Van Park

Dr. Van Park is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), within the Department of Community Health Systems. She teaches in the Advanced Public Health Nursing program and focuses on addressing racial and ethnic minority health disparities, particularly among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Her research emphasizes Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) caregiving, mental health equity, and community-based participatory research (CBPR).

Education:

• PhD in Health Policy & Management (Johns Hopkins University)
• MPH in Health Promotion (University of Southern California)
• BS in Health Promotion (University of Southern California)
• BA in Sociology (Stanford University)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship in Drug Abuse Treatment (UCSF)

Research Interests: Dr. Park’s work centers on reducing AAPI health disparities through culturally tailored interventions. Current projects include the NIH-funded CARE Registry (recruiting 10,000 AAPI participants for dementia research), the COMPASS Study (assessing pandemic impacts on AAPI mental health), and the Asian Cohort on Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD) (international collaboration focusing on understudied Asian populations). She also leads the KIMCHI project to improve Korean American caregivers’ knowledge of dementia care.

Grants & Awards: Multiple NIH/NIA grants, PCORI community engagement awards, and Stanford SPHERE pilot grants support her work. Notable initiatives include the R24 CARE grant and R56 ACAD grant.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with UCSF’s Institute for Global Health Sciences and partners like ICAN and Somang Society to advance precision health equity and community engagement.