Sicong (Summer) Sun

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Sicong “Summer” Sun (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Born and raised in China, Dr. Sun is a first-generation immigrant and a nonbinary queer scholar. They hold a Ph.D. in Social Work and a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. Before joining UCLA, Dr. Sun was a faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.

Dr. Sun is broadly interested in race, ethnicity, and immigration, poverty and inequality, social determinants of health, and health equity. As an applied interdisciplinary researcher, their scholarship centers on conceptual and empirical understanding of the intersections of racism, poverty, and health. Central to Dr. Sun’s work is investigating how racial/ethnic inequities in asset holding and financial capability—rooted in historical and contemporary structural racism—serve as upstream social determinants that fundamentally shape the downstream determinants of health and wellbeing across the lifespan. Their recent project examines racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between wealth and health. Dr. Sun’s research aims to inform social policies and programs to advance racial, socioeconomic, and health equity in the U.S. and global contexts.

Dr. Sun’s research has been published in multidisciplinary journals, including the Annual Review of Public Health, SSM-Population Health, Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, Children and Youth Services Review, and Journal of Family and Economic Issues. Among other awards, they have received the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Society for Social Work Research and the Jane Aron Fellowship from the National Association of Social Workers Foundation.

Selected publications:

Sun, S., Chiang, C. J., & Hudson, D. (2024). Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Parental Wealth and Child Behavioral Problems. Children and Youth Services Review.

Sun, S. (2023). Racial/Ethnic Heterogeneity in Parental Wealth and Substance Use from Adolescence to Young Adulthood. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

Sun, S. (2023). Building Financial Capability and Assets to Reduce Poverty and Health Disparities: Race/Ethnicity Matters. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 1-20.

Sun, S. , Lee, H., & Hudson, D. (2023). Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Relationship Between Wealth and Health Across Young Adulthood. SSM – Population Health.

Ansong, D., Okumu, M., Huang, J., Sun, S., Huseynli, A., Chowa, G., Ssewamala, F., Sherraden M.S. & Sherraden, M. (2023). Financial Capability and Asset Building: Innovations in Social Protection and Development in Handbook on Social Protection and Social Development in the Global South Edited by Patel, L., Plagerson S., & Chinyoka I.

Chen, Y. C., & Sun, S. (2023). Gender Differences in the Relationship between Financial Capability and Health in Later Life: Evidence from Hong Kong. Innovation in Aging, igad072.

Sun, S. & Chen, Y. C. (2022). Is financial capability a determinant of health? Theory and evidence. Journal of Family and Economic Issues.

Sun, S. Chen, Y. C., Ansong, D., Huang, J., & Sherraden, M.S. (2022). Household financial capability and economic hardship: An empirical examination of the financial capability theory. Journal of Family and Economic Issues.

Sun, S. Huang, J, Hudson, D., Sherraden, M. (2021) Cash transfers and health. Annual Review of Public Health

Tozan, Y., Capasso, A., Sun, S., Neilands, T. B., Damulira, C., Namuwonge F., Nakigozi G., Bahar, O. S., Nabunya, P. Mellins, C. Mckay M. M., & Ssewamala, F. M. (2021). Effects and cost-effectiveness evaluation of a family economic empowerment intervention to increase ARV Adherence among HIV+ adolescents in Uganda. Journal of the International AIDS Society.

Ssewamala, F.M., Wang, J. S. H., Brathwaite, R., Sun, S., Mayo-Wilson, L.J., Neilands, T.B., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2021) Impact of a Family Economic Intervention on Health functioning of Adolescents Impacted by HIV/AIDS: A 5-year Randomized Controlled Trial in Uganda. American Journal of Public Health

Sun, S., Nabunya, P., Byansi, W., Bahar, O. S., Damulira, C., Neilands, T. B., Guo, S., Namuwonge, F. & Ssewamala, F. M. (2020). Access and utilization of financial services among poor HIV-impacted children and families in Uganda. Children and Youth Services Review, 104730.

Tozan, Y., Sun, S., Capasso, A., Wang, J. S. H., Neilands, T. B., Bahar, O. S., Damulira, C. & Ssewamala, F. M. (2019). Evaluation of a savings-led family-based economic empowerment intervention for AIDS-affected adolescents in Uganda: A four-year follow-up on efficacy and cost-effectiveness. PLOS ONE 14(12).

 

Courses of instruction in the program: Foundations of Social Welfare Policy; HBSE: Theoretical Perspectives in Social Work and Social Welfare

For full list of publications please visit their page at:

Google scholar: ‪Sicong (Summer) Sun – ‪Google Scholar

Research Gate: Sicong Sun (researchgate.net)

Connect with them on X: @drsummersun

Hillary Peregrina

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Hillary Nicole Peregrina, MA, MSW (she/her/hers) is an incoming first-year doctoral student committed to addressing mental health and psychosocial development among BIPOC children and adolescents, with a particular focus on the Filipino American community. She obtained her Master of Arts in Social Work (Clinical Concentration) from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. She also previously earned a Master of Arts in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Loyola Marymount University.

Prior to entering the field of Social Work, she taught Ethnic Studies courses at San Francisco State University and San Francisco Unified School District through Pin@y Educational Partnerships. Her social work experience encompasses a range of youth development roles including administrative non-profit research and program evaluation and counseling services for children and adolescents ages 8-18.

Her central research questions focus on the impact of racial discrimination and critical racial consciousness on various developmental outcomes including mental health, ethnic/racial identity, family processes, civic engagement, and racial solidarity. She hopes to explore how contextual factors including discrimination, family and/or school ethnic-racial socialization, im/migration, diaspora, and other social determinants impact the formation of critical racial consciousness. She has previously published on various public health issues that impact Asian American communities across the lifespan including family social support, psychosocial wellness, type 2 diabetes and breast cancer among older Asian Americans, and civic engagement among emerging young adults. Her research interests are an interdisciplinary blend of her experience in Social Work and Ethnic Studies. Ultimately, she hopes to use various forms of research to advocate for health equity, translate findings into public policy recommendations, and inform clinical and community-based interventions.

Selected Publications: 

Peregrina, H. N., Maglalang, D. D., Hwang, J., & Yoo, G. J. (2023). A qualitative exploration of the continuum of help-seeking among Asian American breast cancer survivors. Social work in health care, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00981389.2023.2244012 

Peregrina, H. N., Yoo, G. J., Villanueva, C., Bayog, M. L. G., Doan, T., & Bender, M. S. (2022). Tiwala, Gaining Trust to Recruit Filipino American Families: CARE-T2D Study. Ethnicity & disease, 32(1), 49–60. https://doi.org/10.18865/ed.32.1.49

Maglalang, D. D., Peregrina, H. N., Yoo, G. J., & Le, M. N. (2021). Centering Ethnic Studies in Health Education: Lessons From Teaching an Asian American Community Health Course. Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education, 48(3), 371–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/10901981211009737  

Courtney Demko

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Dr. Demko’s research focuses on older adult health and well-being. She is particularly interested in Alzheimer’s caregiver burden. Her research involves using national survey data and focuses on the multidimensional factors associated with caregiver burden among young adult caregivers.

Dr. Demko’s research experience includes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and she has used her research skills on several grant-funded research projects at UCLA including grants from the Ford Foundation and Archstone Foundation. She was a member of the UCLA Latino Economic Security (LES) team, which researches the economic impact of a nation growing older and more diverse. Dr. Demko served as the Project Director for the team’s latest project which included conducting focus groups and surveying older white conservative adults to understand their attitudes and beliefs toward immigration and immigration policy. She has published her work in peer-reviewed journals such as The Journal of the American Society on Aging.  She also gained administrative and managerial experience as the Assistant Director for the Center for Policy Research on Aging at UCLA’s Department of Social Welfare and Public Policy.

Dr. Demko also has several years of teaching experience. She is currently teaching 211A Human Behavior in the Social Environment and 260A Research Capstone at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs Department of Social Welfare. She has also taught at California State University Los Angeles School of Social Work teaching both graduate and undergraduate Social Work Research Methods and Statistics courses.  Her teaching philosophy includes using a variety of teaching modalities to be inclusive of students’ varying learning styles.

She earned her B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College (2005), and an M.S.W (2013) and PhD (2021) from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare with a specialization in Gerontology.

Madonna Cadiz

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Madonna Cadiz, LCSW is a Doctoral Student in Social Welfare at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Previously, she held research positions at the Program for Torture Victims and the Suicide Prevention Center at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. In these roles, she contributed to quantitative and qualitative research projects aimed at evaluating client functioning and program efficacy. Her research seeks to expand knowledge on the etiology of mental illness and emotional distress among underserved populations by identifying connections among individual, meso-level, and macro-level factors that may contribute to or exacerbate such conditions. Furthermore, her work aims to center community members’ voices to better understand their own definitions and conceptualizations of mental health diagnoses and symptoms, as well as to identify potentially meaningful interventions that may promote positive mental health among individuals and communities served by social workers.

Juan C. Jauregui

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Juan C. Jauregui, MSW, MPH is a 3rd year doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His research is focused on understanding and preventing suicide among LGBTQ+ young people in low and middle-income countries using community-engaged approaches. Specifically, his work explores the social, economic, and environmental factors that impact the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ+ communities.

Juan recently co-led the launch of a national survey in Peru and the Philippines focused on LGBTQ+ youth mental health. Before entering the doctoral program at UCLA, Juan worked with the Resilience + Resistance Collective at the University of Michigan School of Public Health where he was involved in LGBTQ+ mental health projects in the U.S., Kenya, and Zambia. He also worked with the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program at Michigan Medicine where he focused on examining health inequities for LGB people with bipolar disorder. Juan’s previous professional experiences also include working as a Research Associate for the UCLA Adolescent Trials Network and as a Crisis Worker for a national suicide hotline.

Juan earned his BS in Psychobiology from UCLA in 2017 and Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan in 2021. Juan is a recipient of the NIH-funded LEAD Global Training Fellowship at Washington University St. Louis, as well as a recipient of the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.

Selected Publications:

Jadwin-Cakmak, L., Jauregui, J. C., McDowell, H., Davis, K., LaBoy, R., Johnson, G. L., Hosek, S., Harper, G. W. (2023) “They’re not feeling the love they need to feel”: HIV stigma and other intersecting stigmas among Black gay and bisexual men and transgender women in house and ball communities. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health. doi: 10.1080/19359705.2023.2200375

Lewis, K. A., Jadwin-Cakmak, L., Walimbwa, J., Ogunbajo, A., Jauregui, J. C., Onyango, D. P.,  Moore, D. M.,  Johnson, G. L., Odero, W., Harper, G. W. (2023). “You’ll Be Chased Away”: Sources, Experiences, and Effects of Violence and Stigma among Gay and Bisexual Men in Kenya. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 2825. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042825

Jauregui, J. C., Rucah, C., Crawford, J., Jadwin-Cakmak, L., Concehla, C., Onyango, D. P., Harper, G. W. Experiences of Violence and Mental Health Concerns among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults in Western Kenya. LGBT Health. 2021 Oct;8(7):494-501. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2020.0495. Epub 2021 Aug 31. PMID: 34463158.

Chenglin Hong

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Chenglin Hong is a PhD Candidate in Social Welfare at UCLA. Trained as a social worker, Chenglin’s research focuses on addressing health inequities among sexual and gender minority and other LGBTQ+ populations. His work is centered primarily on the development and testing of interventions that aim to improve sexual health and mental health outcomes among gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men (SMM), with a particular focus on HIV and intimate partner violence (IPV) in the U.S. and globally. Chenglin’s work lies at the intersection of social work, public health, psychology, and data science, with the aim of developing interventions that disrupt violence, stigma, HIV, and other syndemic conditions among the SMM communities. He is particularly interested in examining the feasibility and acceptability and developing and testing eHealth, mHealth, and other technology-based interventions and data science approaches (e.g., machine Learning, natural language processing) to promote IPV help-seeking and HIV prevention services such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among SMM.

Chenglin’s mixed-method dissertation titled “Utilizing Machine Learning and Technology-Based Intervention for IPV and HIV Prevention among SMM” was funded by the American Psychological Association (APA) Science Directorate, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), the UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship program, and received honorable mention in the inaugural Grand Challenges for Social Work Doctoral Award.

Since he started the Ph.D. program, Chenglin has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and presented more than 40 abstracts at leading national and international conferences. As a global health researcher, he has established collaborations with researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, Emory University, and collaborators in China, Ukraine, and Kenya. His current work also includes community engagements with providers and partners in community organizations such as the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Before UCLA, he received his Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health (MSW/MPH) from the University of Washington (Seattle).

Selected Publications: 

Hong, C., Flinn, R.E., Miyashita, A., John, S.A., Garth, G, & Holloway, I.W. (in press). Internalized homophobia and social well-being among Black sexual minority men with HIV: The mediating role of LGBT community connectedness and racial and sexual identity integration. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

Hong, C. (2023). Mpox on Reddit: a Thematic Analysis of Online Posts on Mpox on a Social Media Platform among Key Populations. Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 10.1007/s11524-023-00773-4. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-023-00773-4

Hong, C. (2023). Characterizing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on HIV PrEP care: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature. AIDS and behavior, 27(7), 2089–2102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-022-03941-w

Hong, C., Queiroz, A., & Hoskin, J. (2023). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, associated factors and coping strategies in people living with HIV: a scoping review. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 26(3), e26060. https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.26060

Hong, C., Hoskin, J., Berteau, L. K., Schamel, J. T., Wu, E. S. C., King, A. R., Randall, L. A., HBOU Study Team, Holloway, I. W., & Frew, P. M. (2023). Violence Victimization, Homelessness, and Severe Mental Illness Among People Who Use Opioids in Three U.S. Cities. Journal of interpersonal violence, 38(19-20), 11165–11185. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231179720

Hong, C., Ochoa, A. M., Wilson, B. D. M., Wu, E. S. C., Thomas, D., & Holloway, I. W. (2023). The associations between HIV stigma and mental health symptoms, life satisfaction, and quality of life among Black sexual minority men with HIV. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 32(6), 1693–1702. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-023-03342-z

Hong, C., Holloway, I. W., Graham, S. M., Simoni, J. M., Yu, F., Xue, H., Zhang, D., & Mi, G. (2023). Awareness of and Willingness to Use On-Demand HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men Using a Gay Social Networking App in China. AIDS patient care and STDs, 37(4), 155–158. https://doi.org/10.1089/apc.2023.0004

Hong, C., Holloway, I. W., Bednarczyk, R., Javanbakht, M., Shoptaw, S., & Gorbach, P. M. (2023). High Vaccine Confidence Is Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men Who Use Substances. LGBT health, 10(6), 480–485. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2022.0255

Hong, C. (2023) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in social work students: A scoping review and call for research and action, Social Work in Mental Health, 21:3, 329-346, DOI: 10.1080/15332985.2023.2196361

Hong, C., & Graff, N. R., Guthrie, B., Micheni, M., Chirro, O., Wahome, E., van der Elst, E., Sanders, E. J., Simoni, J. M., & Graham, S. M. (2023). The Effect of the Shikamana Peer-and-Provider Intervention on Depressive Symptoms, Alcohol Use, and Other Drug Use Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in Kenya. AIDS and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04027-x

Hong, C., Yu, F., Xue, H., Zhang, D., & Mi, G. (2022). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in China: Difference by HIV status. Journal of psychiatric research, 154, 198–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.07.028

Hong, C., Huh, D., Schnall, R., Garofalo, R., Kuhns, L. M., Bruce, J., Batey, D. S., Radix, A., Belkind, U., Hidalgo, M. A., Hirshfield, S., & Pearson, C. R. (2023). Changes in high-risk sexual behavior, HIV and other STI testing, and PrEP use during the COVID-19 pandemic in a longitudinal cohort of adolescent men who have sex with men 13 to 18 years old in the United States. AIDS and Behavior, 27(4), 1133–1139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-022-03850-y

Hong, C., Stephenson, R., Santos, G. M., Garner, A., Howell, S., & Holloway, I. (2022). Intimate Partner Violence Victimization During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among a Global Online Sample of Sexual Minority Men. Journal of family violence, 1–10. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00461-y

Hong, C., Yu, F., Xue, H., Zhang, D., & Mi, G. (2022). HIV Testing Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Implications for Promoting HIV Self-Testing Among Key Populations. AIDS patient care and STDs, 36(12), 451–457. https://doi.org/10.1089/apc.2022.0184

Hong, C., Abrams, L. S., & Holloway, I. W. (2022). Technology-Based Interventions to Promote the HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Care Continuum: Protocol for a Systematic Review. JMIR research protocols, 11(3), e33045. https://doi.org/10.2196/33045

Hong, C., Feinstein, B. A., Holloway, I. W., Yu, F., Huang, W., Sullivan, P. S., Siegler, A. J., & Mi, G. (2022). Differences in Sexual Behaviors, HIV Testing, and Willingness to Use PrEP between Gay and Bisexual Men Who Have Sex with Men in China. International Journal of Sexual Health, 0(0), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2022.2053922

Hong, C., Puttkammer, N., Riabokon, S., Germanovich, M., Shost, A., Parrish, C., Shapoval, A., & Dumchev, K. (2022). Patient-Reported Treatment Satisfaction and Quality of Life Among People Living with HIV Following the Introduction of Dolutegravir-Based ART Regimens in Ukraine. AIDS and Behavior, 26(4), 1056–1073. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03461-z

Hong, C., Horvath, K. J., Stephenson, R., Nelson, K. M., Petroll, A. E., Walsh, J. L., & John, S. A. (2022). PrEP Use and Persistence Among Young Sexual Minority Men 17-24 Years Old During the COVID-19 Pandemic. AIDS and Behavior, 26(3), 631–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03423-5

Latoya Small

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Latoya Small’s scholarship is informed by her work in clinical social work practice and community-based research.

Her research focuses on health disparities, specifically, the intersection of mental health, treatment adherence, and HIV among women and children in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. Her global research addresses the urgent need for theory-driven, empirically-informed, and sustainable psychosocial HIV treatment approaches for youth living with perinatally acquired HIV in South Africa.

In the U.S., Dr. Small examines how poverty-related stress, parenting, and mental health interact and relatedly impact adherence in HIV medical services among Black and Latina women in urban communities. An extension of her work includes mental health and discrimination facing transgender women of color.

Dr. Small takes a collaborative approach in her scholarship, recognizing that traditional intra-disciplinary boundaries can impede the development of effective and sustainable research interventions. Her work aims to produce accessible, evidence-informed interventions that bolster youth development and women’s health.

Hector Palencia

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Mr. Palencia graduated with a B.A. in English and a Religious Studies minor from the University of California, Irvine. From there he was granted an M.A. in Systematic Theology (with honors) from Berkley’s Graduate Theological Union, with another Masters degree in Social Welfare from U.C.L.A.

Mr. Palencia put his graduate studies to work in the field of gang resistance diversion programs, Mr. Palencia has numerous professional qualifications in addition he has presented on Social Welfare and Gangs, Criminalization of Homelessness, Working with Trauma in Youth, and Gang Round Table Discussions.

Mr. Palencia’s work history demonstrates a compassion borne out of his spiritual endeavors and a capacity for working with marginalized young offenders. He comes to UCLA from El Rancho unified where he served as one of the mental health liaison’s responsible for district wide mental health services which included coordinating services with partnering agencies as well as responding to crisis and working specifically with tier three students. For 4 years, he was with the East Whittier City School District overseeing middle school diversion programs, created partnerships with community agencies to meet needs not being addressed for students, and he became successful in writing numerous grants including the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant initiative. In his career, he has worked in hospice and as drug and alcohol counselor handling at-risk youth case loads.

 

 

David Cohen

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David Cohen studies psychoactive drug effects in the light of an irrational medicine-drug divide across which drugs move regularly: from proscribed to prescribed, and back. His qualitative and epidemiological studies in Canada, France, and the United States — on patients’ and professionals’ representations of drug effects, the expansion of drug markets to children, and mutations of drug knowledge within national cultures — question assumptions that psychoactive drugs’ properties determine their socio-legal status. This line of investigation parallels Cohen’s scrutiny of evidential claims regarding the efficacy of biological treatments for, and neuro-essentialist explanations of, psychological distress, misbehavior, and extreme states.

Cohen also studies harms of mental health treatments, and the deliberate spread of ignorance through the capture of scientific activities by corporate interests and reigning ideologies. Charting the rise and fall of schools of thought in mental health over time, he considers what this means for ethical care, informed consent, and trying to do no harm today. His comparative research on involuntary psychiatric detentions leads him to explore governments’ meager efforts to provide basic accountability for coercive care, the oldest mental health policy.

As a mental health practitioner, Cohen focused on withdrawal reactions from psychiatric drugs and person-centered methods to reduce or discontinue drug use. He proposed guidelines for therapists’ role in psychopharmacology as medications shifted from medical tools to consumer products. He designed the CriticalThinkRx Critical Curriculum on Psychotropic Medications for child welfare professionals, shown in a longitudinal controlled study to reduce prescriptions to children in foster care. Cohen has consulted with governments, research agencies, courts, media, religious institutions, professional and community groups, and individual practitioners, on reducing harms of psychotropic drug prescriptions, from institutional care to private practice.

Cohen has authored or co-authored over 120 articles and chapters. He edited Challenging the Therapeutic State (1990), Médicalisation et contrôle social (1996), Critical New Perspectives on ADHD (2006), and co-authored Guide critique des médicaments de l’âme (1995), Your Drug May Be Your Problem (1999/2007), and Mad Science: Psychiatric Coercion, Diagnosis, and Drugs (2015). He received awards for writing, research, teaching, mentoring, and advocacy.

From 1988 to 2000, Cohen taught at University of Montreal (where he directed the Health and Prevention Social Research Group focusing on the nascent social-determinants-of-health paradigm), and from 2000 to 2013, at Florida International University (where he was PhD Program Director and Interim Director of the School of Social Work). In 2012, he held the Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair to France. At UCLA Luskin, he held the Marjorie Crump Chair in Social Welfare from 2013-2018, served as Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development between 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)