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.

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.

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.

Sicong (Summer) Sun

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Sicong “Summer” Sun is an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. 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 race, poverty, and health. Central to Dr. Sun’s work is investigating how racial/ethnic inequities in asset holding and financial capability 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, Social Service Review, Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 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., Huang, J., & Sherraden, M. (2025). The Long-Term Impacts of Child Development Accounts on Parental Educational Expectations and College Preparation. Social Service Review.

 

Sun, S., & Sinha, G. R. (2025). Financial Capability Profile of US Pandemic Stimulus Payment Non-Recipients: Implications for Financial Inclusion and Universal Basic Income. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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)

Hillary Peregrina

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Hillary Nicole Peregrina, MA, MSW (she/her/hers) is a doctoral student committed to using developmental perspectives to address mental health disparities among immigrant and refugee adolescents and emerging adults. 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/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 has previously published on various public health issues that impact Asian American communities across the lifespan including family social support for chronic illness 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., Bayog, M. L. G., Pagdilao, A., Bender, M. S., Doan, T., & Yoo, G. J. (2024). Older Chinese and Filipino American Immigrants with Type 2 Diabetes and their Adult Child: A Qualitative Dyadic Exploration of Family Support. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 39(2), 151–172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-024-09505-w

Park, M., Woo, B., Jung, H.-M., Jeong, E., Choi, Y., Takeuchi, D., & Peregrina, H. N. (2024). COVID-19, Racial Discrimination and Civic Engagement Among Filipino American and Korean American Young Adults. Emerging Adulthood, 12(2),236-251. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968231224098

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, 62(10), 345–358. 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 PhD candidate in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His research centers LGBTQ+ young people and explores the intersection of social processes with health outcomes. Specifically, Juan investigates the interplay between social connectedness, stigma, and mental health within LGBTQ+ communities in low- and middle-income countries.

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 and sexual health projects in the U.S., Kenya, Zambia, and the Dominican Republic. Juan’s previous professional experiences include working as a Research Associate for the UCLA Adolescent Trials Network and as a Crisis Worker for a national suicide hotline.

Throughout his doctoral training, Juan has continued to build his global health research agenda. His doctoral research has involved co-leading the launch of a national survey focused on LGBTQ+ youth mental health in both Peru and the Philippines. Juan is a recipient of the NIMHD T37 LEAD Global Training Fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, as well as the 2023 Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.

Juan is currently based in Lima, Peru, where he is conducting his dissertation fieldwork. His qualitative dissertation titled “Cuida Positivo: An Exploratory Study on Stigma, Mental Well-Being, and HIV Treatment Engagement Among Sexual and Gender Minority Young People Living with HIV in Peru” is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health as part of the Fogarty UCGHI GloCal Health Fellowship. He was also awarded the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, which supports his continued research with young people living with HIV in Loreto, a region of the Peruvian Amazon. These projects prioritize generating knowledge to improve community-based service provision and interventions that address the mental health and HIV care needs of these vulnerable populations.

Juan is a Mexican-American, first-generation college student. He 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.

Selected Publications:

Jauregui, J. C., Lewis, K. A., Moore, D. M., Ogunbajo, A., Odero, W., Wambaya, J., Onyango, D. P., Jadwin-Cakmak, L., Harper, G. W. (2025). “It kills the freedom or the spirit of people being who they are”: Impact of Sexuality-Based Stigma and Discrimination on the Lives of Gay and Bisexual Men in Kenya. Global Public Health, 20(1). doi: 10.1080/17441692.2025.2489713

Jauregui, J. C., Harper, G. W. (2025) LGBTQ+ Cultural Sensitivity Training for Mental Health Professionals in the United States. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 54, 1309-1315. doi: 10.1007/s10508-025-03132-3

Jauregui, J. C., Hong, C., Assaf, R. D., Cunningham, N. J., Krueger, E. A., Flynn, R., Holloway, I. W. (2024). Examining Factors Associated with Cannabis Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) and non-SGM Emerging Adults in California. LGBT Health. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2023.0050

León-Morris, F.D., Reyes-Diaz, E.M., Jauregui, J.C., Konda, K.A., Taylor, A.B., Jarrett, B.A., Lee, W.Y., Muñoz, G., & Nath, R. (2024). 2024 Perú national report on the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people. West Hollywood, California: The Trevor Project. Available at: https://thetrevorproject.org/survey-international/pe/2024/en/

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, 28(3), 424-451. doi: 10.1080/19359705.2023.2200375

Jauregui, J. C., Mwochi, C. R., Crawford, J., Jadwin-Cakmak, L., Okoth, C., Onyango, D. P., & Harper, G. W. (2021). Experiences of violence and mental health concerns among sexual and gender minority adults in western Kenya. LGBT Health, 8(7), 494-501. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2020.0495.