Featured Psychologist
Larke N. Huang, PhD, is a licensed clinical-community psychologist and a senior advisor in the Administrator’s Office of Policy Planning and Innovation at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland before pursuing and attaining her doctorate degree in clinical-community psychology from Yale University. Since graduating, Huang has devoted much of her illustrious career to understanding the role of culture in mental health research, policy and practice. She is the co-founder of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association and the National Alliance of Multi-Ethnic Behavioral Health Associations where she has brought researchers and practitioners together with community and national leaders to develop strategies to reduce disparities in behavioral healthcare for diverse and underserved communities.
Soon after the turn of the century, Huang received appointment to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. This commission was given the responsibility of conducting a study of the nation’s mental health system and generating policy recommendations to ensure that people with mental health conditions are provided with effective services and support to assure that they live full and thriving lives within their homes and communities.
In addition to serving in academia, Huang was recruited in 2004 to be a managing director at the American Institutes for Research in an effort to expand their work in children’s mental health. Here she assembled her own research and technical assistance teams to focus on the translation of research into practice. Furthermore, Huang has also played her own role within the American Psychological Association. She was among the first cohort of fellows in the APA Minority Fellowship Program where she later would come aboard as a member of the Minority Fellowship Program Advisory Committee.
Huang has worked tirelessly her entire career as an advocate for social justice and a champion for diverse and underserved populations. She has worked in the direction of structural and social change in an effort to make a difference for those without a voice. She has broken down barriers in her own accomplishments and in doing so she has left a path for young scholars to follow. The world and the field of psychology has been left a better place in the wake of her esteemed career.