Professor Zayas’ clinical experience spans 25 years of working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in community mental health, psychiatric clinics, pediatric rehabilitation, and community-based primary care medicine. 

At the Brown School he teaches human behavior, applied psychosocial practice in addition to mentoring dissertations, doctoral and master’s research assistants, and doctoral teaching assistants. His current research explores the sociocultural and developmental processes that influence suicidal behavior among adolescent Latinas. This work has received national attention in numerous media outlets. 

He is the founder and director of the School’s Center for Latino Family Research, the only center in a U.S. school of social work that conducts research on Latino social, health, mental health, and family and community development in the U.S. and Latin America.

His leadership in the clinical and research community and his contributions to the Hispanic community has earned him numerous honors and awards.