May Sudhinaraset

Dr. May Sudhinaraset, PhD is an Associate Professor in Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at UCLA. She is trained as a social epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on understanding the social determinants of migrant, adolescent, and women’s health both globally and in the US. Her work centers around three complementary streams of work: (1) social and cultural contexts of vulnerable adolescents and women; (2) global women’s health and quality of service delivery; and (3) social policies and immigration in the US. Her global work includes women’s experiences during childbirth, family planning, and abortion services, development of quality improvement interventions in Kenya and India, and large-scale maternal and child health evaluations in Myanmar. She currently is Principal Investigator of the BRAVE Study (Bridging communities Raising API Voices for health Equity), the first study to assess the health status and health care utilization of undocumented Asian and Pacific Islander young adults. Using community participatory approaches, this study explores the impact of social policies, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, on the social and health outcomes of undocumented young adults. She has collaborated with institutions and researchers in Myanmar, Kenya, India, Thailand and China.

Related Tags

Areas of Interest

  • Global sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, family planning, and abortion
  • Social determinants of health
  • Global migration
  • Health services, health equity
  • Social contexts of adolescents and migrant youth
  • Social policies and immigrant youth in the US
  • Asian and Pacific Islanders
  • Myanmar, Kenya, India, Asia

Selected Publications

  • Manalo-Pedro E, Sudhinaraset M. Deferred Depression? Mediational analysis of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and immigration enforcement among Undocumented Asian and Pacific Islander Students. 2022. Social Science and Medicine: Population Health, 17.
  • Choi HY, Sudhinaraset M (2021). Acceptability of COVID-19 contact tracing and public health guidelines for undocumented immigrants in the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(12).
  • Sudhinaraset M, Landrian A, Choi HY, Ling I (2021). Redefining communities: The association between deferred action, online and offline social capital and depressive symptoms among undocumented young adults. Preventive Medicine Reports, vol. 24.
  • Nakphong M, Sacks E, Opot J, Sudhinaraset M (2021). Separating Newborns from Mothers and Maternal Consent for Newborn Care and the Association with Health Care Satisfaction, Use and Breastfeeding: Findings from a longitudinal survey in Kenya. BMJ Open, 11(9).
  • Ro, Annie, Michelle Kao Nakphong, Hye Young Choi, Alex Nguyen, and May Sudhinaraset. “The Association between Social Ties and Depression among Asian and Pacific Islander Undocumented Young Adults.” BMC Public Health 21, no. 1 (May 27, 2021): 994. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11087-y. 
  • Afulani P, Altman MR, Castillo E, Bernal N, Jones L, Camara T, Carrasco Z, Williams S, Sudhinaraset M, Kuppermann M (2021). Development of the Person-Centered Prenatal Care scale for People of Color. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 225(4).
  • Sudhinaraset M, Woofter R, Young MDT, Landrian A, Vilda D, Wallace SP (2021). Analysis of State-Level Immigrant Policies and Preterm Births by Race/Ethnicity Among Women Born in the US and Women Born Outside the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(4), e214482.
  • Sudhinaraset M, Landrian A, Golub G, Cotter S, Afulani P (2021). Person-centered maternity care and postnatal health: associations with maternal and newborn health outcomes. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Global Reports, 1(1).
  • Cotter S, Sudhinaraset M, Phillips B, Seefeld A, Mugwanga Z, Golub G, Ikiugu E (2021). Person-centred care for abortion services in private facilities to improve women’s experiences in Kenya. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 23(2), 224-239.
  • Sudhinaraset M, Giessler K, Nakphong M, Roy K, Sahu A, Sharma K, Montagu D, Green C (2021). Can changes to improve person-centred maternity care be spread across public health facilities in Uttar Pradesh, India? Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 29(1), 1-15.
  • Montagu D, Giessler K, Nakphong M, Green C, Roy K, Sahu A, Sharma K, Sudhinaraset M (2020). Results of a person-centered maternal health quality improvement intervention in Uttar Pradesh, India. PLOS ONE, 15(12), e0242909.
  • Sudhinaraset M, Ling I, Gao L, Chavarin J, Gee G (2020). The association between Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, health access, and mental health: the role of discrimination, medical mistrust, and stigma. Ethnicity & Health, 1-13.
  • Sudhinaraset M, Vilda D, Gipson J, Bornstein M, Wallace M (2020). Women’s Reproductive Rights Policies and Adverse Birth Outcomes: A State-level Analysis to Assess the Role of Race and Nativity Status. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 59(6), 787-795.
  • Sudhinaraset M, Landrian A, Afulani P, Phillips B, Diamond-Smith N, Cotter S. (2020) Development and validation of a person-centered abortion care scale: the experiences of care in private facilities in Kenya. BMC Women’s Health, 20(1), 1-11.
  • Montagu D, Giessler K, Nakphong M, Green C, Roy K, Sahu A, Sharma K, Sudhinaraset M (2020). A comparison of intensive vs. light-touch quality improvement interventions for maternal health in Uttar Pradesh, India. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1-12.