Su-I Hou is Professor and Founding Director of the School of Global Health Management and Informatics, College of Community Innovation & Education at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL. She also serves as the health-specialization liaison for the college’s interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Public Affairs, and the Founding Director of UCF’s Taiwan Study Abroad Program on Asian Culture, Healthcare, & Aging Society. She is a current Fulbright Specialist and has been invited to conduct mixed-methods research (MMR) training workshops at multiple universities overseas. Hou was a key founding faculty member of the College of Public Health and served as its inaugural DrPH Program Director, and the founding director of the Taiwan Public Health Study Abroad Program at the University of Georgia (UGA), Athens, GA. She received both of her DrPH and MPH from University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and served as an Associate Editor for the Health Promotion Practice, Society of Public Health Education’s official journal devoted to the practical application of health promotion and education. Hou is a recognized service-learning scholar by the Community-Campus Partnership for Health, and an inaugural service-learning senior scholar and recipient of the service-learning research excellence award at UGA.
Hou has extensive public health research and leadership experience with expertise in mixed methods research, program evaluation, and community based participatory research (CBPR). Her research focuses on Aging-in-Community (AIC) models and programs promoting healthy aging, patient-centered care and patient-provider communications, as well as community and worksite strategies to promote early detection and prevention of selected cancers and HIV/AIDS. Most of her research involves working with community partners in developing and validating study instruments, assessing psycho-social factors of health behaviors, developing / implementing / evaluating theory-based health programs and interventions.
Hou has taught a variety competency-based courses, including: Mixed Methods Research, Research Methods, Policy & Program Evaluation; Program Development & Implementation; Epidemiology; Human Ecology of Health & Illness; Community Health; Cancer Communication; Cancer Epi; Doctoral Seminars; Asian Culture & Health; Public Health & Aging, etc. Prior to become a university faculty member, Dr. Hou had considerable practical & administrative experience in health care and community settings, serving as the Founding Director of the Community Health Department at a major teaching hospital in Taiwan.
Active in Chinese-American communities, Hou served as the 2013-14 President for the Chinese-American Academic and Professional Association in South-eastern United States (CAPASUS). She has close professional ties with Taiwan and China and is often invited by government agencies, major national universities, and industrial partners to give keynotes and training workshops. Hou has published 120+ peer-reviewed journal articles, presented 240+ papers at national & international conferences, and given 100+ invited international presentations.