Research

My work applies causal inference and applied econometrics to questions in health and aging, using large-scale longitudinal microdata (CHARLS, HRS, SHARE, NHANES, IPUMS) and quasi-experimental designs — difference-in-differences with staggered adoption, event-study and panel methods, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, and double/debiased machine learning.

Research interests

  • Health economics and policy
  • Causal inference and applied econometrics for health and social outcomes
  • Population aging, frailty dynamics, and the joint determination of health and labor supply over the life course
  • Disaster health economics and community resilience
  • Health equity, quantitative health sciences, and clinical research methodology

Research positions & projects

Researcher — UHERO, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2024–present)

  • Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (MauiWES) — NIH- and state-funded longitudinal cohort.
  • Roots Reborn Program Evaluation — post-wildfire economic-empowerment intervention (2025–2026).
  • Minority-Owned Small Business Financing Study — City & County of Honolulu, OER-funded (2024–2025).

International collaborator — Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, IHME, University of Washington (2024–present)

Journal peer reviewer — Public Health in Practice (Elsevier, 2025–present) and Aging-US (2026–present)

Dissertation

My dissertation studies health shocks, frailty, and economic behavior in aging populations, using panel methods and causal-inference designs.

Chapter 1. Chronic versus Acute Health Shocks and the Margins of Labor Supply: Evidence from Frailty Dynamics in an Aging Population. Accepted at the Southern Economic Association (SEA) 96th Annual Meeting, Houston, TX, November 2026.

Chapter 2. Falls, Missing Markets, and Labor Supply: Evidence from China.

Chapter 3. Later, Longer, Fewer and the Quantity–Quality Trade-off: Evidence from CHARLS.

Working papers (under review)

Inflammatory, Nutritional, and Metabolic Biomarker Profiles in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer: A 24-Year Cross-Sectional Analysis of NHANES, 2001–2023. Under review, JAMA Oncology.

Enrollment Dynamics and Health Equity Effects of California’s Staggered Medi-Cal Expansion to Undocumented Adults. Under review, Health Affairs.

Health Shocks and the Permanent Labor-Market Exit of Older Europeans. Under review, Journal of Population Economics.

Balancing Innovation Incentives and Equitable Access for AI Health Technologies: Policy Levers for IP, Transparency, and Solidarity. Under review, npj Health Systems.

Caregiving as Health Capital Depreciation: Time Allocation Evidence from IPUMS ATUS. Under review.