In the news

July 2026

BRAVE Study Principal Investigator, Dr. May Sudhinaraset, is the 2025-26 recipient of the Don T. Nakanishi Faculty Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship in Asian American Studies at UCLA! Professor Sudhinaraset is being recognized for her extraordinary contributions to community-engaged research, mentorship and the advancement of health equity for Asian American, immigrant, and refugee communities.

Colleagues lifted up her groundbreaking work through the Building community, Raising All immigrant Voices for health Equity (BRAVE) Study as the first large-scale study to examine the health needs of undocumented Asians in the US. The study has become a trusted platform for immigrant voices, particularly among Asian communities that have historically been overlooked in research and policy discourse.

UCLA Asian American Studies Center / Read Full Post

June 2026

The Public Management Research Conference (PMRC) is the premier event hosted by the Public Management Research Association (PMRA), bringing together leading scholars and practitioners in public management and governance. This annual conference provides a unique platform to share innovative research, exchange ideas, and foster collaboration within the global public management community.

At this conference, BRAVE postdoctoral fellow Heeun Kim presented "Navigating racialized language access burden: public service encounters and political efficacy among Asian immigrants in the US.”

June 2026

This article profiles Dr. May Sudhinaraset’s research on how immigration policies and systemic barriers shape the health of immigrant communities, particularly during pregnancy and childbirth. It explores how language barriers, fear of immigration enforcement, limited access to culturally responsive care, and exclusionary policies affect healthcare experiences and birth outcomes, while highlighting the need for person-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally concordant care to improve health equity for immigrant families.

“I spend a lot of time thinking about the institutions and the practices within healthcare, ensuring that there is culturally concordant, trauma-informed, person-centered care, so that people feel valued and respected…and that they don’t feel judged.” - Dr. May Sudhinaraset

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health / Read Full Article

June 2026

In this faculty conversation, Dr. May Sudhinaraset and Dr. Rebecca Delafield examine the maternal mortality crisis in the United States, highlighting how preventable pregnancy-related deaths are shaped by systemic inequities in healthcare, public policy, and social conditions. It explores the factors contributing to poor maternal health outcomes, including racial disparities, limited access to reproductive and postpartum care, mental health challenges, and broader social determinants of health, while emphasizing the need for structural reforms and community-driven solutions to improve maternal health equity.

“Maternal mortality is a reflection of broader inequities and societal attitudes related to who is deemed valuable and deserving of certain treatments and outcomes.” - May Sudhinaraset

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health / Read Full Article

May 2026

The Population Association of America’s annual meeting is the premier conference of demographers and social and health scientists from the United States and abroad. Here demographers at all career stages are afforded the opportunity to present their research in oral and poster sessions, hear others’ findings, and network with their peers.

Two BRAVE Poster Submissions have were presented: "Abortion attitudes and experiences among Asian immigrant women in the United States: Insights from Life History Interviews" from BRAVE student researcher Tenzin Khando and "Impacts of Dobbs Ruling on Maternal Health and Birth Outcomes among Asian and Hispanic Immigrants" from BRAVE postdoctoral fellow Heeun Kim.

December 2025

This article examines how Chinese immigrant mothers in Southern California struggle to navigate a complex healthcare system shaped by language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, financial stress, and immigration-related fears. It highlights gaps in culturally responsive care and shows how many families rely on community clinics, nonprofits, and informal networks to access support that mainstream systems often fail to provide.

“Translation is only the beginning,” [May Sudhinaraset] said. “The real challenge is whether providers can communicate in a way patients actually trust.”

USC Annenburg Center for Health Journalism / Read Full Article

December 2025

This article explores the emotional, financial, and social challenges faced by Chinese immigrant mothers in Southern California, who often navigate childbirth and early parenthood with limited support, high childcare costs, and significant mental-health barriers. It highlights how isolation, cultural stigma, and gaps in accessible resources leave many mothers struggling largely on their own despite existing public programs.

“Mental-health stigma is really strong in Chinese communities, and that contributes to under-utilization,” [May Sudhinaraset] mentioned. “Even though California has a law requiring universal perinatal-mental-health screening, Chinese immigrant mothers in our data were screened at lower rates—63 percent during pregnancy and only 50 percent postpartum.”

USC Annenburg Center for Health Journalism / Read Full Article

November 2025

The Asian American Research Center on Health (ARCH) Rising Stars Colloquium features mentored-research presentations. The presentations cover a diverse array of topics focused on advancing Asian American health equity.

At the 2025 Colloquium, our BRAVE researchers Heeun Kim, Kelly Song, Krupa Varghese, and Xumeng Yan discussed lessons learned from survey recruitment in their presentation“Amplifying Asian Immigrant Women’s Voices: Lessons Learned on Recruitment and Data Validation from the BRAVE Multi-Site Survey”

Watch the full presentation here: https://asianarch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/November-2025-Quarterly-Meeting.mp4

October 2025

The Society of Family Planning Annual Meeting is where those who produce and inform that science come together to share new research; consider new questions; learn from one another; improve their capacity to provide evidence-informed and person-centered care; get inspired; and receive the support they need from peers, mentors, and allies to return to their communities and institutions prepared to advocate for evidence-informed and person-centered abortion and contraception care.

At the Annual Meeting that took place on October 25-27, 2025 Dr. May Sudhinaraset presented "Why Does Measurement Matter? Centering Immigrant Populations."

March 2025

The Daily Bruin interviewed BRAVE Study Principal Investigator May Sudhinaraset to speak on barriers to care faced by undocumented individuals.

“Immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented, are fearing for their safety and that of their families,” said May Sudhinaraset, professor and vice chair of community health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, in an emailed statement. “We know that undocumented (people) are much more likely to be uninsured compared to their documented peers, and are also more likely to delay care when they need it.”

Daily Bruin / Read Full Article

November 2024

The Asian American Research Center on Health (ARCH) Rising Stars Colloquium features mentored-research presentations. The presentations cover a diverse array of topics focused on advancing Asian American health equity.

At the 2024 Colloquium, our BRAVE researchers Brenda Soun and Tenzin Khan discussed findings from our Community Expert Interviews in their presentation “Intersectional Stigma and the Impacts on Policy and Health for Asian Immigrant Women.”

Watch the full presentation here: https://ucsf.app.box.com/v/3ARCH24Stars-Soun-Khando

April 2024

The University of California Global Health Institute interviewed members of the BRAVE Study Team about preliminary findings from our Life History Interviews for AAPI Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness month.

“Working across multiple states was critical to the goals of the study given that reproductive rights and immigrant policies are typically made at the state and not federal level,” says Dr. Sudhinaraset. “We purposefully chose states that had a diverse policy context in terms of both restrictive and inclusive policies in order to understand the daily lived experiences of immigrants in navigating these different policies.”

UCGHI / Read Full Article

February 2023

The Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Policy Summit brings together researchers, students, community, government, corporate, philanthropic, and academic leaders to have in-depth conversations about topics that are timely, shed new light on issues, and have ideas and recommendations that are actionable.

At the AAPI Policy Summit that took place on February 10th, 2023, Dr. May Sudhinaraset served on the Developing Inclusive Immigration Protections and Policies panel. Learn more and watch the full webinar here: https://www.aasc.ucla.edu/aapipolicy/summit2022/s2devinc.aspx

October 2022
LAist interviewed Dr. May Sudhinaraset, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health associate professor of community health sciences, about a $3 million, 5-year-long study she is leading of the sexual and reproductive health of Asian immigrant women in the United States. “This failure to include a sufficiently diverse sample has often times perpetuated the model minority myth,” Sudhinaraset said. “ Which further invisibilizes the multiple sexual reproductive health needs that Asian immigrants experience within Asian immigrant subgroups, but also between Asian immigrant subgroups.”

LAist / Read Full Article

KPCC-FM / Read Full Article

October 2022

Dr. May Sudhinaraset, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health associate professor and vice chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences, will lead a multi-year study focused on the sexual and reproductive health of Asian immigrant women in the United States.

UCLA FSPH News / Read Full Article

UCLA Newsroom / Read Full Article

Rafu.com / Read Full Article