Vega was the first Latina to serve as president of the California Psychological Association (CPA). Vega earned her doctorate degree at the University of Southern California in clinical psychology. Her 1984 dissertation marked the beginning of her advocacy on behalf of Hispanic-Americans in her work. Entitled “The Cultural Effects Upon MMPI Responses of Industrially-injured Mexican and Anglo-American Males,” it was one of the first dissertations to examine the psychological effects of a person’s culture and ways in which psychological assessments could be more culturally competent.
Among her many other specialties, Vega began her professional career in private practice as a child and multicultural psychologist. She later began teaching at Phillips Graduate Institute in Los Angeles, California (now Phillips Graduate University in Chatsworth, California).
An active member of the psychological community, she held numerous board positions on the community, state and national levels. In 2002, Vega served as a plaintiff in the CPA vs. Aetna/U.S. Healthcare Lawsuit which successfully won the case against Aetna/U.S. Healthcare, found guilty of false advertising. She received awards from both the California Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association for her advocacy efforts in psychology and for the Hispanic-American community. She earned the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award from CPA, and the Heiser Presidential Award for Advocacy from the APA.
Also in 2002, Vega was part of the work “Translating Research Into Action: Reducing Disparities in Mental Health Care for Mexican Americans”. In this piece, she and her colleagues expound upon their processes of evidenced based research, policy analysis and community mobilization that led to the government allocation of mental health care provisions in Fresno, California for Mexican Americans. Having passed in 2004, the National Latino/a Psychological Association forever memorializes her legacy of psychology and Latinx advocacy with their biannual award, the Star Vega Distinguished Service Award.