Chenyi Ma, PhD, MSW is a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Social Policy & Practice. By integrating both social and spatial epidemiological approaches, Dr. Ma’s research aims to contribute to interdisciplinary knowledge of disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. There are four key aspects of his research agenda. First, his research focuses on social determinants of health and behavioral outcomes in disaster contexts. Second, his research addresses social vulnerability in a discourse of disaster preparedness and interrogates the notion of resilience in disaster recovery. Third, his research emphasizes risk analysis for policy formulation for disaster mitigation. Finally, his research highlights the importance of philanthropic behavior as a public response to disaster survivors, and seeks to determine the psychosocial factors underlying such behavior.
Recently, Dr. Ma published articles in peer reviewed journals including: American Journal of Public Health, Social Science & Medicine, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, and Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. He has also frequently presented his research findings at annual conferences.
Dr. Ma completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, he teaches quantitative reasoning and program evaluations to graduate students at Penn. Before joining Penn, Dr. Ma worked as a Program Officer for Education for Sustainable Development at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).