About

I am a doctoral student in Social Work at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Link). My research interests primarily lie in the areas of behavioral health, particularly stigma reduction and resilience building in social work settings and within public health establishments in relation to HIV/AIDS.

Before I Joined the U of M, I had worked for several child development and humanitarian agencies in S.Korea alongside Rwanda (2016-2018), South Sudan (2012-2013), and the United Kingdom (2011-2012). ChildFund Korea was my previous employer, and I served as a research project manager, program coordinator, and country director (Rwanda).

Research Interest Keywords

Stigma; Health equity; HIV; Social determinants of health; Ethnographic field Work; Mixed methods; Computational Social Science

Education

M.A Conflict, Security and Development, University of London, King’s College.
B.Sc. Statistics and Data Science, Korea National Open University.
B.A. English/Political Science, Korea University.

Awards

• University Chancellor’s Award on Big Data Analytics, Korea National Open University. 2020.
• Chevening Scholarship, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, UK. 2010.

Grants

• Diversity Fellowship ($5,330), Institute for Social Research & Data Innovation. 2024.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant ($250,000), Consultant, Project: Creating data visualizations to understand the impact of structural racism on anti-Asian hate crime during COVID-19 and to mitigate its effects (PI: Sruthi Chandrasekaran) 2023.
• Graduate Research Development Grant ($1,070), Minnesota Population Center. 2022.

Service

2024 - 2026 Council Member, Minnesota Council for HIV/AIDS Care and Prevention (Needs Assessment & Evaluation Committee)