Esther J. Calzada, Ph.D.

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Dr. Esther J. Calzada is the Norma and Clay Leben Professor in Child and Family Behavioral Health and Associate Dean for Research at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She received her B.A. from Duke University and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Dr. Calzada is a clinical child psychologist with expertise in parenting and early childhood development in Latinx and other minoritized families. She has a strong commitment to scientific equity, working to both elucidate and counter systemic injustices (e.g., race-based discrimination) that undermine healthy development, and recognize and leverage factors that promote (e.g., ethnic identity) the well-being of young children. Ultimately, her program of research aims to reduce disparities in academic achievement, behavior problems, and socio-emotional problems. Her work has been funded by the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation and is published regularly in psychology, educational and medical journals.

Dr. Calzada holds current faculty affiliate positions in the Population Research Center and the LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, as well as the Department of Mexican American and Latino/a Studies, at UT Austin. Previously, she served as Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion at the Steve Hicks School of Social work and as the Director of the Texas Center for Equity Promotion in the College of Education. She is also a Research Scientist with the Morris L. Lichenstein, Jr. Medical Research Foundation. She currently serves on the Governing Council for the Society for Research in Child Development and as a Panel Member for the Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes Study Section, Risk, Prevention and Health Behavior Integrated Review Group at the National Institutes of Health.