University of 麻豆传媒 at Mānoa Department (CTAHR) Chair Barbara W. K. Yee was awarded the during the organization’s recent national meeting in Honolulu.
The award was presented by in recognition of Yee’s longstanding and distinguished contributions to the field of racial and ethnic minority psychology through teaching and training.
A developmental psychologist, Yee is a professor and chair of the . Her research bridges immigration, acculturation, gender issues, health literacy and lifestyle practices. She has followed Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee families since the fall of Saigon in 1975, studied immigrant women from the Philippines and Mexico, and looked at generations of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families.
As part of the APA program, Yee organized a symposium on improving Native Hawaiian outcomes in health and mental health featuring colleagues Keawe Kaholokula, chair of , and Kamanaʻopono Crabbe, who was also honored for achievement in becoming CEO of the . All three are alumni of the .
Widely published, Yee has briefed national leaders on health disparities among ethnic minority women and adaptive aging. A fellow of the and , she has served on the , chaired the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee of and served on committees for several professional organization. She has served on editorial boards for several academic journals—most recently the and —and is associate editor for the .
The named Yee its Joseph C. Valley Gerontological Professional of 1999 for her research, teaching and advocacy on behalf of underserved elders around the world.
Yee called the latest award particularly meaningful, since she received Minority Fellowship Program support as a student. The federally funded program provides support, training, mentoring and career development to increase the number of minority professionals in psychology and advance understanding of the life experiences of ethnic minority communities.