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 first-year doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His research interests are focused around addressing LGBTQ+ mental health inequities both in the U.S. and low- and middle-income countries, specifically by targeting LGBTQ+ minority stressors through structural-level interventions. Juan is passionate about conducting research using a community-based participatory research approach to ensure that decision-making power is shared with community members throughout the research process. 

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.

Selected Publications: 

Jauregui, J. C., Rucah, C., Crawford, J., Jadwin-Cakmak, L., Concehla, C., Onyango, D. P., Harper, G. W. (In Press). Experiences of Violence and Mental Health Concerns among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults in Western Kenya. LGBT Health.

Loeb, T. , Jauregui, J. C., Wyatt, G. E., Chin, D., Hamilton, A., Zhang, M., Holloway, I. W., Patron, D. J. (2021). Does Gender Role Conflict Moderate the Relationship between Lifetime Adversity and HIV Stigma in a Community Sample of HIV-Seropositive Black Men? Journal of Men and Masculinities. 

Chenglin Hong

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Chenglin Hong is a second-year Ph.D. student in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He earned his MSW/MPH dual-degree from the School of Social Work and Department of Global Health at the University of Washington, Seattle (UW).

Chenglin’s research focuses on health disparities among sexual and gender minorities (SGM). He is particularly interested in designing, testing, and implementing technology-based interventions (TBIs) to promote sexual and mental health in the SGM populations. His current work with Dr. Ian Holloway aims to develop Machine Learning models to understand sexual risk behaviors and substance abuse among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and apply them in HIV-related behavioral research. His long-term goal is to develop effective, evidence-based TBIs to reduce risks and promote pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.

Chenglin has been working with multidisciplinary research centers and teams from the Emory University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, and the University of Washington on various HIV prevention research projects, and his work has been published on AIDS and Behaviors, Journal of Medical Internet Research, etc.

Selected Publication:

Hong, C., Horvath, K. J., Stephenson, R., Nelson, K. M., Petroll, A. E., Walsh, J. L., & John, S. A. (2021). PrEP Use and Persistence Among Young Sexual Minority Men 17–24 Years Old During the COVID-19 Pandemic. AIDS and Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03423-5

Hong, C., Puttkammer, N., Riabokon, S., Germanovich, M., Shost, A., Parrish, C., Shapoval, A., & Dumchev, K. (2021). 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. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03461-z

Ovalle, A., Goldstein, O., Kachuee, M., Wu, E. S. C., Hong, C., Holloway, I. W., & Sarrafzadeh, M. (2021). Leveraging Social Media Activity and Machine Learning for HIV and Substance Abuse Risk Assessment: Development and Validation Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(4), e22042. https://doi.org/10.2196/22042

Robles, G., Hong, C., Yu, M., & Starks, T. J. (2021). Intersecting Communities and PrEP Uptake among US-based Latinx Sexual Minority Men. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-01154-w

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

Santos, G.M., Hong, C., Wilson, N., Nutor, J. J., Harris, O., Garner, A., Holloway, I., Ayala, G., & Howell, S. (2022). Persistent disparities in COVID-19-associated impacts on HIV prevention and care among a global sample of sexual and gender minority individuals. Global Public Health, 0(0), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2022.2063362

Wang, L., Hong, C., Simoni, J. M., He, N., Li, C., Chen, L., & Wong, F. (2022). Correlates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. Journal of Global Health Reports, 6, e2022020. https://doi.org/10.29392/001c.33816

Beltran, R. M., Holloway, I. W., Hong, C., Miyashita, A., Cordero, L., Wu, E., Burris, K., & Frew, P. M. (2022). Social Determinants of Disease: HIV and COVID-19 Experiences. Current HIV/AIDS Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-021-00595-6

 

Brian Keum

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Brian TaeHyuk Keum, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Broadly, Dr. Keum’s research focuses on reducing health and mental health disparities among marginalized and oppressed individuals and communities (specific areas listed below). As a social justice-oriented scientist-practitioner, Dr. Keum also draws from his clinical experience to conduct research that improves mental health practice and informs advocacy. He has been providing therapy to a diverse community- and college-based clientele for the past 8 years. He received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Maryland-College Park and completed his American Psychological Association-Accredited Doctoral Health Service Psychology Internship at the University of Maryland Counseling Center. Prior to his doctoral education, he earned his M.A. in Mental Health Counseling from Columbia University Teachers College and a B.S. in Anatomy and Cell Biology from McGill University.

Please visit his ResearchGate or Google Scholar for full list of publications.

Lab website: The Health, Identities, Inequality, and Technology (HI2T) Lab

  • Online racism

Using an interdisciplinary framework drawing from theories of racism, online communication, human-computer interactions, and violence, Dr. Keum’s primary research examines the biopsychosocial impact of online racism and racial violence in today’s digital society. He is particularly interested in exploring the mental health implications (e.g., loneliness, stress), risky behavioral outcomes (e.g., substance abuse, suicidal ideation), and negative social perceptual/worldview shifts linked to online racism among developmentally vulnerable and digitally-connected (e.g., Gen Z) youths and emerging adults of color. He ultimately aims to develop practical interdisciplinary coping interventions, digital tools, and prevention strategies for individuals, families, and communities, to mitigate the harmful costs of online racism, as well as promote a critical digital culture of anti-racism and advocacy. He is also working to expand his framework to examine other online discrimination experiences such as online sexism, and online heterosexism.

 

  • Intersectionality and Asian American mental health

Dr. Keum’s research also focuses on the mental health of Asian individuals in the United States using an intersectional lens. Specifically, he examines body image issues and gendered racism as risk factors for mental health issues and risky behaviors (e.g., suicidal ideation, risky alcohol use) among Asian men and women. He also examines the socialization process of Asian individuals (e.g., gendered racial socialization) in the United States to uncover ways to mitigate adversities and adjustment difficulties, and reinforce protective and flourishing experiences at the individual and institutional levels. He employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods to address these research aims.

 

  • Multicultural and social justice-oriented psychotherapy science

Additionally, Dr. Keum also conducts clinically-informed research on multicultural and social justice issues in clinician competence (e.g., therapist and agency effects on therapy outcomes for racial/ethnic minority and international individuals) and training (e.g., training program and peer norms related to social justice attitudes and advocacy). To elucidate factors contributing to disparities in therapy for minority clients, he focuses on understanding what leads to variability in therapist and agency effectiveness, as well as factors that promote the development of social justice attitude and advocacy action among trainees. In doing so, he employs dyadic (e.g., Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, Truth and Bias Model) and group level (e.g., Multi-level Modeling) analyses that better represent real world therapy and training dynamics compared to individual-level analyses.

 

  • Culturally valid and informed psychometrics

Last, Dr. Keum evaluates existing psychological measures/assessments for use with culturally-diverse populations and develops new measures that are culturally-informed and psychometrically rigorous. He focuses particularly on assessing discrimination and oppression experiences that require greater empirical attention. He has expertise in cutting-edge psychometric techniques (e.g., measurement invariance, bifactor analysis) to evaluate the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural utility of psychological measures.

Dr. Keum’s research has been funded and recognized by multiple divisions (General Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race; Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy; Advancement of Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Foundation, the Asian American Psychological Association, Society for Psychotherapy Research, Active Minds, and the highly competitive Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship from the Canadian government. Recently, Dr. Keum has been awarded a three-year grant ($~770,000) from the Tobacco Disease-Related Research Program to study links between online racism and high rates of smoking among Black young adults. The grant will also support Keum’s partnership with the California Youth Advocacy Network to conduct community- and campus-based anti-racism advocacy programs.

He is the recipient of the Rising Star Award given by the National Multicultural Conference and Summit which honors the efforts and significant contributions of early career psychologists in multicultural research, teaching, advocacy, policy, and/or clinical care; the 2022 Researcher of the Year Award given by the American Psychological Association’s Division 51 Society for Men and Masculinities; and the 2022 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship on Race and Ethnicity Award given by the Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity of the American Psychological Association’s Division 17 Society For Counseling Psychology. He has published widely, including in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Psychology of Men and Masculinity, Asian American Journal of Psychology, Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, Computers in Human Behavior, and Psychology of Violence. He currently serves on the editorial board for Psychology of Violence, The counseling Psychologist, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychology of Men & Masculinities, Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Frontiers in Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Review.

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

*Denotes student co-authors

Keum, B.T. & *Wong, M.J., *Salim-Eissa, R. (in press). Gendered racial microaggressions, internalized racism, and suicidal ideation among Asian American women. International Journal of Social Psychiatry

 

Keum, B.T., & Li, X. (in press). Online Racism, Rumination, and Vigilance: Impact on Distress, Loneliness, and Alcohol Use.The Counseling Psychologist

 

Keum, B. T., Li, X., Cheng, H.-L., & *Sappington, R. T. (2022). Substance use risk among Asian American men: The role of gendered racism, internalization of western muscularity ideals, interpersonal and body shame, and drive for muscularity. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000368

 

Keum, B.T. & *Ahn, L.H. (2021). Impact of Online Racism on Psychological Distress and Alcohol Use: Test of Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Silence about Race as Moderators. Computers in Human Behaviors. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106773

 

Keum, B.T., & Choi, A.Y. (2021). Gendered Racism, Interpersonal Shame, Depressive Symptoms, and Alcohol Use among Asian American Men. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000505

 

*Ahn, L. H., Keum, B. T., *Meizys, G. M., *Choudry, A., *Gomes, M. A., & Wang, L. (2021). Second-generation Asian American women’s gendered racial socialization. Journal of Counseling Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000575

 

Keum, B.T., & *Hearns, M. (2021). Online Gaming and Racism: Impact on Psychological Distress Across

Black, Asian, and Latinx Emerging Adults. Games and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211039082

 

Keum, B.T., & Cano, M.A. (2021). Online Racism, Psychological Distress, and Alcohol Use among Racial

Minority Women and Men: A Multi-group Mediation Analysis. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 91(4), 524–530. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000553

 

Keum, B.T., Bartholomew, T.T., *Robbins, K.A., Perez-Rojas, A.E., Lockard, A.J., Kivlighan Jr., D.M., *Kang, E., *Joy, E.E., *Aguiniga, S.M. (in press). Therapist and Counseling Center Effects on International Students’ Counseling Outcome: A Mixed Methods Study. Journal of Counseling Psychology

 

Keum, B.T. *Kase, C.A., *Sharma, R.,* Yee, S.E., O’Connor, S., *Bansal, P., & *Yang, N.Y. (in press). Collective Program Social Justice Identity and Perceived Norms on Promoting Student Advocacy. The Counseling Psychologist

 

Cano, M. A., Schwartz, S. J., MacKinnon, D. P., Keum, B.T., Prado, G., Marsiglia, F. F., Salas-Wright, C. P., Cobb, C., Garcini, L. M., De La Rosa, M., Sánchez, M., Rahman, A., Acosta, L., Roncancio, A. M., & de Dios, M. A. (2020). Exposure to ethnic discrimination in social media and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Hispanic emerging adults: Examining the moderating role of gender. Journal of Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23050

 

Keum, B.T., & Wang, L. (2020). Supervision and Psychotherapy Process and Outcome: A Meta-analytic Review. Translational Issues in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000272

 

Keum, B.T., Morales, K., Kivlighan Jr., Hill, C.E., & Gelso, C.J. (2020). Do Therapists Improve in their Ability to Assess Clients’ Satisfaction? A Truth and Bias Model. Journal of Counseling Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000525

 

Keum, B.T., & Miller, M.J. (2020). Social Justice Interdependence among Students in Counseling Psychology Training Programs: Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model of Social Justice Attitudes, Training Program Norms, Advocacy Intentions, and Peer Relationship. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67(2), 141–155. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000390

 

Keum, B.T. & Miller, M.J. (2018). Measurement Invariance of the Perceived Online Racism Scale across Age and Gender. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 12(3), 3. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2018-3-3

Keum, B. T. (2018). Conceptual application of the group actor–partner interdependence model for person–group psychological research. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 4(4), 340–348. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000180 *Special issue: Quantitative Methods

 

Keum, B.T., Brady, J., Sharma, R., Lu, Y., Kim, Y., & Thai, C. (2018). Gendered Racial Microaggressions Scale for Asian American Women: Development and Initial Validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(5), 571-585.https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000305

 

Keum, B.T., Hill, C.E., Kivlighan Jr., D.M., & Lu, Y. (2018). Group- and Individual-Level Self-Stigma Reductions in Promoting Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes among College Students in Undergraduate Helping Skills Courses. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(5), Oct 2018, 661-668. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000283

Keum, B.T. & Miller, M.J. (2018). Racism on the Internet: Conceptualization and Recommendations for Research. Psychology of Violence, 8(6), 782 – 791. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000201 *Special issue: Racism, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Privilege, and Violence: Advancing Science to Inform Practice and Policy

Keum, B.T., Thai, C.J., Truong, N.N., Ahn, H.L., & Lu, Y. (2018). Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire Community Version Brief Across Race and Gender. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17542863.2018.1436578

Keum, B.T., Miller, M.J., Lee, M., & Chen, G.A. (2018). Color-blind Racial Attitudes Scale for Asian Americans: Testing the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Generational Status. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9(2), 149-157. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000100

Keum, B.T., Miller, M.J., & Inkelas, K.K. (2018). Testing the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the PHQ-9 Across Racially Diverse U.S. College Students. Psychological Assessment, 30(8), 1096-1106. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000550

Morales, K., Keum, B.T., Kivlighan Jr., D.M., Hill, C.E., & Gelso, C.J. (2018). Therapist Effects Due to Client Racial/Ethnic Status when Examining Linear Growth for Client-and Therapist-Rated Working Alliance and Real Relationship. Psychotherapy, 55(1), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000135

Keum, B.T. (2017). Qualitative Examination on the Influences of the Internet on Racism and its Online Manifestation.International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 7(3), 13-23. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJCBPL.2017070102

Wong, S., Keum, B.T., Caffarel, D., Srinivasan, R., Morshedian, N., Capodilupo, C., & Brewster, M.E. (2017). Exploring the conceptualization of body image in Asian American women: Negotiating cultural standards of beauty, cultural identity, and the implications for eating disorder risk. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 8(4), 296-307. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000234* Special issue: Qualitative Methods in Asian American Psychology

Keum, B.T., & Miller, M.J. (2017). Racism in Digital Era: Development and Initial Validation of the Perceived Online Racism Scale (PORS v1.0). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(3), 310-324. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000205

Keum, B.T. (2016). Asian American Men’s Internalization of Western Media Appearance Ideals, Appearance Comparison, and Acculturative Stress. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 7(4), 256-264. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000057

Keum, B.T., Wong, S., DeBlaere, C. & Brewster, M.E. (2015). Body Image and Asian American Men: Examination of the Drive for Muscularity Scale. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 16(3), 284 – 293. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038180

Amelia C. Mueller-Williams

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Amelia C. Mueller-Williams is a sixth-year PhD student in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Broadly, her research interest areas incorporate using systems approaches to understand population health outcomes and the socio-environmental determinants of social inequalities in health/mental health. She is particularly interested in how knowledge generated using a systems approach can inform multi-level prevention efforts.  Amelia’s work at UCLA focuses specifically on using population-level data to investigate social determinants of suicide, alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, and how exposures relate to racial/ethnic disparities across the lifespan with an emphasis on American Indian/Alaska Native populations. During her Doctoral education, she has also engaged in teaching and service; she was a PhD student representative to the department for two years and has served as an instructor or teaching assistant for a diverse set of courses at undergraduate and graduate levels.  

Before entering the PhD program, Amelia worked doing community-based suicide and substance abuse prevention research with American Indian communities. She received her Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) with concentrations in interpersonal practice and mental health, and health behavior and health education. She completed a double major in Anthropology and Biology at Macalester College (St. Paul, MN). While at UCLA, Amelia has received support from the Luskin School Fellowship, the Graduate Research Mentorship Program, the Graduate Summer Research Program, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Berkeley Workshop on Formal Demography, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research’s Summer Program in Quantitative Methods for Social Research. 

Ryan Dougherty

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Ryan J. Dougherty’s research explores how political and social systems shape the ways that mental health services are delivered and experienced. Broadly, he aims to understand how governments can most ethically respond to the inequities experienced by people labeled with a serious mental illness, such as poverty, homelessness, and mass incarceration. To do so, Ryan explores ethical dilemmas that emerge in service delivery, particularly between providers and clients, and how broader political discourses shape decision-making in these scenarios. His dissertation examines how coercion in involuntary outpatient commitment is negotiated between treatment providers, the courts, and clients in relation to delivering psychiatric medications.

Ryan does applied research to impact mental health scholarship, policy, and practice. He specializes in qualitative methods and serves as a lead ethnographer for the UCLA Center for Social Medicine and Humanities, an interdisciplinary research team that works in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. He also serves as a qualitative researcher for the Recovery-Oriented Care Collaborative, a practice-based research network that connects researchers and providers to produce research relevant to pressing issues in services. He is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research and draws from theories in sociology, anthropology, and disability and mad studies. Ryan aims to pursue his interests in the philosophy of science and qualitative methodologies to support social workers in addressing complex social problems.

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.