Honors from APA, APHA and NYU Reflect Import of Nari Yoo’s Research
Dissertation study aims to harness technology to help immigrants with limited English proficiency overcome barriers to mental health services.
Hispanic and Asian Americans with serious mental illness are significantly less likely than their White peers to use mental health services. Obstacles to access are compounded for immigrants facing language barriers due to limited English proficiency (LEP). In her dissertation study, NYU Silver PhD candidate Nari Yoo is exploring the linguistic and cultural barriers LEP immigrants face in accessing mental health services and the role technology can play in bridging service gaps. In recognition of the importance of this research and the scientific rigor that she brings to it, Nari recently received honors from both the American Psychological Association (APA) and American Public Health Association (APHA) Public Health Social Work Section. In addition she was selected for the 2024-25 NYU Urban Doctoral Fellowship.
“I’m interested in how linguistically appropriate mental health services are implemented in the real world,” said Nari. “My dissertation aims to construct a comprehensive picture of the current mental health service provision landscape for LEP immigrants and explores telemental health as a potential solution, particularly for those used to digital platforms for transnational communication.” Nari, who is a Predoctoral Fellow at the NYU Constance and Martin Silver Center on Data Science and Social Equity (C+M Silver Center), will use computational science as well as traditional data analysis, a mystery shopper experiment, and qualitative interviews.
To further this research, the APA selected Nari as a recipient of a 2024 Dissertation Research Award. APA Chief Science Office Mitchell J. Prinstein wrote that the $5,000 award is intended to help offset the cost of Nari’s dissertation research, “which we recognize as a promising contribution to psychological science.”
Related to her dissertation research, Nari submitted the abstract “Structural Xenophobia and the Language Availability for Hispanic/Latino and Asian Immigrants In the Mental Health Treatment System” to the 2024 APHA Annual Meeting. Not only was the abstract accepted but it was also selected by the APHA’s Public Health Social Work section for its 2024 Student Paper Award. The award comes with a complimentary student registration for the annual meeting in Minneapolis.
Finally, NYU’s Urban Initiative selected Nari as a 2024-2025 Urban Doctoral Fellow. The highly competitive fellowship fosters collaboration and scholarly discourse among faculty and students across the University who are engaged in urban research. The Urban Doctoral Fellowship will support Nari's work in exploring how factors such as structural xenophobia, state-level policies, and local social and demographic features predict mental health service accessibility and overall mental health outcomes for ethnic minority populations.
Reflecting on her journey, Nari expressed gratitude for the support she has received at NYU Silver and the PhD program’s embrace of interdisciplinary approaches. “Silver’s PhD Program has been instrumental in enabling me to approach the issue of immigrant mental health and service accessibility through an interdisciplinary lens, incorporating data science, psychology, and public health. I’m particularly grateful to my mentor, Dr. Doris Chang, an expert in racial/ethnic minority mental health and a practicing clinical psychologist, who has provided mentorship that ensures my research remains meaningful and relevant to real-world applications.”
Nari also expressed appreciation to the C+M Silver Center and Dr. Marya Gwadz for their continuous support of her data science learning and work throughout her doctoral studies. She added, “I’m deeply thankful to NYU’s Dr. Victoria Stanhope, Dr. Rohini Pahwa, Rutgers’ Dr. Michael Park, and UW Seattle’s Dr. David Takeuchi for their significant contributions to the development of my doctoral studies and dissertation work. Their guidance has been crucial in my doctoral journey."