Hyunjin Lee is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the program, she worked with various humanitarian organizations, including Vietnamese agencies and ChildFund, where she developed and evaluated educational programs for out-of-school youth and immigrant families. She also successfully advocated for policy changes benefiting minority populations, such as lowering the voting age and eliminating "no-kids" zones.
As the former chair of Korean Youths under the Ministry of Women and Families, Hyunjin led meetings with regional leaders to amplify youth voices and push for updates to high school curricula. She also represented Korea in ASEAN+3 youth initiatives, advocating for policies to protect students' basic rights in afterschool programs.
Hyunjin’s advocacy has shaped her research interests, which focus on well-being measurement, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and Social Determinants of Health. Currently, she is leading studies on cultural influences on treatment engagement in serious mental illness (SMI), funded by the Center on Race and Social Problems and Seoul National University. She is also conducting research on social determinants of oral health in immigrant communities, supported by the Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice and the University Center for International Studies.
Her career goal is to continue advocating for marginalized communities through research, community programs, and policy reforms. Starting next year, she plans to train social work interns in implementing warm handoff interventions in collaboration with Pitt Dental to improve care integration for immigrant populations.
