Alicia Elvira Vélez García

Background

Perhaps ever since I was in high school (and maybe from an even earlier age), without knowing it, I observed people’s behaviour, their actions, their emotions and their conduct in general. With absolutely no professional interest and, moreover, without realising it, I was surely beginning to trace my path towards psychology, since my university choice was indeed the Psychology degree.

Around 1994 I became aware that I was studying at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (although I had been doing so since high school); this would grow stronger and give rise to my sense of belonging to that institution, which, it is worth noting, is regarded in my country as the highest seat of learning. I am proud of my alma mater and, today, also of my place of work.

My first formal steps towards a specific field of psychology came early: as early as 1995 I entered the field of Behavioural Pharmacology and the Neurosciences, with only three semesters on my academic record. This opportunity, offered to me by my first mentor, opened the door to getting to know brain functions, behaviour and, in general, the experimental paradigms in that field more closely. However, after two years I recognised that basic science would not allow me to study cognitive processes as I wished, that is, in human beings. It was around 1997 that I came across the research lines of Dr Feggy Ostrosky and sought to approach her, without imagining that she would become a mentor in the years that followed and would completely shape my passion for the neurosciences, but above all for Neuropsychology. In her research laboratory I had great experiences, taking part in many research projects, and she remains a mentor to me today.

That is how my current career in the field of Behavioural Neurosciences and clinical and experimental Neuropsychology began. My first interest and work concerned the study of the development of attention in children and adolescents from a neuropsychological approach; this was followed by the study of the neuropsychology of moral emotions and of the neuropsychology of addictions. I carried out that work while completing my undergraduate degree (1994–1998), doctorate (2002–2006) and postdoctorate (2007–2009). In parallel, as a member of that research laboratory, I took part in various research projects on literacy and neuropsychology, culture, ageing, addictions, the neurobiology of violence and, in particular, on the development of neuropsychological assessment tests. My clinical and research work is focused on the study of neurodevelopment and adulthood.

As my training grew stronger, I began to move into teaching. While still an undergraduate, around 1997 I began my career as a lecturer in the School of Psychology of the UNAM, starting as an adjunct professor and later as a Full-Time Career Professor. Formally, my teaching and research career now spans more than 20 years. In addition, in my final semesters of the degree I had at least two years of training in Cognitive Behavioural intervention with tobacco-using patients, which gave me the opportunity to work for two years at the Tobacco Clinic of the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases as an attached Clinical Psychologist.

Outside my university, I have a long history of collaboration with clinical and research groups at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition “Salvador Zubirán”, where we have collaborated on projects on Differentiated Thyroid Cancer, the assessment of children of mothers with kidney transplants, and patients with metabolic diseases such as diabetes and insulin resistance. I also collaborated in the assessment of patients with cirrhosis who were candidates for a liver transplant at the Mexican Social Security Institute.

I have published in national and international journals, supervised undergraduate and Master’s theses, and co-supervised doctoral students, most of them in the field of Clinical Neuropsychology, Behavioural Neurosciences, and Clinical Psychology.

I enjoy collaboration, working in groups, and sharing an interest in research, science and teaching.

I am currently a full-time professor and researcher in the School of Psychology, teaching courses or supervising students in the graduate Residency in Clinical Neuropsychology and in the undergraduate Clinical and Health Psychology programme, and I have my own private clinical practice. I advise students, take part in various committees, and get involved in institutional and academic life.

On a personal level, my husband and I enjoy the company of our families, friends and our two dogs (who are a lovely companionship). Many of the most important personal projects of my life I have achieved together with him. The most important one: having a family.

We enjoy this stage of our lives travelling roads together, journeying, getting to know new places and new people, and enjoying each other’s company.