Vincent Guilamo-Ramos

Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos is a professor and founder of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH). He is licensed as a clinical social worker (LCSW) and nurse practitioner (ANP-BC) with prescriptive privileges in New York State and is board certified in HIV/AIDS Nursing (ACRN).

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos' research focuses on the role of families in promoting adolescent health, with a special focus on preventing HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancies. Additional research interests include parent-adolescent communication, intervention research, HIV prevention and treatment, and alcohol and drug use. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has conducted research primarily in urban, resource-poor settings, including the South Bronx, Harlem, and Lower East Side communities of New York City. In addition, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has extended his focus to HIV-prevention among vulnerable populations in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has been the principal investigator of numerous NIH, CDC and other federally funded research grants for his work on adolescent risk behavior. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of a CDC and OAH funded grant to develop and formally evaluate a teen pregnancy prevention intervention that targets Black and Latino adolescent males and their fathers in the South Bronx. The program, entitled Fathers Raising Responsible Men (FRRM), fills a gap in extant efforts to prevent teen pregnancy by engaging fathers as a unique source of influence on young men’s sexual behaviors and targeting young men of color who are at elevated risk. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is the Director of the Pilot and Mentoring Core at the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDHUR), a NIDA-funded P30 center housed within NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. The Pilot and Mentoring Core provides targeted infrastructure to early career investigators interested in developing independent research careers focused on the prevention and treatment of HIV and drug use. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Latino Commission on AIDS, and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the honor society of Nursing. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, an honorific society of distinguished scholars and practitioners dedicated to achieving excellence in the field of social work and social welfare through high-impact work that advances social good. He is a graduate of the 2016 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, an initiative that draws upon the U.S. presidential centers of Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. These presidential centers have partnered to bring together a select group of leaders who have the desire to advance their leadership strengths in order to help their communities and our country. His work has led to coverage in well-known media sources such as The New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post, as well as in major research publications and conferences.

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is Director of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH) at the Silver School of Social Work. The Center seeks to investigate the role of the Latino family in shaping the development, health and overall well-being of Latino adolescents. Specifically, CLAFH seeks to:1) foster the development, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence-based family interventions designed to prevent and/or reduce problem behaviors among Latino adolescents; 2) develop, evaluate, and disseminate family interventions for positive youth development approaches to Latino adolescent development and well-being; 3) examine issues of immigration related to the experiences of Latino families; and 4) promote the economic well-being of the Latino community. Strategically based in New York City, CLAFH addresses the needs of New York's diverse Latino communities in both national and global contexts. The Center serves as a link between the scientific community, Latino health and social service providers, and the broader Latino community. Among CLAFH's noteworthy accomplishments is the development and evaluation of "Families Talking Together," an evidence-based adolescent sexual risk reduction intervention designed to assist parents with talking to teens about the delay of sexual debut and prevention of risky sexual behavior. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos and colleagues have also published Parental Monitoring of Adolescents: Current Perspectives for Researchers and Practitioners, which provides research-informed guidance about how parents can effectively monitor their teen children to prevent and/or reduce adolescent risk behavior. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is also the chair of the Latino Initiative Advisory Group of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. As part of his work with the National Campaign, he co-authored a communication guide, "Parent-Adolescent Communication about Sex in Latino Families: A Guide for Practitioners," which contains specific strategies and recommendations for assisting practitioners in helping Latino parents discuss sex with their adolescent children.

Dr. Guilamo-Ramos received his PhD in social welfare from SUNY Albany, and his MSW from New York University. In addition, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos holds a master's degree in management from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU and a master's degree in public health from the Global Health Leadership NYU MPH Program, and a masters degree from the Duke University School of Nursing, nurse practitioner primary care and HIV specialization.