, Monitoring, and Communication and their Association with Emerging Adult Drinking Outcomes across College. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Hultgren, B. A., Turrisi, R., Cleveland, M. J., Mallett, K. A., Reavy, R., Larimer, M. E., Geisner, I. & Hospital, M. M. (2019). Transitions in drinking behaviors across the college years: A latent transition analysis. Addictive behaviors, 92, 108-11

Hospital, M.M., Morris, S., Wagner, E.F., Wales, E. (2018). Music Education as a Path to Positive Youth Development: A Longitudinal Evaluation of an El Sistema–inspired program. Journal of Youth Development, 13(4), 149-163.

Fernandez, S. B., Howard, M., Hospital, M., Morris, S. L., & Wagner, E. F. (2018). Hispanic Students’ Perceptions About HIV/STI Testing and Prevention: A Mixed-Methods Study in a Hispanic-Serving University. Health promotion practice.

Fernandez, S., Clarke, R., Howard, M., Morris, S., Hospital, M. M., & Wagner, E. (2018) Focus Groups in Health Disparities Research: Lessons Learned from an HIV Prevention Program with Hispanic Young Adults. In Advances in Health and Disease. Volume 4. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

Wagner, E.F., Hospital, M.M., Sobell, M.B., & Sobell, L.C. (2018).  Substance-related disorders: Alcohol.  In D.C. Beidel and C. Freuh (Eds.). Adult Psychopathology and Diagnosis, Eighth Edition.  Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Rose, S. & Hospital, M.M. (2018). Women’s Love and Friendship. In C. Travis & J. White (Eds). APA Handbook on the Psychology of Women. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Rose, S. & Hospital, M.M. (2017). Friendships across race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. In Hojjit, M., & Moyer, A (Eds.), The psychology of friendship. London: Oxford University Press.

Hospital, M.M., Wagner, E.F., Morris, S., Sawant, M.J., Siquera, L., & Soumah, M. (2015). Developing an SMS Intervention for the Prevention of Underage Drinking: Results from Focus Groups. Substance Use and Misuse, 1-10.

Acosta, S., Hospital, M.M, Graziano, & Wagner, E.F. (2015) Pathways to Hispanic Adolescents’ Alcohol Use: The Role of Positive Peer Affiliations and Perceived Discrimination. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 14(3):270-86.

Wagner, E.F., Hospital, M.M., Graziano, J.N., Gil, A & Morris, S.L. (2014). A Randomized Controlled Trial of Guided Self-Change with Minority Adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(6), 1128.

Rose, S. & Hospital, M.M. (2015). Lesbians Over 60: Newer Every Day. In Muhlbauer, V., Chrisler, J.C., & Denmark, F.L. (Eds.), Women and Aging: An International Perspective.

Wagner, E.F., Hospital, M., Morris, S., & Sawant, M. (2014). An RCT of text messaging (SMS) for reducing underage alcohol use among Hispanic adolescents.  The Addictions Newsletter, 21, 22-23.

Varvil-Weld, L., Turrisi, R., Hospital, M., Mallett, K. A., & Bámaca-Colbert, M. (2014). Maternal and peer influences on drinking among Latino college students. Addictive behaviors, 39(1), 246-252.