Dr. LIN Shen (林珅)

Dr. Shen (Lamson) Lin joined the City University of Hong Kong as an assistant professor of social work in 2022, right after completing his doctoral education in Canada (2017 - 2022). Lamson earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto (UofT)'s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW), where he received a competitive 5-year doctoral fellowship (for international trainees) from UofT. With interdisciplinary training in social work (FIFSW), gerontology (Institute for Life Course & Aging), and population health (Dalla Lana School of Public Health), Lamson's scholarship centers around social determinants of health (in)equity, population ageing, and artificial intelligence methodologies to social sciences.

Research Interest: More recently, Lamson's research has been using statistical and machine learning techniques to examine the mechanisms, risk and protective factors, through which the COVID-19 pandemic influences individuals' psychosocial well-being (e.g., anxiety disorders, loneliness, stigma, and vaccine hesitancy). As a first-generation college graduate from his family, Lamson recognizes social/structural vulnerability (e.g., racialized identity, im/migration trajectory, job precarity) in shaping resource distribution, power dynamics and the consequential health inequalities across the human life course (time) and across the geographic regions in the global communities (space).

Research Impact: To date, Lamson has published 20 SCI/SSCI-indexed scholarly articles and his representative papers (i.e., single-authored) can be found in top-tier peer-reviewed journals across health and social sciences, including the Journal of Affective Disorders, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences (Oxford University Press), Ageing & Society (Cambridge University Press), Journal of Social Work, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. Prior to joining CityU, he was a course instructor teaching Social Work Practice in Health (MSW postgraduate course) at FIFSW since 2020.

Teaching & Supervision: Lamson teaches both undergraduate- and postgraduate-level courses in health and social sciences (5 courses in Sem B 2023), in which he embraces a student-centred pedagogy that provokes critical thinking and an evidence-based practice-informed approach. He is now supervising three postgraduate students' master's thesis projects, mentoring four doctoral students (as teaching assistants) and sitting on the dissertation supervisory committee of one doctoral student at CityU. 

Awards: Lamson has received multiple academic awards from professional organizations in North America, including the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) - 2023 GADE Student Award for Social Work Research; the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) - 2018 Best Abstract Award (Gero-Ed Track); Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)- 2019 Travel Grant; Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers (SRHP)- 2019 Best Original Research Award; and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) - 2020 Travel grant for CPHA Conference.

Collaboration & Opportunities: Dr. Lin welcomes students, potential Ph.D. trainees, and scholars with shared research interests as well as social justice lens to join his research team, in which innovative, leading-edge, and equity-driven population health research is nurtured. We celebrate the success and impact of researchers who are shaping the new frontiers of health and social sciences (Please see "Positions Available" above for more information).

Assistant Professor (Social Work), Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong

• Healthy Ageing: Social gerontology; Geriatric psychiatry; Multimorbidity; Late-life mental disorders; Chronic and long-term care 
• Diversity: Immigrant, refugee and racialized minority health; Anti-racism; Anti-oppression; Decolonizing social work practice
• Health Equity: Social determinants/dimensions of health & illness; Health service research; Social epidemiology
• COVID-19 Pandemic: Pandemic anxiety; Pandemic loneliness; Social isolation; Infodemic; Health behavioural changes
• Methodology: Large-scale population-based survey; Quantitative Intersectionality; Machine Learning/Artificial intelligence

Representative papers: Sole/first authored (N=11)

Notes: IF=impact factor; * indicates corresponding author

1. Lin, S. L.* (2023). Inequities in Mental Health Care facing Racialized Immigrant Older Adults with Mental Disorders despite Universal Coverage: A Population-based Study in Canada, Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences (SSCI, IF=4.94, Q1). https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbad036
2. Lin, S. L.* (2022). The “loneliness epidemic”, intersecting risk factors and relations to mental health help-seeking: a population-based study during COVID-19 lockdown in Canada. Journal of Affective Disorders (SCI & SSCI, IF=6.53, Q1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.08.131
3. Lin, S. L.* (2022). Generalized anxiety disorder during COVID-19 in Canada: Gender-specific association of COVID-19 misinformation exposure, precarious employment, and health behavior change.Journal of Affective Disorders (SCI & SSCI, IF=6.53, Q1).   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.01.100
4. Lin, S. L.* & Fang L. (2022) Chronic care for all? The Intersecting Roles of Race and Migration in Shaping Multimorbidity, Primary Care Coordination, and Unmet Healthcare Needs among Older Canadians, Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences (SSCI, IF=4.94, Q1). https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbac125
5. Lin, S. L.*, (2021) Access to health care among racialized immigrants to Canada in later life: A theoretical and empirical synthesis, Ageing & Society (SSCI, IF=3.71, Q2)., 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X20001841
6. Lin, S. L.* (2022). COVID-19 pandemic and im/migrants’ elevated health concerns in Canada: Vaccine hesitancy, anticipated Stigma, and risk Perception of accessing care. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health (SSCI, IF=2.01, Q3). https://org/10.1007/s10903-022-01337-5
7. Lin, S. L.* (2022). Functional disability among middle-aged and older adults in China: the intersecting roles of ethnicity, social class, and urban/rural residency. International Journal of Aging and Human Development (SSCI, IF=2.24, Q3). https://doi.org/10.1177/00914150221092129
8. Lin, S. L.*, (2021). Social work indigenization in Mainland China: Towards a state-led decolonizing framework, Journal of Social Work (SSCI, IF=2.29, Q2). https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017320981707
9. Lin, S. L.* (2020). Inequities in Access: The Impact of a Segmented Health Insurance System on Physician Visits and Hospital Admissions Among Older Adults in the 2014 China Family Panel Studies. International Journal of Health Services (SSCI, IF=1.85, Q4), 50(2), 184-198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731419867529
10. Lin, S. L.*, Kobayashi K., Hongmei T., Davison, K. M., Simran R. A., Fuller-Thomson E (2020). Close Relations Matter: The Association between Depression and Refugee Status in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health (SSCI, IF=2.05, Q3). https://org/10.1007/s10903-020-00980-0
11. Lin, S. L.* (2018) “We work like ants…we avoid being troublemaker”: An exploratory inquiry on resilience of Chinese street vendors in the urban village, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (ESSCI), https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-01-2018-0008

Co-authored papers (N=9)

1. Hongmei T., Lung. Y., Lin, S. L., Kobayashi K., Davison, K. M., Fuller-Thomson E* (2021). Refugee Status is Associated with Double the Odds of Psychological Distress in mid-to-late life: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)Canadian Refugees, International Journal of Social Psychiatry (SSCI, IF=10.46). https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020971003
2. Davison, K.M., Hyland, C.E., West, M.L., Lin, S. L., Kobayashi K., Hongmei T., Fuller-Thomson, E*. (2021).Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in older adults differs by immigrant status and ethnicity, nutrition, and health characteristics in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.56 (SSCI, IF=4.52). 963–980. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-02003-7
3. Davison K.M.*, Thakkar V, Lin, S. L., Stabler L, MacPhee M, Carroll S, Collins B, Rezler Z, Colautti J, Xu C, Fuller-Thomson E, Hey B, Kelly K, Mullaly L, Remick R, Ravindran A, Paric A, D’Andreamatteo C, Smye V. (2021) Interventions to Support Mental Health among Those with Health Conditions that Present Risk for Severe Infection from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Scoping Review of English and Chinese-Language Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (SSCI, IF=4.61). 18(14):7265. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147265
4. Stabler, L., MacPhee, M., Collins, B., Carroll, S., Davison, K.*, Thakkar, V., & Lin, S. L., Hey, B. (2021). A rapid realist review of effective mental health interventions for individuals with chronic physical health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic using a systems-level mental health promotion framework. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (SSCI, IF=4.61), 18(23), 12292. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312292
5. Davison, K. M., Y., Lin, S. L. ,Kobayashi K., Hongmei T., Fuller-Thomson, E.* (2020) Psychological distress in older adults linked to immigrant status, dietary intake, and physical health conditions in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), Journal of Affective Disorders (SCI, IF=6.53) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.024 
6. Fuller-Thomson, E., Davison, K. M., Lin, S. L., Kobayashi K., Hongmei T., (2020) Nutrition, Immigration and Health Determinants are Linked to Verbal Fluency among Anglophone Adults in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), Journal of Nutrition, Aging and Health (SCI, IF=4.07), 24,672–680 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-020-1402-8
7. Davison, K. M., Lin, S. L., Tong, H., Kobayashi, K. M., Mora-Almanza, J. G., & Fuller-Thomson, E*. (2020). Nutritional Factors, Physical Health and Immigrant Status Are Associated with Anxiety Disorders among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Findings from Baseline Data of The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (SSCI, IF=4.61), 17(5), 1493.). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051493      
8. Davison, K. M., Yu, L., Lin, S. L. Kobayashi K., Hongmei T., Fuller-Thomson, E.* (2019), Depression in middle and older adulthood: The role of immigration, nutrition, and other determinants of health in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, BMC Psychiatry (SSCI, IF=4.14), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2309-y
9. Ngai, S. Y.*, Cheung, C. K., Yuan, R., Lin, S. L. (2016). Work motivation of unemployed youths: Moderating effects of financial dependence on parents, Children and Youth Services Review (SSCI, IF=2.39), 71, 157-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.11.005

Undergraduate Courses (Course leader role): 

1. SS3285 - Human Behaviour in Social Environment (2022/23 Sem B)
2. GE2226 - Ageing Society: HK & Beyond (2022/23 Sem B)
3. GE1226 - Youth in a Changing Society (2022/23 Sem B)
4. SS1012 - Youth in a Changing Society (2022/23 Sem B)
5. SS5111 - Social Welfare Policy System and Reform [Tutorial] (2022/23 Sem B)

Postgraduate Courses (Course leader role):

1. SS6403 -  Master’s Integrative Projects (2022/23 Sem B)
2. SS5212 - Human Behaviour and Diversity [Tutorial] (2022/23 Sem A)

• Deputy Admission Tutor (Officer) - the Master of Social Work (MSW) Program, 2022 September - Present
• Library Liasion Officer - Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, 2022 September - Present