Lei Chen, PhD, is a project policy analyst at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR). Her research interest focuses primarily on health and aging policy, immigrants' access to health care, older adults' social support, long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities, cross-cultural studies, and mixed methods.
Chen is currently involved in two UCLA CHPR studies: the Research on ImmiGrant HealTh and State policy (RIGHTS) Study and the Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Study. Chen is involved in the processes of data collection and analysis for both quantitative and qualitative phases of the RIGHTS study. She works on several papers related to cross-cultural researchers' positionality in immigrant health studies, law enforcement and public charge, and social support for Asian and Latino immigrants. Chen workings on the data analysis for the quantitative phase of the LTSS study.
Apart from being an academic, Chen has assisted the policymaking process of the Master Planning on Aging in California, which will serve as a blueprint that can be used by state government, local communities, private organizations and philanthropy to build environments that promote an age-friendly California.
Prior to working at the CHPR, Chen was a research assistant for a number of companies, international organizations, and universities, including McKinsey & Company, Fudan University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Washington University, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Chen earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from Nanjing University (China), her master's of science in demography from Fudan University (China), her master's of social policy from Washington University in St. Louis, and a doctorate from UCLA.
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In two new studies, Kietzman and Lei Chen, a graduate student researcher at the Center, analyzed the need for long-term services and support among adults age 65 and older and adults with disabilities and assessed the financial constraints that limit options for such supportive care. The studies used data from the 2019–20 California Long-Term Services and Supports Survey (LTSS), a follow- to UCLA CHPR’s California Health Interview Survey (CHIS).