Archives: Affiliates

Aasli Abdi Nur, PhD, MPH, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford specializing in Computational Demography. She currently works on the Connecting Generations project with Professor Ridhi Kashyap, studying demographic changes and their implications for kinship and intergenerational overlap, care, and support. In addition to her departmental appointment, she is also a Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow at Nuffield College.

Aasli’s research uses computational and demographic methods explore two main areas of interest. The first focuses on the use individual-level modelling approaches to study gender, fertility, and family dynamics across the life course. The second examines epistemic inequalities in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge and their impact on demographic research.

Prior to joining Oxford, Aasli worked as a Research Scientist in the Institute for Disease Modelling at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Washington, where she served as a graduate fellow with the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology. Aasli holds an MPH from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Her work has been published in the Journal of Global Health, BMJ Global Health, Women and Birth, and the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.

Sameer Shah (he / him) is a John C. Garcia Professor and Assistant Professor of Climate Adaptation in the School of Environmental & Forest Sciences (SEFS) at the University of Washington. Dr. Shah holds expertise in the human dimensions of climate change vulnerability and adaptation. He aims to understand how systemic marginalization, and climate-related change and disasters interact to create and amplify uneven water, food, and energy insecurities for communities on the frontlines of climate change. In particular, his research develops theoretical, conceptual, and empirical analyses of the equity, justice, and sustainability outcomes of climate adaptation and disaster response at multiple scales. Through research in South/Southeast Asia, the contiguous U.S., and Puerto Rico, he and his collaborators seek to advance interventions that reduce the disproportionately larger climate risks experienced by marginalized groups, and to shape long-term policy strategies that transform the underlying systems that heighten these impacts. At SEFS, Dr. Shah directs the WATERS Research Collaborative (Water, Adaptation & Transformation: Equity, Resilience and Sustainability). He is also a co-founder of the SOLVER (Social Vulnerability and Resilience) Research Laboratory.

Callie Freitag is a mixed-methods policy researcher and demographer. Her work focuses on social policies related to aging, disability, and poverty in the United States. She has a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management from the University of Washington, where she also earned Graduate Certificates in Disability Studies and Demographic Methods.

Dr. Francisca (“Kika”) Santana studies the social and psychological processes underpinning conservation and adaptation behavior. Her research investigates topics such as the social nature of wildfire smoke adaptation decisions in the U.S. West, coral reef conservation behavior in Hawaiʻi, and coastal community resilience and climate adaptation in southeastern Louisiana. She draws on theories and approaches from conservation and social psychology, environmental sociology, and human geography, while using multiple methods, such as surveys and semi-structured interviews. Her work is often community-engaged, and aims to co-produce science in partnership with local and Indigenous communities. Dr. Santana uses she/her pronouns. She goes by her given name “Francisca” (pronounced fran-SIS-kah), and the nickname “Kika” (pronounced KEE-kah), a diminutive of Francisca from Mexican Spanish.

Hyun-Jun Kim’s primary research interests focus on the health and social inequities faced by disadvantaged older adults. His research examines the disparities in physical, mental and cognitive health and quality of life; the intersectionality of sexuality, gender, race, and ethnicity; and the role of social exclusion, social isolation and support networks as risk and protective factors. He aims to translate his findings into interventions designed to improve the health and well-being of historically and socially marginalized populations.

Kim has served as a project director and co-investigator on multiple landmark studies including Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study as well as Innovations in Dementia, Empowerment and Action (IDEA), both funded by National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Aging. He served as a multiple principal investigator on Care Network-IDEA, pilot-testing an intervention to improve the quality of life for LGBTQ older adults experiencing memory loss without a caregiver. Currently, he is researching variations in social isolation and social and kin relations among older adults by sexuality, gender, and race and ethnicity and how they are associated with cognitive health. He plans to investigate the interplay of social exclusion, stress and other health-promoting and adverse factors.

Kim is the director of the Health, Sexuality & Gender Research Center at the School of Social Work’s Goldsen Institute. He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, where he has received recognition for his contributions on aging and health research. He received his BA in social work from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea; MSW from Arizona State University; and PhD from University of Washington’s School of Social Work.

Anthony L. Bui, MD, MPH (he/him) is a board-certified general pediatrician and acting assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. He teaches and practices general pediatrics at Harborview Medical Center and is an investigator at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development.

As a physician and health services researcher, Dr. Bui is dedicated to tackling mental health disparities among children from immigrant and refugee families. His current work as a physician-investigator aims to understand and address the mental and behavioral healthcare barriers experienced by Vietnamese children of immigrant families. He has also led research studies on children’s healthcare spending, injury prevention and community safety, and racial equity.

The son of Vietnamese refugees, Dr. Bui is committed to caring for patients and families who are socially vulnerable, including those who are racial and ethnic minorities, refugees and immigrants, low-income, and those who speak languages other than English.

Dr. Bui obtained his B.A. in Economics and Public Health from UC Berkeley as a first-generation college student. He concurrently completed his M.P.H. in Global Health Metrics from UW and his public health metrics research fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Dr. Bui earned his M.D. from the David Geffen Medical School at UCLA, where he was a Geffen Scholar and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He completed his pediatric residency and chief residency at UW and Seattle Children’s Hospital, during which he received the Anne E. Dyson Child Advocacy Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and was a New Century Scholar through the Academic Pediatric Association. He is the recipient of the Abraham B. Bergman Prize for his exemplary care to pediatric patients and families at Harborview Medical Center and of the Richard P. Shugerman Award for his leadership abilities. He started his career as a strategy consultant with the Monitor Group (now Monitor Deloitte) working on healthcare and economic development projects in New York, Vietnam, and Kenya.

Alice Ellyson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine. She is also a faculty investigator in the Firearm Injury & Policy Research Program (FIPRP) at UW, and a faculty investigator in the Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. As a PhD trained economist, her research focuses on how policies, incentives, and infrastructure shape individual health and well-being. She primarily investigates patterns of interpersonal violence, especially gender-based violence, and health risk behaviors like alcohol and firearm use among youth and young adults. Her research lies at the intersection of health, incentives and decision-making, the law, and economic, social, and public policies. Much of her existing work studies structures of support for victim-survivors who experience gender-based violence (e.g., Title IX reporting structures at institutions of higher education and the civil legal system protection order process) and how health risk behaviors contribute to interpersonal harm. The goal of her research program is to limit the negative consequences of health risk behaviors and reduce violence by providing rigorous empirical research to inform both policy and practice.

Giovanni’s research is focused on racial income inequality in the United States. His work leverages the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics database in the Northwest Federal Statistical Research Data Center to analyze how firm wage premia and local labor market racial segregation contribute to the variation in income across racial groups. Giovanni will also soon be affiliated with the UW School of Public Health and the Veterans’ Affairs Administration as a Health Services Research and Development Postdoctoral Scholar. In his research at the VA, he is studying the impact of various programs that have been effective at dramatically reducing Veteran homelessness over the last decade.