Neil M. Gong

Neil M. Gong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego, researching psychiatric services, homelessness, and community maintenance of social order. His work critically examines inequality in mental health care systems through comparative analysis of public safety net and elite private psychiatric programs.

His scholarly contributions include the book Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics (University of Chicago Press, March 2024), which investigates disparities in mental health care access, and Beyond the Case (Oxford University Press, 2020), co-edited with Corey Abramson, advancing comparative ethnographic methodology. His academic research appears in leading journals including American Sociological Review, Theory and Society, and Social Problems.

Gong actively bridges academic and public discourse through commentaries in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Los Angeles Times, addressing mental health policy, urban social challenges, and inequality in contemporary society.