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Cecilia Nunez, PhD

Cecilia Nunez, PhD

Dr. Cecilia Nunez is a first-year postdoctoral fellow in the Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago and completed her predoctoral internship at VA San Diego/University of California San Diego, within the Dual Diagnosis Recovery Program and PTSD Clinical Team. Her research interests include applying behavioral economics principles (e.g., demand analysis) to understand drug use and other risk behaviors, harm reduction, and contingency management. Some of her research has used behavioral economics to understand how possible fentanyl adulteration affects the perceived value of cocaine, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. Additionally, her dissertation tested the impact of a brief fentanyl education intervention among people who use stimulants. Dr. Nunez is enthusiastic about continuing harm reduction-related research during fellowship and is excited to contribute to the advancement of harm reduction services offered to Veterans.