What projects are you working on in your current position?

After completing my research project as a RCMAR scholar, I applied for and was awarded funding from NCATS [National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences] and the Harvard Catalyst Expanding Inclusivity Pilot Grant to pilot Feeling of Being, a cultural adaptation of mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) that my community engagement studio designed as a part of my RCMAR funding. This culturally adapted MBCT will address the specific socio-ecological needs of older Black adults with co-morbid chronic pain and early cognitive decline. I am also funded by an NCCIH K23 award to study the chronic pain depression intersection among older Black adults.

What do you love most about your line of work?

I love that research doesn’t feel like work. While screening for my open pilot, an older woman told me she often thinks about how she didn’t do enough in life. My parents are refugees from Vietnam who spent their whole lives working to escape communism and only later poverty. When you spend your whole life surviving, I can’t help but imagine that some part of that journey can feel discouraging. Admittedly, I knew very little about her, but I couldn’t help but think that she led an impactful life. Perhaps she had been comparing her life to someone who didn’t have to work to survive. I admit I come from a privileged background being born in the U.S. and working as a psychiatrist researcher at the Harvard/ MGH Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research (CHOIR). I get to spend my time working as a civic servant to our many knowledgeable and wise seniors while offering them financial reimbursement in exchange for their expertise and time. I get to think about health issues and not only tackle them as a clinician but tackle how I tackle them as a researcher. So much to love about that I don’t know what to pick.

What was the best piece of advice you got early on in your career you’d like to pass on to emerging gerontologists?

Work-life integration. I meet weekly with my research mentor Dr. Ana-Maria Vranceanu. We talked about work life balance, and she mentioned how she had replaced work life balance with work life integration in her life. Of course, I pretended like I knew what she was talking about and went home to Google about it. The concept was simple and yet it shifted my perspective on work and life and perhaps one day not looking back and feeling like I didn’t accomplish anything. I’m not perfect, but I welcome any theory that validates by unwavering commitment to biking into work.

How has your experience with RCMAR benefited your career and your research?

My experience and research output as a RCMAR scholar laid the foundation for my current research funding through the NCATS and Harvard Catalyst Expanding Inclusivity Pilot Grant and now grant application to the Alzheimer’s Association and NACC New Investigator Award Program.