Alyssa Renee Padilla
- Assistant Director, Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center
- (520) 626-4439
- LIFE SCIENCES NORTH, Rm. 647
- TUCSON, AZ 85721-0221
- alydilla@arizona.edu
Biography
Alyssa Padilla, MPH (she/her/ella) is the Operations Director at the University of Arizona Comprehensive Center for Pain & Addiction. She has expertise in access to care and substance use interventions. Padilla’s work focuses on program operations, community outreach, education and marketing approaches, and community based participatory research. This includes leadership and project management, federal/state reporting, and partner collaborations for several HRSA, CDC, and state grants such as the HRSA Opioid Impacted Family Support Program and Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training grants, and other rural and urban under-resourced initiatives.
Padilla has over 21 years of hands-on experience with public health education, outreach, marketing, project management, and capacity building at the local, state, national, and global levels. Her efforts support program feasibility and output to meet funding requirements and compliance standards and to make programmatic improvements to better serve the community. She worked for the Arizona Center for Rural Health for almost a decade and now is an integral leader at her current Center. She works in partnership with community-based programs, non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, and local small businesses on projects relating to substance use interventions and access to care.
Padilla graduated from the UofA Eller College of Management with a focus in Marketing where she coordinated outreach and education services via the Women’s Resource Center and completed an MPH from the UArizona College of Public Health and a Certificate in College Teaching from the UArizona Office of Instruction and Assessment. She is interested in community-based public health interventions and works to improve the health and wellness of under-resourced communities. Born and raised in Tucson, Padilla is committed to serving the Arizona and southwest community.
Degrees
- Certificate in College Teaching Education
- The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
- MPH Public Health Practice
- University of Arizona, College of Public Health, Tucson, Arizona
- Comparing Medicaid & Commercial Health Insurance Coverage Options, Efficacy, & Cost for the Uninsured Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) Population in AZ
- B.S. Business Administration and Marketing
- University of Arizona, Eller College of Management, Tucson, Arizona
Work Experience
- The University of Arizona, Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center (2020 - Ongoing)
- The University of Arizona, Center for Rural Health (CRH) (2014 - 2022)
- Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) (2014)
- University of Arizona College of Public Health, Tucson, Arizona (2013)
- University of Arizona College of Public Health, Tucson, Arizona (2012 - 2013)
- University of Arizona College of Public Health, Tucson, Arizona (2012)
- Office of Congressman Grijalva (2011)
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) (2010 - 2011)
- Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Global Health Affairs (2010)
- Bank of America (2009 - 2010)
- ASUA Women’s Resource Center, University of Arizona (2007 - 2009)
- AREVA T&D Nuclear Energy (2007)
- University of Arizona (Main Library) (2006 - 2007)
- Planned Parenthood Arizona, Teen Advisory Group (TAG) (2004 - 2008)
Awards
- 2024 University of Arizona Team Award for Excellence
- The University of Arizona, Employee Recognition Committee, Spring 2024
- Southern Arizona Opioid Prevention Symposium Outstanding Contributions
- Medicine Abuse Prevention Initiative Collaborative (MAPIC), Spring 2018
- Health Education Media Maker Yearly Award
- Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA), Spring 2017
- White House Healthy Campus Challenge Winner
- White House, Office of Public Engagement and Domestic Policy Council, Winter 2016
Licensure & Certification
- Federally Certified Navigator, Arizona Department of Insurance (2015)
Interests
Research
Access to meaningful care and social supports for under-resourced populations, Health EquityBehavioral Health,Reproductive Health,Medicaid/AHCCCSAffordable Care Act,Health Insurance Exchange,Arizona Rural Health,Substance Use, Developmental Disabilities, Health and Wellness, Marketing, Social Media,Outreach & Education Best Practices
Courses
No activities entered.
Scholarly Contributions
Journals/Publications
- De La Rosa, J. S., Brady, B. R., Ibrahim, M. M., Herder, K. E., Wallace, J. S., Padilla, A. R., & Vanderah, T. W. (2023). Co-occurrence of chronic pain and anxiety/depression symptoms in U.S. adults: prevalence, functional impacts, and opportunities. Pain.More infoCo-occurrence of chronic pain and clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and/or depression is regularly noted in the literature. Yet, little is known empirically about population prevalence of co-occurring symptoms, nor whether people with co-occurring symptoms constitute a distinct subpopulation within US adults living with chronic pain or US adults living with anxiety and/or depression symptoms (A/D). To address this gap, this study analyzes data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey, a representative annual survey of self-reported health status and treatment use in the United States (n = 31,997). Approximately 12 million US adults, or 4.9% of the adult population, have co-occurring chronic pain and A/D symptoms. Unremitted A/D symptoms co-occurred in 23.9% of US adults with chronic pain, compared with an A/D prevalence of 4.9% among those without chronic pain. Conversely, chronic pain co-occurred in the majority (55.6%) of US adults with unremitted A/D symptoms, compared with a chronic pain prevalence of 17.1% among those without A/D symptoms. The likelihood of experiencing functional limitations in daily life was highest among those experiencing co-occurring symptoms, compared with those experiencing chronic pain alone or A/D symptoms alone. Among those with co-occurring symptoms, 69.4% reported that work was limited due to a health problem, 43.7% reported difficulty doing errands alone, and 55.7% reported difficulty participating in social activities. These data point to the need for targeted investment in improving functional outcomes for the nearly 1 in 20 US adults living with co-occurring chronic pain and clinically significant A/D symptoms.
Poster Presentations
- Vanderah, T. W., Silva, V., Molina, V., Wallace, J., Cameron, E., Valencia, S., Lopez, V., Kutob, R. M., Cheryl, G., Phillips, K., Romero, R., Padilla, A. R., De La Rosa, J. S., Brady, B. R., & Huff, A. J. (2024, October 23). Project FUTRE: Families Uplifted Through Recovery Education. Opioids in Pain & Addiction Symposium. Tucson, AZ: Comprehensive Center for Pain and Addiction.
- Arora, M., Halili, L., SantaMaria, B., Sibart, J., Shanks, A., Crwley, C. J., Padilla, A. R., Cameron, E., & Derksen, D. J. (2023, May). Collaborative Community Engagement to Address Substance Use and Opioid Use Disorders in Rural Arizona. National Rural Health Association Health Equity Conference. San Diego, CA: Alyssa R. Padilla5, Elena Cameron1.
