Description/Overview: Ethnic minority women living in the United States face disparities in the prevalence and consequences of chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, cancer and heart disease. These disparities are due in part to delays in treatment and sub-optimal access to care. The disparities are even greater among ethnic minority women who face vulnerabilities such as recent immigration, intimate partner violence or mental illness. This symposium presents research on factors that serve as barriers or facilitators of disease prevention behaviors such as HIV testing, cancer screening and routine dental care among vulnerable ethnic minority women. Presentations will describe determinants of disease prevention behaviors and suggest culturally informed approaches that can improve health promotion among ethnic minority women facing adverse life circumstances. The research presented is conducted by investigators of the Center of Excellence for Health Disparities Research: El Centro, located at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies. El Centro, which is funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (P60MD002266), was one the first P60s awarded to a school of nursing. This was a tremendous achievement for nursing, situating the discipline in the forefront of health disparities research. El Centro aims to develop, test and implement culturally tailored interventions to reduce health disparities in the focus areas of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, substance abuse, mental health, intimate partner violence and related health conditions. One of El Centro’s most significant advances in health disparities science has been made through addressing multiple intertwined health conditions among health disparities populations that partially explain the disproportional burden of morbidity and mortality. The investigators at El Centro address substance abuse, violence, HIV and other STIs, and co-occurring mental health conditions as phenomena that are inseparable from one another and share common risk and protective factors (e.g., gender roles, family functioning, discrimination and stigma, acculturative stress), many of which are culturally rooted. These advances have influenced theory, expanded our etiological understanding of health disparities, and strengthened prevention efforts among diverse populations across the lifespan.