Principal Investigators
Doris F. Chang, Ph.D.
Bio: Doris Chang is an Associate Professor at NYU Silver. Dr. Chang’s research seeks to improve the well-being of racial and ethnic minorities by a) clarifying the role of race, ethnicity, language, and culture in shaping mental health and quality of care; b) identifying strategies for improving interracial processes and outcomes; and c) developing inclusive, culturally-grounded interventions for clinical and educational contexts that integrate mindfulness and other contemplative traditions.
She has particular expertise in interracial dynamics and Asian American mental health and is a Co-Investigator at the Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, New York State Psychiatric Institute. In 2018, she was awarded a PEACE grant from the Mind and Life Institute to develop and pilot a mindfulness-based critical consciousness training program for K-5 teachers.
Previously, Dr. Chang was Director of Clinical Training and Associate Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research. She is a Fellow of the Asian American Psychological Association and is a member of the Executive Committee of the APA’s Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race. In 2006, she received the Early Career Award from the Asian American Psychological Association.
Dr. Chang completed her PhD and MA in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an NIMH postdoctoral fellowship in medical anthropology at the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She earned her BA in psychology and Asian studies at The University of Texas at Austin.
More information about Dr. Chang and her work is available at her personal homepage.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar] [🐦Twitter]Sumie Okazaki, Ph.D.
Bio: Sumie Okazaki conducts research on the impact of immigration, social and cultural change, and race on Asian and Asian American adolescents, emerging adults, and parents within local and transnational contexts. With colleagues in anthropology, education, and developmental psychology as well as community partners, she has ongoing research projects with urban Chinese American adolescents and immigrant young adults in New York City; Chinese parents and adolescents in Shanghai and Nanjing, China; Korean American and Filipino American adolescents and parents in Chicago; and current and former Korean early study abroad students in New York City, the Philippines, and South Korea.
Her most recent book, co-authored with Nancy Abelmann, is titled Korean American Families in Immigrant America: How Teens and Parents Navigate Race (2018, NYU Press). She has also co-edited three books: South Korea’s education exodus: The life and challenges of early study abroad (2015; with Adrienne Lo, Soo-Ah Kwon, & Nancy Abelmann), Asian American Psychology: The Science of Lives in Context (2002; with Gordon C. N. Hall) and Asian American Mental Health: Assessment Theories and Methods (2002; with Karen Kurasaki and Stanley Sue). She was the President of the Asian American Psychological Association (2013-2015) and has served as an Associate Editor of the journal Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (2004-2011). She is the recipient of the Early Career Award for Distinguished Contribution from the Asian American Psychological Association, the Emerging Professional Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, and Early Career Award, and Dalmas Taylor Distinguished Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program.
Okazaki received her doctorate in psychology from UCLA in 1994 and has taught in the psychology departments and Asian American Studies programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign prior to coming to Steinhardt.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar] [🐦Twitter]Faculty Collaborators
Thu Nguyen, ScD, MSPH
Bio: Thu Nguyen, ScD, MSPH is an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. She is a social epidemiologist whose research focuses on the impact of modifiable social factors on minority health and health disparities. A primary line of focus of her research is investigating the influence of racism and discrimination in creating and perpetuating health equities.
Dr. Nguyen leads the Big Data for Health Equity (BD4HE) Research Collaborative.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar]Maureen Craig, Ph.D.
Bio: How do diversity and discrimination shape intergroup relations and political attitudes?
I am currently an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. My work focuses on understanding social and political attitudes among members of different social groups (e.g., groups based on race, gender, and sexuality) from dual perspectives: those of traditionally stigmatized and societally dominant groups. For example, some of my research explores the conditions under which members of one stigmatized group perceive other stigmatized groups as potential allies, potential competitors, or as any other outgroup. Another line of work examines how exposure to information about diversity affects majority and minority group members’ intergroup attitudes, social categorization, and political attitudes. I am also interested in how category- and feature-based stereotyping may operate independently or in combination to affect the downstream judgments of other people.
Please visit our lab website: Diversity and Social Process Lab.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar] [🐦 Twitter]Harvey L. Nicholson Jr., Ph.D.
Bio: Harvey L. Nicholson Jr. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Hofstra University. He held previous appointments at the University of Toronto and the University of Florida. He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Sociology. He is the author and co-author of more than thirty peer-reviewed manuscripts published in top-ranked sociology and specialty area journals, such as Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Social Problems, Socius, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Sociology Compass, International Journal of Social Psychiatry, and Ethnicity & Health. He currently serves on the editorial board for well-known peer-reviewed outlets in sociology—specifically, Society and Mental Health and Sociological Spectrum.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar] [🐦 Twitter]Michael Park, Ph.D.
Bio: Dr. Michael Park is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work and the Chancellor’s Scholar for Inclusive Excellence in Racial Minority Health at Rutgers. His research centers on investigating how social positionality within the intersection of race/ethnicity, and immigration explains health disparities among racial/ethnic minorities in the United States. Specifically, his current research focuses on understanding how racial discrimination and its related stressors (e.g., racial stereotypes) contribute to disparities in mental health and mental health service utilization among Asian American immigrant youth and identifying protective factors (e.g., family racial/ethnic socialization practices) that can mitigate the harmful effects of discrimination. Before joining Rutgers, Dr. Park completed a NIMH postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Mental Health Services Research at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his PhD in social work and his master’s degrees in Social Work and Biostatistics from the University of Chicago.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar]Dale Maglalang, Ph.D.
Bio: Dale Dagar Maglalang (he/they) is an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. He was previously a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Maglalang’s research examines social, cultural, and structural determinants of health, specifically how racism and other forms of oppression influence Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations. He has a particular focus on substance use and the intersection of BIPOC with their gender, sexual orientation, and immigrant identities. Furthermore, his research also aims to intervene on the negative effects of racism and other forms of oppression through the implementation of randomized clinical trials informed by strength-based approaches, critical theories and frameworks, and the use of technology. Dr. Maglalang earned his BS in Human Development and BA in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis, MA in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, MPH in Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and MSW and PhD in Social Work at Boston College. He was a T32 NIH/NHLBI Postdoctoral Researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University School of Medicine.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar] [🐦 Twitter]Graduate Research Assistant
Nari Yoo, M.A.
Project Coordinator
Bio: Nari Yoo is a PhD candidate at NYU Silver School of Social Work. She is motivated by promoting social justice and improving the mental health of ethnic minorities and immigrants/refugees. She is especially interested in the role of community factors in predicting mental health outcomes, e.g., advocacy, collective efficacy, racial climate, or online community engagement. Nari is also interested in leveraging the computational social sciences (CSS) approach to social work research, especially Natural Language Processing or Geospatial analysis.
Having a consistent interest in immigrant and refugee communities, she participated in various research projects on mental health in collaboration with government research institutes in South Korea. She has authored several publications on immigrants and refugees in journals, including the Journal of affective disorders, Digital Health, and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Prior to attending NYU, Nari obtained B.A. in Sociology, graduating first in her class, and M.A. in Social Welfare, receiving the best master’s thesis award from Ewha Womans University.
[📧Email] [🎓Google Scholar] [🐦 Twitter]Beverly Liang
Bio: Beverly Liang is a Project Lead with Project CARA on the Qualitative Research Study. She is pursuing an MSW at Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work and is interested in AAPI’s mental health and cultural identity. Beverly brings a depth of expertise in consumer insights and qualitative research methodologies from her background in design, advertising, and research firms, including 2×4, Sapient Razorfish, and Wavemaker. She currently works as a Project Manager at The Asian American Foundation and graduated with Honors from the University of Chicago with an AB in Cultural Anthropology.
[📧Email] [🙍♂️Linkedin]📃Please find the Qualitative Study page to see the research assistants working on the qualitative study part!