Meet the HSAED Lab
Loretta Hsueh, PhD
Dr. Loretta Hsueh (pronounced SHAY) started the HSAED Lab in 2022. She is committed to protecting and improving the health of immigrants and people of color through research and community partnerships. Dr. Hsueh also works with healthcare systems to answer questions whose answers can improve the practice of healthcare for marginalized groups. She collaborates and publishes with colleagues across psychology, medicine, public health, and health systems science. Her research follows two lines of questioning.
1. What accounts for the disproportionate burden of chronic disease observed among immigrants and people of color, and what can be done to prevent it? Her work to understand the factors that put immigrants and people of color at higher risk of developing cardiometabolic conditions examines multi-level factors ranging from the individual (e.g.,acculturation) to the system (e.g., care access). She also examines opportunities for healthcare systems to intervene on health disparities and work to identify care gaps to target in future interventions.
2. How do immigrants and people of color experience healthcare, and how do these experiences impact disease progression? Her work on the healthcare experiences of immigrants and people of color focuses on psychosocial factors in care. In this research line, she has examined how discrimination in healthcare (e.g., among sexual minority men of color, immigrants with diabetes) and health technology (e.g., telemedicine) might exacerbate health disparities.
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Additional research interests: Limited English proficiency, stereotypes, stigma/discrimination,interpersonal processes of care, patient-provider communication, behavioral health, healthcare delivery, prevention and intervention, implementation science, diversity and training issues in clinical psychology.
Graduate Students
Maya Lee, MA
Maya Lee is a second-year in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her current work uses large, epidemiological and community-level data to ask questions about how racially/ethnically minoritized and immigrant populations navigate the healthcare system, and to investigate outcomes at the intersection of physical and mental health. Her research interests and activism are influenced by her prior work in primary care, mental healthcare, and community-facing non-profit spaces. Ultimately, her goal is to inform interventions and practices in order to enhance equitable health and mental health outcomes for minoritized groups at the system, community, clinical, and individual levels. Maya’s master’s thesis used a nationally representative dataset (NHANES) to examine the relationship between nativity status (whether someone is born inside or outside of the US) and the use of different types of mental health treatments among Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) and Latine populations.
Clare Wongwai, BA
Clare Wongwai is a first-year student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Clare's current work explores barriers and facilitators to accessing mental health care to improve health outcomes for immigrant communities and youth and families of color. Clare's previous interdisciplinary research experiences exploring racial/ethnic socialization, cultural identity, mindfulness-based interventions, and perinatal health inform their current research questions and methods. The overarching goal of Clare's research is to minimize mental health care disparities through increasing access, utilization, and retention of culturally responsive and community-oriented services and treatments. With these values in mind, Clare ultimately hopes to promote the health and wellbeing of historically marginalized and underserved communities.
Viviana Uribe, BA
Viviana Uribe is a second-year student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work takes a two-pronged approach to ask questions about increasing access to mental health care for Black and Brown communities. The first approach is through analysis of large epidemiological datasets; the second is through community-based research. Her research questions are informed by her experiences as a Chicago resident and witnessing the mental health disparities in the Black and Brown communities. The ultimate goal of her research is to increase mental health care accessibility for underserved communities through innovative, culturally-adapted solutions, leveraging the strengths and knowledge of these communities along the way. For her first-year project, Viviana used a nationally representative dataset (National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey [NHANES]) to determine the association of WIC enrollment with mental health care engagement. Concurrently, she is working on a master’s thesis proposal on the relationship between having a primary care provider and visits with a mental health professional within the past 12 months and the potentially moderating role of racial and ethnic identity.
Post-Baccalaureate RA
Rose Flanigan, BS
Rose Flanigan is a Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago with a focus on disability justice, psychology, and health equity. She has a background in international development, including four years working on sustainable development initiatives in the rural foothills of Nepal. As a Gilman and LASURI Scholar, Rose has contributed to various research projects with organizations such as ADOPT, CASVP, HSAED Lab, Newberry Library, PRIDE, UIC DHD, and Vitoux. Rose is committed to making healthcare more equitable and accessible, guided by the principle: "Nothing about us without us."
Portfolio: https://roseflanigan.com/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rflan2
Graduate Volunteer RA
Olivia Shen
Olivia Shen is a first-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student specializing in Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health. Passionate about addressing systemic inequities, her work leverages advanced statistical methods and predictive modeling to analyze large epidemiological datasets, with a focus on mental health treatment accessibility among immigrant communities. At the intersection of health equity, chronic disease epidemiology, and healthcare access, Olivia’s research seeks to uncover disparities in disease burden and risk factors across diverse populations. Her background in cardiology and health disparities research informs her multidimensional approach, blending clinical insights with public health frameworks to identify barriers to care. Driven by a commitment to actionable solutions, Olivia aims to translate data into policies and interventions that dismantle structural inequities. Her recent work, utilizing nationally representative NHANES data, examines mental health disparities among non-U.S.-born immigrants, shedding light on systemic gaps in care access. By collaborating with policymakers and community stakeholders, she strives to bridge the divide between research and real-world impact, ensuring marginalized populations are centered in public health innovation.
Undergraduate Volunteer RAs
Breanna William
Breanna Williams, a third-year Psychology major with minors in Black Studies and Global Asian Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, focuses her research on integrating psychosocial and cultural aspects to address racial biases in neuropsychological testing and the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in clinical neuropsychology. As a Black and Asian woman, she aims to improve mental health care access for Black and Asian communities by reducing stigmas and examining how social oppression affects cognitive and physical development. Breanna also serves as co-chair of the Global Asian Studies Student Advisory Board, promoting ethnic studies and student activism.
Arely Meza
Arely Meza, a third-year undergraduate student majoring in General Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago, has a focus on the etiology and prevention of psychiatric disorders in addition to an interest in examining disparities in mental health care influenced by her own life experiences growing in the far southeast side of Chicago. She has a particular interest in investigating anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and eating disorders, particularly among underrepresented communities, looking into how different factors contribute to the development of these disorders. Arely also serves as the secretary of the Latinx Psychology Alliance (LPA), whose mission is to inspire and assist Latinx students studying psychology by providing opportunities and resources through events and student-led discussions in addition to promoting mental health awareness.
Lab Alumni
Natalie Fick, BS
Master's in Social Work at The University of Chicago