I am currently an Associate Professor in the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University, and a fellow of the university's Hundred Talents Project. Prior to this post, I worked at Murray State University in Kentucky as an Assistant Professor of Sociology, and, further back, research positions at Purdue University's Center on Religion and the Global East, and Center on Young People's Health.
I hold a Ph.D. (2016) and M.S. (2012) in Sociology from Purdue University, and a Bachelor of Law (2010) from Zhejiang University. Some of my achievements include the Junior Scholar Award from the American Sociological Association (Section on Drugs & Society), the title of Outstanding Professor and Researcher by the USCIS, and Scientific Advancement Prize by the Government of Zhejiang Province.
My research investigates how supra-individual contextual factors shape individuals' health behaviors, particularly at-risk health behaviors that conjoin human health with deviance, such as substance use and sex work patronage. I am particularly interested in the "how" question in the research of contextual effects, that is, through what mechanisms does a contextual factor exercise its impact on individuals.
My research activities have been funded by organizations including the China Medical Board/Rockefeller Foundation, Guangdong Social Science Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the Key Philosophy and Social Science Base of Shaanxi Province. Such continuing research endeavor has produced over 40 peer-reviewed articles that appeared in leading sociology and public health journals such as Social Science & Medicine, Sociology of Health and Illness, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science Research, Sociological Quarterly, and more.
My elusive whereabouts in the last five years according to google