She was also the associate director of the Division of Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Her work has focused on identifying brain biological abnormalities in mood disorders, suicide and alcoholism.
Arango serves on the Scientific Advisory Board and the Grants Review Committee for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention and is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, Society for Neuroscience, International Academy of Suicide Research, and American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry.
She is the current president of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, a council member of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and a member of the board of directors of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Since 2017, she is the chief of the Central-Peripheral Interactions Pathophysiology Program in the Division of Translational Research at the National Institute of Mental Health.