I am a clinical psychologist and Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Until June 2026, I served as Professor in Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and as an attending psychologist at UCSF Health. I also served as Co-Director of the Asian American Research Center on Health (AsianARCH.org) from 2017 to 2025.
My research program aims to advance health equity by translating evidence-based interventions into accessible, culturally and linguistically responsive programs in communities and health care systems. My work focuses on immigrant mental health and emotional wellness, health promotion and disparities in Asian immigrant communities, and tobacco cessation and cancer-related health disparities, with an emphasis on populations facing linguistic, cultural, and structural barriers to care.
Current and recent work includes INFORMED, a multilingual peer outreach and text-messaging intervention promoting emotional wellness among Asian Americans, and international collaborations examining immigrant mental health and access to care. As a Multiple Principal Investigator of the CARE Research Registry, I contribute to efforts to increase Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander representation in health research. My longstanding Healthy Family Project engages lay health workers, families, and social networks to promote tobacco cessation and other healthy behaviors. My clinical research has also developed scalable, multilingual approaches to improve access to evidence-based tobacco treatment, particularly in cancer care. Across these areas, I seek to build on the strengths of individuals, families, and communities while improving access to evidence-based prevention and care.
Since 2000, I have been actively involved in research and clinical teaching and mentorship of predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees at UCSF. I currently serve as Associate Director of a NIDA-funded T32 Postdoctoral Training Fellowship in Substance Use Disorders Treatment and Services Research. My approach to mentorship is to tailor training and research opportunities to each scholar’s career stage and goals, with a longstanding commitment to mentoring scholars from backgrounds underrepresented in health research. Developing the next generation of researchers and research mentors remains one of my most valued roles as an educator.