Mia Medrano

Background

About Mia Medrano

Over the past few years, I have made great strides in accomplishing my academic goals. I graduated with honors from Chaffey College, earning two associate degrees in Psychology and Social & Behavioral Sciences. I recently graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a B.A. in Psychology. In addition to my specialized courses, I work as a research assistant in Dr. Jimmy Calanchini’s Riverside Social & Spatial Cognition Lab on campus. Our recent projects involve psychological investigations of cross-cultural personality variance and the cognitive processes underlying implicit bias in various dimensions of identity, such as race, sexuality, and religion.Beyond my undergraduate education, I plan on pursuing a master of social work and eventually serving my community as a licensed clinical social worker. As evident in the ongoing societal struggle to manage mental health crises, I believe it is crucial to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and provide easily-accessible resources to the local community, especially targeting and empowering marginalized populations. I am excited to gain more experience in the field and ultimately broaden my understanding of social work with the goal of developing improvements to structural mental health systems.