Kris (Pui Kwan) Ma
Assistant Professor, Family Medicine
University of Washington
CSDE Research Areas:
- Health of People and Populations
Dr. Kris Ma is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at University of Washington, Seattle. She studies primary care and behavioral health integration, health service disparities, dementia caregiving, Asian American mental health and cultural adaptations. The overall goal of her research is to improve equitable access and delivery of high-quality behavioral health and aging services in primary care, with an emphasis on racially and ethnically minoritized populations. As an Asian woman and immigrant, she has witnessed firsthand the harms caused by significant service gaps for marginalized individuals. Therefore, she is committed to using knowledge and science to build better systems of care that meet the needs of diverse and marginalized populations. She has two main lines of research. Her first line of research is the integration of behavioral health services in primary care, with the goal of increasing patient access to evidence-based interventions that are effective in the treatment of mental health, substance use, and medical conditions. She studies workforce, payment, and cultural barriers to integrating behavioral health in primary care. Her second line of research is health disparities in older adults of color, including multilingual Asian American immigrants. Using community engagement strategies, she examines the systemic, cultural, and linguistic barriers to care and design culturally responsive interventions to improve the management of chronic diseases, behavioral health, and dementia in Asian Americans.