PEOPLE

William Tsai HeadshotWilliam Tsai, Ph.D. 
Lab Director

Email: will.tsai@nyu.edu
Phone: (212)998-5552
Office: 246 Greene St., Room 706W, New York, NY 10011
CV
 
Dr. Tsai is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at NYU. He received his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. He completed his clinical internship at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs  Medical Center. His research examines the health of ethnic minority cancer survivors from a cultural and biopsychosocial lens with the overarching goal of improving cancer survivorship outcomes and reducing cancer health disparities. More broadly, he has published research on emotion regulation, negative self-reflection processes, and cultural-clinical psychology among culturally diverse groups. 
 
Doctoral Students
Yikai Xu, M.Ed
Email: yx25@nyu.edu
 

Yikai Xu is a PhD student under the mentorship of Dr. William Tsai, starting in the fall of 2021. Yikai attained his undergraduate degree from Shanghai International Studies University, majoring in Korean Language and Literature. Yikai then completed two Master of Education degrees from Vanderbilt University in International Education Policy & Management and Human Development Studies with a focus on school counseling.

Yikai’s research interests primarily focus on cognitive and emotional processes underlying adaptive coping and psychological well-being across cultures. His current constructs of interests include contemplative practices, rumination, psychological flexibility, insights, dialectical thinking, acculturative and race-based stress. Specifically, he is interested in differentiating the adaptive facets of rumination from maladaptive ones and investigating how culture influences the process of negative self-reflection. Additionally, he is interested in mapping out the underlying cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes of psychological flexibility, and exploring how psychological flexibility influences coping with acculturative and race-based stress among ethnoracial minorities.

Yikai is also interested in ways to promote equitable access to quality mental health services among underserved communities on the individual level as well as the policy level. He is committed to building lasting community partnerships and to advocating for social justice in the field of mental health and beyond.

 
Jen Ying-Zhen Ang
 
Jen Ying-Zhen Ang is a 5th-year PhD candidate under the mentorship of Dr. Tsai. She did her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, graduating with a BA (Hons) in psychology, minor in Economics and an MA in Public Policy. She worked as a policy officer thereafter at the Singapore government and Interpol, dealing with varied portfolios ranging from youth crime and drugs to arts and heritage. She then took up a position as a psychologist in the Singapore Prison Service, conducting group and individual interventions with inmates to help them desist from crime upon release. The experience of growing up in a multicultural society, working with people of different nationalities and strata and living across 3 continents has attuned Jen to the differences and nuances between cultures, especially in the realm of mental health. Specifically, she is interested in the role of culture in emotion regulation techniques, and how emotional flexibility – our ability to utilize emotion regulation techniques in accordance with situational demands – impacts mental health and well-being outcomes. Jen was the winner of Therapist Throwdown 2021, the 1st-ever therapist competition organized by Sentio University. She was also in all 6 episodes of Season 1 of the Learn Psychotherapy Podcast, aimed at helping therapists and students learn fundamental techniques of psychotherapy. 
 
 
Grace Zhang
Email: zhang3qi@gmail.com
“Grace Zhang is a second year doctoral student in the NYU Clinical/Counseling Psychology program under the supervision of Dr. William Tsai. She graduated from the Master‘s program in Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she concentrated on spirituality and mind-body practice. She then served as a full-time research coordinator at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she assisted in culturally adapting meaning-centered psychotherapy for cancer patients from ethnic minority immigrant backgrounds.
 
Her research interests broadly lie at the intersection of culture, positive psychology, and health disparities. Specifically, her research interests encompass emotion regulation (both intrapersonal and interpersonal), psychological flexibility, and self-compassion, with a focus on exploring these constructs through a cultural lens. Additionally, she is interested in advancing cultural adaptation methodologies and developing culturally-congruent psychosocial interventions (e.g., expressive writing) to improve the well-being of ethnic minority groups, particularly within the cancer and international student communities.”
 
 
Research Assistants
 

Kelly Kwong
Email: kk5374@nyu.edu

Kelly graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology. She currently works as a full-time research assistant at Weill Cornell Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research interests include developing accessible and culturally competent interventions for adults with depression, anxiety, and suicidality in underserved and marginalized communities, especially racial and ethnic minorities. Passionate about mental health treatment, improving help-seeking behavior, and accessibility, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

 

William Liang
Email: pl1781@nyu.edu

William Liang graduated from NYU Applied Psychology in 2022 and is now an MA student at NYU’s mental health counseling program. His research interests lie primarily in the development and adaptation of culturally sensitive psychotherapy for urban Chinese families as well as the study of urban Chinese family dynamics from the perspectives of gender norms and parent-child relationship. He is also interested in working with children and adolescents with adverse childhood experiences and traumas. 

 
 
 

Lexi Licheng
Email: yl9036@nyu.edu

Lexi Licheng is a senior undergraduate student at NYU. She majors in Applied Psychology, while pursuing the prehealth track, looking forward to apply to medical schools in the future. Her research interests include serious mental illness like schizophrenia, mental health of patients having physical conditions, as well as how culture plays an effect on caretakers and patients in need. 
 
Fun fact: on her free time, she does kickboxing and on her way to become a freelance singer.
 
 

Jane Yang
Email: sy2929@nyu.edu

Jane Yang earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies from NYU in 2024. Currently, she serves as the Project Coordinator for CASHEW at the CEH Lab and as a Clinical Research Associate at the NYU Langone Child Study Center. Her research interests lie in exploring the connections between mood-related psychopathologies and sociocultural influences among minority groups, especially for children and adolescents. She is also interested in studying the experiences of caregivers tending to children and adults with severe or terminal illnesses. Outside of research, Jane enjoys baking and listening to K-pop. Her signature dish is Basque cake.

 

Leo Li
Email: xl3311@nyu.edu

Event: Global Awards Team Advising Photoshoot

Xuqian (Leo) Li recently graduated from New York University with a degree in Gender Studies and Psychology, alongside a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. With a strong interdisciplinary research interest in culture, gender, and mental health, Xuqian has contributed to multiple projects around Chinese international students’ mental health and sexual health. A fun fact about Leo is that she watched Criminal Minds all 13 seasons over 3 times.

 

 

Jasmine Fong
Email: jf4798@nyu.edu

Jasmine Fong is a graduate student in the Communicative Sciences and Disorders program at New York University, with a focus on bilingualism and multicultural practices. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Linguistics from the University of Toronto. Jasmine is currently gaining clinical experience at a veteran hospital, working with medically complex patients. Her research interests include health disparities in Asian and Asian American communities, emotion regulation, and bilingual language development. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology, focusing on the intersection of culture and mental health, particularly in understanding how cultural factors impact emotion regulation and help-seeking behaviors in Asian and Asian American populations.

 

Jaisy Lau
Email: jxl2015@nyu.edu

Jaisy Lau is a Master’s student in the General Psychology program at New York University, with a specialization in clinical psychology. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Information Systems and Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook University in May 2021. Her broad research interests include Asian American mental health and clinical assessment in Asian populations. Her specific research interest lies in examining the impact of internalized cultural stigma surrounding mental illness on the expression of depression in Asian/Asian-American individuals. Outside of conducting research, her main hobbies (at the moment) include cafe hopping, mid-distance running (3-6 miles), singing, and watching movies. 

 

Faculty Collaborators:

 

NYU Lab Alumni:

  • Angela Wang (PhD in School Psychology – University of Massachusetts, Boston)
  • Alison Tu
  • Anjali Mehta (Master of Public Health – Johns Hopkins University)
  • Catherine Fan
  • Cherie Choo
  • Zhenyi Yang
  • Erica Jones
  • Nicole Horner
  • Ruidi Zhu
  • Tiffany Wong (MA in Occupational Therapy – San Jose State University)
  • Zhi Xun (M.Ed in Human Development – Harvard University)
  • Vicky Ho (PhD in Clinical Psychology – George Washington University)
  • Sophia Hon (PhD in Counseling Psychology – University of Miami)
  • Sumaiya Nusrath (PhD in Counseling Psychology – University of Florida)
  • Lucy Quezada (PhD in Counseling Psychology – University of Georgia)
  • Charlotte Teng (PhD in Clinical Psychology – Palo Alto University)
  • Liwei Zhang
  • Nicole Zhou
  • Jaimie Park 
  • Hellen Xu
  • Michaela Greenlee
  • Fan Zhang
  • George Lin

CSU San Marcos Lab Alumni:

  • Lauren Clifford
  • Olivia De Lisser
  • Johnathan Ramirez
  • Amelia Qasem
  • Sol Gomez (MSW – San Diego State University)
  • Denisse Mendez
  • Daisy Zavala (Health Psychology PhD – Stony Brook University)
  • Alexandria Smith
  • Victoria Meyerott
  • Eun Kyung Kim
  • Itzia Plascencia