Faculty Global Health Research Across UCLA
Faculty Global Health Research Across UCLA
The Global Health Program is pleased to acknowledge other great work occurring across UCLA; we invite you to read the faculty profiles below to learn more.
Dr. Wei-Ti Chen: HIV care and stigma reduction
Wei-Ti Chen, RN, CNM, PhD, FAAN, is Professor and Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Chair at the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing. A nurse scientist and certified nurse-midwife, she leads an internationally recognized research program focused on HIV care, maternity health, and stigma reduction through culturally responsive interventions.
Dr. Chen’s work centers on adapting self- and family-management strategies for Asian and Pacific Islander communities affected by HIV and chronic conditions. She has published more than 140 empirical papers on stigma, self-management, and health disparities. As principal investigator on multiple NIH-funded grants, she directs studies across Indonesia, Thailand, China, and the United States. These projects include interventions to reduce HIV-related stigma among Indonesians, exploration of Buddhist-informed approaches to stigma reduction in Thailand, investigations of self- and family-management among HIV-positive Asian and Pacific Americans, and research on self-management in Chinese women living with HIV in Shanghai and Beijing.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Chen co-developed interventions to help parents with HIV disclose their diagnosis to their children. Her work has advanced understanding of antiretroviral adherence, stigma reduction, and mental health among underserved groups worldwide. She was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame (2023) and received the AONL Equity-Minded Nurse Leadership Award (2024).
Dr. David Gere: Harnessing the arts to advance global health
David Gere, PhD, is the founding director of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center and is a professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, where he teaches courses in arts activism. His extensive writing and global curatorial projects address arts-based public health interventions and projects. Through the UCLA Art & Global Health Center, Gere and his students engage local and global communities, from the UCLA Sex Squad’s entertainment-education performances for Los Angeles high schools to the Through Positive Eyes HIV-positive photo-storytelling project in cities around the world.
As director of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center, Gere evaluates programs that leverage storytelling, humor, and self-reflection to critically examine and, ultimately, challenge the taboos associated with topics such as sex education, HIV/AIDS, mental health, and healthcare utilization.
Select publications include:
- Sex Squad: Engaging Humour to Reinvigorate Sexual Health Education. Sex Education.
- Aprendiendo de La Vida (Learning from Life): Development of a Radionovela to Promote Preventive Health Care Utilization among Indigenous Farmworkers from Mexico Living in California. Journal of Medical Humanities.
- How to Make Dances in an Epidemic. University of Wisconsin Press.
- Looking Out: Perspectives on Dance and Criticism in a Multicultural World. Macmillan Pub Co.
- Taken by Surprise: A Dance Improvisation Reader. Wesleyan University Press.