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Faculty > Nan Sook Park, Ph.D., MSW, MS

Nan Sook Park, Ph.D., MSW, MS

Nan Sook Park, Ph.D., MSW, is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of South Florida.  Dr. Park received her MSW and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She held a faculty position at the University of Alabama before she joined the USF in 2009.

Dr. Park’s research interests include the effects of social isolation and psychosocial resources on health and well-being among older adults in the community and long-term care settings.  She is also interested in issues around health disparities/minority aging and home and community-based services for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.  Funded by the Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars program, she conducted research on social engagement among older residents in assisted living facilities in Alabama.  At USF, she was awarded the USF new research grant, which allowed her to extend her previous study by examining social relationships of ethnic/racial minorities and implications for their well-being in Florida assisted living communities.  She also expanded her research interest in social connectedness to examine social and environmental contexts of older immigrants in diverse settings. 

Dr. Park has worked on the subcontract grant from the National Institute on Aging (R01AG047106) in collaborations with Dr. Yuri Jang (Overall PI) at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and Dr. David Chiriboga (Co-investigator) at the Department of Child and Family Studies, USF. The five-year-grant entitled “Limited English Proficiency: Implications for Health and Health Care among Older Immigrants” addresses critical issues of older immigrant populations such as navigating the health care systems and building the social networks in the community.  For another subcontract project entitled “Pathways to Care: An Evaluation and Substantive Component,” funded from the Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Community Living (90AL0015-01-00; overall PI--Kathleen Herd), Dr. Park has worked with Drs. Chiriboga and Molinari (School of Aging Studies at USF) to assist Alzheimer’s Community Care with the outcome evaluation and to develop a face to face and online course related to Alzheimer and dementia care.

Dr. Park teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on research and human behavior theories and an MSW elective course on dementia care in home and community-based service from a social work perspective.

Research Interests

For a complete list of research and publications of Dr. Park, see Google Scholar and ResearchGate websites.