Star Vega

Star Vega (1948–2004) was a Mexican American psychologist who specialized in child and multicultural psychology.

Personal life Vega was born in Parras Coahu, Mexico on May 30, 1948, and died in La Crescenta, California, on April 24, 2004.

Family Star Vega had one son, Jeffrey Bryan Wiltse, who was born on February 11, 1968, and died on September 24, 1989, in California. Her mother Blanca Vega Harvey, sister Reyna Vega Nash, brother Al Vega, and grandmother Pilar Vega are all honored in her 1983 dissertation.

Death Star Vega died on April 24, 2004, in La Crescenta, Los Angeles County, California at the age of 55. Vega battled leukemia for more than three years and underwent a bone marrow transplant that left her autoimmune system weak, she later died in result of it.

Education Vega attended the University of Southern California where she received her doctorate degree in clinical psychology, making her only the fifth bilingual/multicultural person to receive a doctorate degree in clinical psychology at this institution.

Teaching Later in her professional career, Vega began professing at Phillips Graduate Institute (now Phillips Graduate University). More specifically, many Latina women who are pursuing their careers, in the same way Vega did, are often at higher risks for the development of a mental illness. For example, depression is twice as likely to appear in Latina women than it is Latino men and working Latina women have reported much higher rates of stress than unemployed Latina women. One factor that could be contributing to this high rate of depression and stress in Latina women could be the due to Latina women often being overqualified for the job positions they are working as a result of both gender and racial discrimination.

List of honors and achievements First Latina president of CPA (2002) Karl F. Heiser Award for Advocacy (2002) Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy

The National Latinx Psychological Association's "Star Vega Distinguished Service Award" is named after Vega.