Endowed Academic Chair in Social Work (Health) and Professor
Contact Information
Email: hlee94@ua.edu
Office: Little Hall 2024
Phone: (205) 348-6553
Areas of Interest and Expertise
- Health Disparities
- Technology-Driven Intervention (AI, VR/AR, Sensor, and App)
- Mental Health and Substance Use
- Dissemination and Implementation Science
- Immigration and Health Care
- Rural Health
Education
- PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
- MSW., University of California, Los Angeles
- MSG, University of Southern California
- MA, Seoul National University
- BA, Seoul National University
Bio
Dr. Hee Yun Lee is a Professor and Endowed Academic Chair on Social Work and Health at the University of Alabama School of Social Work. She previously served as the Inaugural and founding Associate Dean for Research for the University of Alabama School of Social work from 2018-2022. Additionally, she held positions of Director of Research at the School of Social Work with the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, from 2014-2017.
Her areas of scholarship, funding, and research interest include health disparities, mental health and substance use, behavioral health intervention, and mobile health technology with a focus on underserved rural and immigrant populations. With 17 years of experience in clinical trials of health behavior change interventions, she has developed seven different types of health literacy and prevention apps combined with AI and wearable devices to promote positive health behavior. She is currently working on six federally funded research projects with interdisciplinary research teams at the University of Alabama. She is also active in global health research and has several research investigations that specifically focus on health disparity issues among marginalized groups globally including Korea, India, and Vietnam.
Dr. Lee was awarded the prestigious Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor Award in 2022 based on her HRSA-funded research project that promoted COVID 19 vaccination in the rural Black Belt region of Alabama. Other selected accolades include the University of Alabama President’s Faculty Research Award (2022), Social Work Faculty of the Year (2022), and Head Over Heels Women’s Leadership Award (2021). She was recently elected as Board of the Directors at large of the Society of Social Work Research.
Her research findings have been used to develop evidence-based health programs and policies including Healthy People 2030 and she provides numerous presentations at national and international conferences.
Selected Publications
Lee, H. Y., Yoon, Y. J., Choi, Y. J., & Ham, Y-H. (In press). Factors Associated with Korean American Women’s Health-Related Internet Use: Findings from Andersen’s Behavioral Model. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Lee, H. Y., Eyer, J. C., Luo. Y., Jeong, H., Chapman, S., Hudnall, M. (In press). The role of social determinants of health on opioid literacy in rural Alabamians. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services
Lee, H.Y., Daniel, C.L., Wang, K., McLendon, L., & Coyne-Beasley, T. (2023). HPV vaccination among college students in the South: The role of HPV knowledge on vaccine initiation and completion. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 24(6), 2149–2156.
Lee, H.Y., Hao, Z. & Choi, E.Y. (2023). Depression among Korean American Immigrants Living in Rural Alabama: Use of Social Determinants of Health Framework. Ethnicity & Health, 17, 1-14.
Lee, H. Y., Kois, L., Wang, K., Won, C. R., Han, A., & Allen, R. S. (2023). Correlations between social determinants of health and technology access among rural African American Alabamians. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 34(1), 21-34.
Lee, H.Y., Luo, Y., Chou, C., Lee, M.H., & Bennett, M. (2023). Associated factors with colorectal cancer screening awareness in the Black Belt region of Alabama: A comparison among three types of colorectal cancer screening. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 16(1),
Lee, H. Y., Luo, Y., Won, C.R., Daniel, C., & Coyne-Beasley, T. (2023). HPV and HPV vaccine awareness among African Americans in the Black Belt region of Alabama. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
Lee, H. Y., Wang, K., Choi, E., Gajos, J., & Won, C.R. (2023). Opioid literacy among African Americans living in rural Alabama: Findings from a social determinants of health (SDH) framework. Journal of Drug Issues, 53(1), 3-17.
Lee, H. Y., Noh, H., Choi, E., & Lee, L. H. (2022). Social determinants of willingness to discuss end-of-life care with family and doctors among Korean American immigrants: Findings from a cross-sectional survey in Alabama. Health & Social Care in the Community.
Lee, H. Y., Wang, K., Johnson, K., Kubanga, K., Han, A., & Choi, E. (2022). Does the use of social media affect the online health information-seeking behaviors among underserved African Americans in rural Alabama? Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 33(4), 1949–1964.
Lee, H. Y., Xiong, S., Khang, T., Vue, B., Culhane-Pera, K-A., Pergament, S., Torres, M. B., Sur, A., Koopmeiners, J.S., & Desai, J. (2022). Evaluating HmongHPV eHealth to Promote Hmong Adolescent HPV Vaccinations: A Pilot Feasibility Study. JMIR Formative Research.
Lee, H.Y. Beltran, R., Kim, N.G., & Lee, D.K. (2019). Racial Disparities in Cervical Cancer Screening: Implications for Relieving Cervical Cancer Burden in Asian American Pacific Islander Women. Cancer Nursing: An International Journal for Cancer Care.
Zhou, A., Lee, H.Y., & Lee, R. (In Press). Who Has Low Health Literacy and Does It Matter for Depression? Findings from Aggregated and Disaggregated Racial/Ethnic Groups. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology.
Burnette, C.E., Liddell, J., Roh, S., Lee, Y., & Lee, H.Y. (2018). American Indian Women Cancer Survivors’ Perceptions and Experiences with Conventional and Non-Conventional Mental Health Care for Depressive Symptoms. Ethnicity and Health.
Roh, S., Burnette, C., Lee, Y.S., Lee, K.H., Lee, H.Y., & Newland, L.A. (2018). Breast Cancer Literacy and Health Beliefs Related to Breast Cancer Screening among American Indian Women. Health and Social Work.
An, S., Choi, Y.J., Lee, H.Y., Yoon, Y.J., & Pratt, M. (2018). Predictors of Breast Cancer Screening Among Korean American Women: Is Having an Annual Checkup Critical? Asian American Journal of Cancer Prevention.
Lee, H.Y., Choi, Y.J., Yoon, Y.J., & Oh, J. (2018). HPV Literacy in Korean American Immigrant women: Does English Proficiency Matter? Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing
Pope, Z., Lee, J., Zeng, N., Lee, H.Y., & Gao, Z. (2018). Feasibility of Smartphone Application and Social Media Intervention on Breast Cancer Survivors’ Health outcomes. Translational Behavioral Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/iby002. (Epub ahead of print)
Lee, H.Y., Lust, K., Vang, S., & Desai, J. (2018). Male Undergraduates’ HPV Vaccination Behavior: Implications for Achieving HPV-Associated Cancer Equity. Journal of Community Health, 43(3), 459-466, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0482-4.
Lee, H.Y., Kim, J.H., & Sharrat, M. (2018). Information communication technology use and its impact on health and mental health in older cancer survivors. Quality of Life Research, 27, 467-477. doi: 10.1007/s11136-017-1734-y 9.
Choi, E.Y., Kim., Y.S., Lee, H.Y., Shin, H.R., & Cho, S.E. (2017). The Moderating Effect of Subjective Age on the Association between Depressive symptoms and Cognitive Functioning in Korean Older Adults. Aging and Mental Health, doi: 10.1080/13607863.2017.1390733. (Epub ahead of print)
Lee, H.Y., Ghebre, R., Le, C. Jang, Y.J., & Yee, D. (2017). Mobile Phone Multimedia Messaging Intervention for Breast Cancer Screening: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Journal of Medical Internet Research-mHealth and Uhealth, 5(11). Open access: https://mhealth.jmir.org/article/viewFile/mhealth_v5i11e154/2.
Lee, H.Y., Lee, J., Henning-Smith, C., & Choi, J. (2017). HPV Literacy and Its Link to Initiation and Completion of HPV Vaccine Among Young Adults in Minnesota. Public Health, 152, 172-178.
Lee, H.Y., Lee, M.H., Jang, Y. J., & Lee, D.K.M (2017). Breast Cancer Screening Disparity among Korean American Immigrant Women in Midwest, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. 18(10), 2663-2667.
Kim, Y.S., Lee, H.Y., Park, B.H., Lee, M.H., & Simms, T. (2017). Mental health literacy in Korean older adults: A cross-sectional survey. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 24(7), 523-533.
Kim, Y.S., Rhee, G., Lee, H.Y., Park, B.H., & Sharratt, M. (2017). Mental health literacy as a mediator in use of mental health services among older Korean adults. International Psychogeriatrics, 29(2), 269-279. doi: 10.1017/S1041610216001721.
Kim, J.H., Lee, H.Y., Christensen, C., & Merighi, M. (2017). Technology Access and Use, and Their Associations With Social Engagement Among Older Adults: Do Women and Men Differ? The Journals of Gerontology: Series B Social Sciences. 72(5). 836-845. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbw123.