Dr. Figueroa serves as a Research Scientist at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Evaluation Studies. He brings expertise in health psychology, social science research design, and data analytics to the Center’s research team.
Wilson previously worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences in the College of Medicine and Department of Extension in the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State. During his doctoral training, Wilson served as lab manager and co-investigator in the Psychosocial Processes and Health Lab at Ohio University.
Wilson is a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychosomatic Society, and the American Public Health Association. He received the American Psychosomatic Society’s Young Scholar Award in 2017 and was awarded one of the College of Public Health’s highly-competitive Racial Justice Seed Grants in 2021.
Education
- BA, Psychology & Social Behavior | University of California, Irvine
- MS, Experimental Psychology | Ohio University
- PhD, Experimental Health Psychology | Ohio University
Research Interests
Health effects of stress (particularly among sexual, racial, and ethnic minorities), LGBT+ health, health psychology, health behavior, health disparities, structural stigma, social identity, resiliency, psychoneuroimmunology
Personal Interests
Weight training and Olympic powerlifting, supporting the arts and local artists (particularly queer artists and drag performance), meal prep, trying new foods during “test kitchen” nights with friends
Selected Publications
Figueroa, W. S., Zoccola, P. M., Manigault, A. W., Hamilton, K. R., Scanlin, M. C., & Johnson, R. C. (2021). Daily stressors and diurnal cortisol among sexual and gender minority young adults. Health Psychology, 40(2), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001054
Manigault, A. W., Figueroa, W. S., Hollenbeck, C. R., Mendlein, A. E., Woody, A., Hamilton, K. R., … & Zoccola, P. M. (2018). When family matters most: A test of the association between sexual minority identity disclosure context and diurnal cortisol in sexual minority young adults. Psychosomatic medicine, 80(8), 717-723.
Figueroa, W. S., & Zoccola, P. M. (2015). Individual differences of risk and resiliency in sexual minority health: The roles of stigma consciousness and psychological hardiness. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 2(3), 329.
For more, visit Dr. Figueroa’s ResearchGate and Google Scholar pages.