Veronica Cardenas, PhD

Veronica Cardenas, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist. As part of Patient & Family Support Services at Moores Cancer Center, she provides psychological assessment, diagnosis or ongoing therapy for patients and families who are experiencing issues that are either related to the cancer experience or are interfering with cancer treatment.

In individual, couples, family or group psychotherapy, Dr. Cardenas can focus on issues including depression, anxiety, communication, stress reduction, insomnia, grief or other psychological or emotional issues. She is fluent in Spanish and has a special interest in studying and developing effective mental health treatments for Latinos and their families.

Dr. Cardenas has received numerous awards and national recognitions. Most recently she was awarded the UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry's Diversity Champion Award in recognition of her outstanding academic achievements in the area of diversity through research, clinical activities, teaching and community involvement.

As an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and associate director for training and education for Patient & Family Support Services, Dr. Cardenas works with trainees, interns and psychiatry residents. She has close to a decade of experience as an educator, including teaching, supervising and mentoring in academic, counseling and medical settings. She is also a faculty member in the San Diego State University and UCSD joint doctoral program in clinical psychology.

Much of Dr. Cardenas' research has focused on developing, testing and implementing effective psychosocial treatments for under-represented, community-dwelling adults and their families. These treatments focus on teaching strategies to care for one's mental health to improve overall physical health. In this area, she has co-led large research studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and San Diego County. She has also authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and abstracts, and has served as a reviewer for a number of journals.

Prior to joining UC San Diego Health in 2011, Dr. Cardenas completed a National Institutes of Health graduate research fellowship within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Additionally, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at UC San Diego. She completed her internship at Sharp Hospital in San Diego and received her doctorate in clinical psychology at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif.

UC San Diego Health Links
For more information, see Patient & Family Support Service at Moores Cancer Center.