I am a practicing clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). I also serve as Co-Director of the Asian American Research Center on Health (AsianARCH.org). The mission of my research program is to promote health equity by developing accessible interventions that can empower individuals and families to make informed health decisions and to take an active role in staying healthy. My current research program focuses on reducing tobacco-related and cancer health disparities through lifestyle interventions in diverse populations, and on advancing health equity in Asian Americans particularly among immigrants with limited English proficiency. Examples of my on-going research projects include developing and testing intervention approaches such as lay health worker outreach involving families and peers in multiple Asian American communities to promote smoking cessation, healthy eating and physical activity, interactive mobile patient educational tools in primary and oncology settings, and electronic health record based strategies to integrate tobacco treatment into cancer care.

Since 2000, I have been actively involved in research and clinical teaching providing both didactic training and supervision to predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees at UCSF. I currrently serve as Associate Director for a NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Training Fellowship on Substance Use Disorders Treatment and Services Research. My teaching mission is to tailor the training experience and the scope of the projects to each individual’s stage of career development. Many of my trainees are from ethnic minority groups underrepresented in the field of tobacco control or other health disciplines. Most of the trainees are also interested in conducting research targeting minority groups addressing the needs of California’s and the Nation’s diverse population. Establishing the next generation of research mentors is my favorite mission as an educator.