Yan Yuan LCSW, PHD
Assistant Professor
Categorized As
Yan Yuan, Ph.D., LCSW, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at West Virginia University. Her research focuses on improving behavioral and mental health care for underserved populations through culturally responsive assessment and intervention. Her current work centers on trauma treatment and suicide prevention among Asian Americans and the development and cultural adaptation of psychosocial interventions. She uses quantitative, qualitative, and community-engaged approaches to identify culturally relevant risk and protective factors and modifiable mechanisms that can improve access, engagement, and outcomes in mental health care.
Dr. Yuan brings more than a decade of clinical social work experience serving individuals with severe mental illness, particularly low-income and ethnically diverse young adults. Her clinical experiences have shaped a practice-informed research program examining how psychological, cultural, and systemic factors influence behavioral health outcomes and service delivery. Her recent research includes the development and evaluation of a culturally adapted psychosocial intervention for Asian immigrant women experiencing intimate partner violence and suicidality and the development of a culturally informed suicide risk assessment for Asian American college students.
Prior to joining WVU, Dr. Yuan completed an NIMH-funded T32 postdoctoral fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, where her research included suicide prevention and treatment outcomes among college students experiencing depression and suicidality. Her broader scholarship has addressed trauma, emotion regulation, personality pathology, intimate partner violence, chronic pain, and culturally responsive mental health interventions.
Education
- Ph.D. in Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, 2020
- Master of Social Work (MSW), University of Pennsylvania, 2010
- B.A. in English Language and Literature, Nanjing University, China, 2007
- Asian American mental health
- Culturally responsive and culturally adapted psychosocial interventions
- Mental and behavioral health disparities
- Trauma and intimate partner violence
- Suicide prevention and suicide risk assessment
- Emotion regulation and mechanisms of change
- Integrated behavioral health
- Advanced quantitative methods
Teaching Interests
- Clinical social work practice
- Mental and behavioral health
- Social work research methods
- Evidence-based psychosocial interventions
Return to Listing