Amaranta (Amy)  Ramirez

Amaranta (Amy) Ramirez, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Psychology

She/Her/Ella

About

Dr. Ramirez is a Counseling Psychologist and earned her Ph.D. in the Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology program at the University of California Santa Barbara. She completed her clinical internship training at Washington State University. Her research focuses on social media use, online social connection, LGBTQ+ mental health and substance use, and minority stress. Dr. Ramirez is a former McNair Scholar and Fellow of the APA Minority Fellowship Program.  

Education

California State University Dominguez Hills - Undergraduate

University of California Santa Barbara - Graduate

Expertise

LGBTQ+ mental health, LGBTQ+ substance use, Social media use and mental health

Publications

Ramirez, A., Rivera, D. B., & Cerezo, A. (2025) Social media and social connection in sexual and gender minority young adults. The Counseling Psychologist. 10.1177/00110000251359690 

Ramirez, N., Ramirez, A., Rivera, D. B., Chin, J., Jones, I. J., DaSilva, P., Armstrong, H., & Cerezo, A. (2025). Health equity research and evaluation among sexual and gender diverse communities: The California LBTQ health equity initiative. Journal of LGBTQ Issues in Counseling. 10.1080/26924951.2025.2472930 

Ramirez, A., Rivera, D. B., Valadez, A. M., Leanos, K. B., & Cerezo, A. (2023). Examining mental health, academic, and economic stressors during COVID-19 pandemic among community college and 4-year university students. Community College Review, 51(3), 463-478. 10.1177/00915521231163929 

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