Dr. Campesino received her master's degree in psychiatric/mental health nursing from Arizona State University in 1983 and her doctorate in clinical nursing research from the University of Arizona in 2003.  She completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for Frontier Medicine Biofield Science funded through the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Campesino's research on cultural aspects of bereavement and spiritually among Latinos has been presented at national and international conferences. Her other research interests include the role of race and culture in health disparities and critical approaches to cultural competency in healthcare. Her recent publications include "Homicide bereavement: Reflections on the therapeutic relationship in trauma research" (Qualitative Inquiry, 13 (4), 2007) and "Spirituality among Latinas/os: Implications of culture in conceptualization and measurement" (with G.E. Schwartz, Advances in Nursing Science, 29(1), 2006). In 2006, she received a seed grant from NACTS for her project, "Refinement of the Latino Spiritual Perspective Scale."