Yeon Jae Hwang (she/they) is a doctoral student at UCLA, Department of Social Welfare. As a South Korean, Yeon’s research interests focus on LGBTQ+ issues in East Asia, with an emphasis on topics such as social exclusion and group dynamics between LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ individuals.
Jianan Li (she/her) is an incoming first-year doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare of the Luskin School of Public Affairs. She received her Bachelor of Law in Social Work from Southwest Petroleum University and her Master of Social Work concentrating in Policy Practice and Aging from Columbia University. She has practiced fieldwork in a variety of settings including schools, communities, social work service centers, and government departments. The practical experience has led her to conduct research projects among different populations and to focus more on the aging population, especially on improving the well-being of disadvantaged older adults.
During her master’s degree, Jianan interned at the New York City Department for the Aging. There, she participated in several pilot research projects focused on older adults, working on exploring ways to improve older adults’ mental health by mitigating the stigma attached to mental health services among professionals and older adults. She also worked as a research assistant at the Columbia Population Research Center, where she contributed to interviews and data analysis for the New York City Longitudinal Survey of Wellbeing, a longitudinal research project dedicated to tracking economic and social well-being in New York City.
Her areas of interest include examining the factors affecting the quality of life of older adults with long-term care needs in different settings to improve the current care system, and understanding the effects of productive engagement in later life to enhance the health and well-being of older adults.
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
Chendi Zhang (she/her/hers) is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research interests include age-friendly public space, participation and community engagement, urban design, smart city and technologies, and Urban China.
Prior to pursuing her PhD, Chendi was a landscape designer at OLIN, Philadelphia, assisted in curating Penn-China Design Dialogue 2019, worked on Beautiful China – Reflections on Landscape Architecture in Contemporary China as an assistant editor and book designer, and started to share tutorials about landscape architecture and her experience as an international student in design and planning major as a social media influencer.
Chendi studied and worked in the field of landscape architecture for ten years, holding her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and bachelor’s degree of Science in Landscape Architecture from Beijing Forestry University. With her research concentration, practice experience, and design background, Chendi studies urban issues from a perspective of how planning and design processes can collaborate more tightly and efficiently to better respond to the demands of overlooked and misrepresented vulnerable groups and reduce spatial inequality in the built environment.
Website: chendizest.com
Merhawi Tesfa is an incoming first year doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He received his Bachelor of arts in African American Studies as well as his Masters of Social Work and a Masters of Public Policy from UCLA. He is a former McNair Research Scholar and has engaged in a variety of research around race and inequality through the Bunche Center, the Million Dollar Hoods policy team, and the Black Policy Project.
In his doctoral studies, Merhawi is interested in working with students from underrepresented groups to understand the barriers they face outside of the classroom that hinder their educational progress. He is also interested in how these barriers factor into their ability to progress from K-12 to higher education.
Merhawi is also currently serving as student regent-designate on the UC Board of Regents to represent the needs of students across the University of California system.
Keri Lintz is a third-year PhD student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare. Her research addresses structural disadvantage by examining the ways in which public policies shape early foundations for healthy lifetime outcomes. Broadly, she studies how social policies support families and attend to factors that drive disparities in early childhood.
Keri is keenly interested in the careful and purposeful application of causal inference methods to child and family policy and serves as the manager for the UCLA Practical Causal Inference Lab. She is currently engaged in studies evaluating the effects of policies and programs on family financial stability, early childhood mental health, and access to healthcare.
Keri draws on almost two decades of experience and expertise in research, public policy administration, and social service delivery. Her first professional experiences were as a child welfare consultant and crisis intervention specialist. Subsequently, she worked for state government administering five federal grant programs designed to foster child and family well-being. Before joining UCLA, she was the executive director of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy and The Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab at The University of Chicago where she gained a deep appreciation for the capacity of rigorous research to inform sound policy, programs and practice. In this role, she provided leadership in the implementation of large-scale field experiments and evaluation of promising programs dedicated to reducing social and economic inequality.
Stephanie Patton is an incoming first year doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She brings with her more than 10 years of practical social work experience in nonprofit administration and social policy. Prior to starting the PHD program at UCLA, she held positions with U.S. Soccer Federation, the American Red Cross, Michigan state Senator Jeff Irwin, and U.S. Senator Gary Peters. Most recently she served as a Project Manager for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, helping them develop a learning health network for hospitals to share best care practices and conduct innovative research for individuals with single ventricle heart disease.
Stephanie holds a BA in Sociology and English from DePauw University. She received her MSW summa cum laude from the University of Michigan with a concentration on children and families and a focus on social policy. She is also a certified Project Management Professional through the Project Management Institute and has earned certificates in quality improvement and data visualization.
Her research interests center on child development, child welfare, abuse and neglect prevention, community networks, poverty, and material hardship.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniepatton1/
Irene Valdovinos, LCSW, MPH is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research focuses on the contextual factors and social determinants associated with behavioral health outcomes such as substance use and substance use disorders. Driven by a commitment to addressing health disparities in underserved communities, Irene is currently expanding her methodological skills through training in Machine Learning to leverage predictive models within large health datasets.
Irene’s foundation as a mental health clinician in integrated care programs informs her focus on bridging gaps between research, policy, and social work practice. In her previous professional roles, she managed multiple workforce development and evaluation projects funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Substance Abuse Prevention and Control division, and other local-level sponsors. Through this work, she gained deep insights into the substance use service continuum, provider perspectives, and the complexities of program implementation and evaluation. Ultimately, Irene aims to advance the synthesis of clinical expertise with statistical learning to drive improvements in behavioral health services and enhance outcomes for individuals impacted by substance use disorders.
Juan J. Nunez is a doctoral student in Social Welfare at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public
Affairs. He has previously worked as a Data Analyst and Research Associate at WRMA, Inc., a
research firm dedicated to providing support to health and human services agencies. While at
WRMA, the two main projects he worked on are the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data
System (NCANDS) and the National Adult Maltreatment Reporting System (NAMRS). His
current research focuses on understanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child
maltreatment reporting, analyzing the applicability of machine learning techniques to predict
adult maltreatment, and identifying methods to strengthen community assistance to at-risk
communities (e.g., children, older adults, adults with disabilities, young adults experiencing
inadequate housing). His research informs policy makers and key stakeholders on the
development of prevention programs and on the use of innovative methodologies to identify
community and individual protective factors. He holds a MA in Sociology from Boston College,
where his research focused on analyzing the effects of religion on mental health among older
adults, and a BA in Sociology from the University of San Francisco.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jjnunez1
Qianyun is a third-year PhD student in Social Welfare. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Beijing Normal University and her master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Calgary. Her extensive fieldwork and education in community development span diverse contexts, including India, Korea, the Philippines, Canada, and China. These experiences have fueled her commitment to addressing social exclusion, ageism, racism, and migratory injustice through both action and research.
Qianyun’s research focuses on the intersection of aging and immigration, with a particular interest in enhancing the well-being of older immigrants using an intersectional approach. She aims to critically examine grief and bereavement among older Chinese immigrants as part of her work.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Qianyun volunteers at the Chinatown Service Center in Los Angeles, where she assists low-income older immigrants with social services and housing issues. She is passionate about community-based research and believes in the importance of community involvement in addressing social issues.
Her research also encompasses well-being issues among migrant workers and public health challenges within sexual minority communities. She has collaborated with interdisciplinary research teams from the University of Calgary, Tsinghua University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Project-China.
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Qianyun-Wang-3
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
3250 Public Affairs Building - Box 951656
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
The statements on this page represent the views of people affiliated with the Luskin School of Public Affairs and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of California, or UCLA or its Chancellor.
Posts and comments by individuals at UCLA on social media channels may not reflect the opinions or policies of UCLA, the University of California or the Luskin School, nor its benefactors and academic partners.