Welcome to my homepage
I am currently a third-year doctoral student at Brown University School of Public Health. Born and raised in a Bhutanese refugee camp in eastern Nepal, I lived in the camp for nearly 17 years before resettling with my family in Springfield, MA, in 2011. I earned an MPH degree from the Brown University School of Public Health. Before attending Brown, I served as a Community Advisory Board (CAB) member in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) with Dr. Theresa Betancourt’s Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at the Boston College School of Social Work, where I assisted to investigate cultural norms and traditions related to family-strengthening interventions. My research interests focus on addressing the challenges faced by refugee communities and other marginalized populations. Specifically, I seek to explore: (1) how socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and religion/faith influence mental health, depression, and suicidal ideation; (2) why marginalized populations and low-income communities experience significant health disparities; and (3) how to leverage resources to improve mental health service delivery. Ultimately, I aim to design and implement culturally congruent Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI-R) for refugee and immigrant populations in the U.S. and low- to middle-income nations.
Public Health and Psycho-social Well-Beings
I am interested in conducting mental health interventions and implementation among refugee populations in the U.S. and low- and middle-income nations. Currently, I am collecting data for a study titled "Assessing Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being among Bhutanese Refugees and Outpatients in Nepal: A Cross-sectional Study" with guidance from mentors and supervisors: Dr. Jeffrey Proulx, Assistant Professor at Brown University School of Public Health; Dr. Ruhul Abid, Professor of Surgery at Brown Alpert Medical School; and Dr. Malabika Sarkar at Brown University School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Family Strengthing Intervention among Refugees (FSI-R)
I was a Community Advisory Board (CABs) consultant and co-facilitator for the Family Strengthening Intervention for Refugees (FSI-R) in Dr. Theresa Betancourt's Research Program in Children and Adversity Lab. Along with co-facilitating weekly Community Co-Design Group sessions, my duties also include offering comments on protocol drafts and helping to finalize it. I have developed various skills in planning, carrying out, and assessing interventions, publishing manuscripts, and sharing the results with a broader audience in various contexts, including community, national, and worldwide conferences.This feedback process and co-design approach have deepened my understanding of effectively incorporating Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to ensure our strategies are culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate.