Sophie Koestner

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Sophie Koestner is originally from Montreal, Canada, and moved to the US to complete her bachelor’s in Social Work at Loyola University Chicago. For the past three years, she has been assisting with projects on neurodiversity and aging, and LGBTQ+ migrants. She has presented at conferences on older adults’ experiences of autonomy as conveyed by their food environments. For the past year, she has also been working with Dr. Lené Levy-Storms on a grant proposal looking at intergenerational social network interventions to combat social isolation and loneliness. Sophie developed an interest in working with older adults after getting a summer job in the creative therapy and recreation department at a skilled nursing facility. The strong relationships she built with residents and their families, the stories she heard, and the impact she observed care providers having on residents’ lives sparked her interest in the field of gerontology. Sophie’s BSW internship was at the Marjorie Kovler Center, where she also became involved with a research project on the benefits of complementary therapies for survivors of torture. At the Kovler Center, she developed an interest in strengths-based, culturally sensitive, and trauma-informed approaches to serving those affected by torture and forced migration.

Norma Rubio

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Norma Rubio is a Cota-Robles Fellow and doctoral student in Social Welfare at UCLA. She combines her experience as an Emmy-winning television writer, producer, and director with her work as a community researcher. Her time in television taught her the power of storytelling and engaging with audiences—skills she now uses to highlight the voices of youth and families whose experiences are often overlooked in policy discussions.

Her research currently centers on transition-age youth, examining issues such as food insecurity, housing stability, and the systemic barriers influencing their journey into adulthood. Norma has contributed to studies on young people in foster care, collaborated with nonprofits to improve culturally responsive services, and created mindfulness and resilience programs to aid frontline workers and youth.

As a Mexican-American emerging scholar, Norma is dedicated to connecting research, practice, and public engagement. Strongly rooted in her identity and values, she is especially passionate about promoting the well-being of Latinx communities and ensuring that policies and programs embody their strengths, voices, and needs. She aims for her work to influence interventions that increase opportunity and well-being in underserved communities, while also leveraging her media background to present research in ways that are accessible, human, and impactful.

Norma’s research interests focus on exploring the topic of mattering and improving the well-being and life transitions of youth and families—especially within Latinx communities. Her work interests include examining issues related to immigration, equity-driven change, and the transformation of social work systems to foster belonging, justice, and holistic well-being.

Minyang Zhang

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I am a first-year doctoral student in Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin, where my work examines how intergenerational relationships, cultural values, and social structures shape the aging experience. My academic background bridges gerontology, public health, and social work, and I approach aging as both a social process and a shared intergenerational responsibility.

My professional experience spans community health, social services, and cross-cultural research in both the U.S. and China. I have worked with the Yale-China Association, Hamilton-Madison House in New York City, and Orpea Care Center in Nanjing, engaging in projects that connect health policy, caregiving practice, and cultural understanding to improve support for older adults and their families.

At UCLA, I aim to integrate public health and social welfare perspectives to address ageism, promote intergenerational solidarity, and advance equitable aging policies.

Baiyang Li

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Baiyang Li, M.S.W., they/them, is a Social Welfare PhD student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Their research explores the intersections of mental health, chronic absenteeism, and race/ethnicity among children and adolescents. Using mixed-methods research grounded in bioecological theory, they examine how systemic and cultural factors shape school attendance patterns, mental health challenges, and intervention experiences, to advance more equitable and culturally responsive school–family–community support systems.

Baiyang’s scholarship includes leading a scoping review on mental health and chronic absenteeism in U.S. K–12 schools, with the manuscript currently under journal review, and participating in collaborative projects on BIPOC clinicians’ training and practice experiences, as well as immigrants with limited English proficiency and their access to telemental health. Their work has been published in Clinical Social Work Journal, with additional manuscripts in preparation.

Prior to UCLA, Baiyang worked in community-based mental health programs in New York City, providing counseling and psychotherapy in English and Mandarin to children, adolescents, and families. With more than 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience, they focused on depression, anxiety, school absenteeism, and family adjustment in immigrant and limited-English-proficient communities. Their earlier advocacy work in LGBTQ and international student communities continues to inform their commitment to equity-driven research and practice.

Samantha Eisert

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Samantha Eisert is a recent MSW graduate and current Social Welfare PhD student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is a proud first-generation college student and “Triple Bruin” as she also earned her BA in Psychology at UCLA with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society. Sam is committed to social justice advocacy through community-driven research that aims to disrupt entrenched systems of power and privilege. She hopes to utilize participatory qualitative research that bridges theory and practice, centering the voices of those most affected. She is specifically interested in work surrounding the harmful family policing system and how we can critically engage with lived narratives to provide direct support and inform policy change.

Sam’s research experience spans quantitative and qualitative methodologies, touching on culture, identity, adolescent development, disability justice, and even more systemic analysis to strengthen community mental health services. She currently works as a graduate student researcher with UCLA’s Public Mental Health Partnership (PMHP), which has been named the Center of Excellence for the state’s Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs.

Emonie Robinson

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Emonie Robinson, MSW (she/her, they/them) is a scholar, educator and advocate entering her first year of the doctoral program of Social Welfare in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research centers on social justice issues with particular focus on reproductive justice and the carceral system’s impact on Black communities. She is interested in examining how hospitals and healthcare systems perpetuate carcerality and contribute to the criminalization of Black birthing individuals.

Robinson recently earned her Master of Social Welfare from Luskin. During her graduate studies, she served as an Intern Data Analyst for the Human Services Department of the City of Santa Monica. In this role, she conducted community needs assessments and resource mapping. She was the first MSW student in the Social and Economic Justice concentration to participate in UCLA’s Racial Justice Pilot Program and proposed a racial justice lens to support the Human Services Department.

Robinson is involved with the Million Dollar Hoods project and contributes to research that maps the costs of incarceration in Los Angeles and highlights the disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities. She is also a Teaching Assistant in UCLA’s Department of African American Studies and a peer mentor for the Academic Advancement Program’s (AAP) Transfer Summer Program. As a former elementary school teacher and educator, she has facilitated workshops and led discussions around equity and racial justice. Her pedagogy is rooted in the frameworks of Paulo Freire and bell hooks that emphhasize mutual learning, critical consciousness, and educational justice.
Beyond academia, Robinson serves as the MSW Student Board Member for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) where she represents student interests at the national level. In this role, she advocates for equitable policies and contributes to the organization’s initiatives to advance social justice and support the next generation of social workers.

Emonie was born and raised in Bakersfield, CA. Her advocacy journey began in the bay area at Chabot College, where she became a student leader and transfer student advocate. As an undergraduate at UCLA, she served as the Afrikan Student Union’s (ASU) Transfer Coordinator and Community College Partnerships Mentor where she supported the needs of TAY foster youth, Black transfer students, undocumented students, and system-impacted students navigating higher education. She graduated during the pandemic with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and African American Studies.

Mahonri “Mo” Sapiga

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Mahonri “Mo” Sapiga, MSW, is a seasoned leader in public child welfare with over three decades of experience in frontline social work, program administration, and systems-level leadership. As Deputy Director for the Orange County Social Services Agency’s Children and Family Services Division, he has overseen vital programs including Emergency Response, Adult and Child Abuse Hotlines, and Family Maintenance Collaborative Services, leading over 250 staff in delivering trauma-informed, family-led, prevention based, community-centered care.

Mo currently serves as the UCLA, LA County DCFS Stipend Program Coordinator, supporting the development of future child welfare professionals through field education, advising, and academic mentoring.

He has taught MSW courses for over 17 years at CSU Long Beach and CSU Dominguez Hills, where he is known for fostering cultural humility, critical thinking, and applied skill development. Mo’s teaching is grounded in mentorship, coaching, and a commitment to professional excellence.

As an active advocate for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities, he has led numerous community engagement initiatives and presented nationally on equity in education, workforce development, and culturally responsive leadership and practice. Mo’s work centers on empowering marginalized communities and preparing a diverse, competent child welfare workforce.

David Cohen

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David Cohen studies psychoactive drugs across shifting boundaries of medical, recreational, and illicit uses, showing how socio-cultural factors, not just drug properties, shape legal status and therapeutic promises. He also evaluates claims about biological determinist views and biological treatments of distress and misbehavior. He explores how schools of thought in mental health impact notions of ethical care, informed consent, and harm reduction. His research on public data about involuntary psychiatric detentions reveals governments’ weak accountability for coercive care. Cohen has authored or co-authored over 120 articles and chapters. His last co-authored book was Mad Science: Psychiatric Coercion, Diagnosis, and Drugs (2015). He has received awards for writing, research, teaching, mentoring, and advocacy.

As a mental health practitioner, Cohen focused on helping people withdraw from psychiatric drugs and advocated for person-centered, individualized reduction. He developed guidelines for therapists and people navigating these substances’ shift from medical tools to cultural/consumer products. He also created CriticalThinkRx, a curriculum shown to reduce psychotropic prescriptions for foster children. Cohen has advised governments, research agencies, courts, media, and community groups on reducing harms of psychotropic drug use.

Cohen taught at University of Montreal (1988-2000) where he directed the Health and Prevention Research Group (1993-1994) focused on the nascent social determinants of health paradigm, and at Florida International University (2000-20013) where he directed the PhD program and served as Interim Director of the School of Social Work. In 2012, he held the Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair at University of Poitiers, France. At UCLA Luskin, Cohen held the Marjorie Crump Chair in Social Welfare (2013-2018), served as Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development (2018-2023) and is currently Associate Dean.

Selected recent publications

Discontinuing Psychiatric Medications from Participants in Randomized Controlled Trials: A systematic Review (2019)

Incidences of Involuntary Psychiatric Detentions in 25 U.S. States (2020)

Withdrawal Effects Confounding: Another Sign of Needed Paradigm Shift in Psychopharmacology Research (2020)

Emanuel Nuñez

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Emanuel Nuñez is a second-year doctoral student in Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin and a licensed clinical social worker from California’s Central Valley. His research explores how Latino communities experience and navigate severe mental illness through qualitative and community-engaged approaches. He holds a dual BA degree in Chicanx Studies and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara and an MSW from CSU Stanislaus. Prior to starting at UCLA Luskin, Emanuel served as an LPS-designated clinician in outpatient and emergency psychiatric settings, including the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s Psychiatric Mobile Response Team and Stanislaus County Behavioral Health’s Crisis Care Mobile Unit. He is advised by Dr. Tatiana Londoño.

Danielle Dunn

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Danielle is a doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research interests center on strategies to increase access and engagement to evidence-based practices (EBPs) and the implementation and sustainment of EBPs that advance health equity in various settings.

Danielle currently works at Veterans Affairs at the Leading Evaluations to Advance VA’s Response to National Priorities (LEARN) Evidence-Based Policy Evaluation Center. She is a qualitative analyst on two evaluations of national programs focusing on the retention of Veterans with substance-use disorders in HUD-VASH and the implementation of chief wellbeing officers to address system-level drivers of clinician burnout. Prior to this, she gained experience in school-based mental health as the project coordinator for an R01 study examining the implementation and sustainment of a teacher-led prevention intervention for children at risk of developing emotional and behavioral disorders. At the UCLA Psychology Clinic, she also coordinated and helped design a large multisite study examining best practices in telesupervision, and conceptualized and implemented an independent study examining how the perceived helpfulness of prior therapy impacts premature termination from therapy.