Profile

Su-I Hou, a Professor at the University of Central Florida's School of Global Health Management and Informatics (SGHMI), strategically led the unit's transition into a school and served as its founding director during the pandemic. Since 2015, she has coordinated the health track for UCF's Doctoral Program in Public Affairs (PAF-PhD). Hou initiated and directed the Taiwan Study Abroad Program on Asian Culture, Healthcare, & Aging Society at both UGA (2011-2015) and UCF (2017-present). As a Fulbright Specialist (2019-2024), she conducted mixed methods research training workshops globally. Recently named the 2024-2026 Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences, she will collaborate with Finland's world-renowned FINGERS research team to explore digitally enhanced lifestyle interventions' impact on brain health promotion to slow cognitive decline.

Hou has taught a variety of research and competency-based courses, including Mixed Methods Research, Research Methods, Policy & Program Evaluation, Program Development & Implementation; Community Health; Epidemiology; Human Ecology of Health & Illness; Cancer Communication; Cancer Epidemiology & Prevention; HIV Needs Assessment; Doctoral Seminars; Asian Culture & Health; Public Health & Aging, etc.  Prior to become a university faculty member, Hou had considerable practical and administrative experience in health care and community settings, serving as the founding director of the Community Health Department at one of the major teaching hospitals in Taiwan.

Hou has been very active in the Chinese-American communities, serving as the 2013-2014 president for the Chinese-American Academic and Professional Association in Southeastern United States (CAPASUS), and continuing to serve on its executive board. She has close professional ties with Taiwan and China and has been frequently invited by their government agencies, major national universities, and industrial partners to give keynotes and training workshops.

Prior to joining UCF in 2015, Hou was a key founding faculty member of the College of Public Health, and founding director of the Taiwan Public Health Study Abroad Program at the University of Georgia (UGA), Athens, GA. She served as an associate editor (2009-2015) for Health Promotion Practice, the Society of Public Health Education's official journal devoted to the practical application of health promotion and education. Hou is a recognized scholar of service learning by the Community-Campus Partnership for Health and was also an inaugural service-learning senior scholar and a recipient of the Service-Learning Research Excellence Award at UGA. Dr. Hou has published over 140+ peer-reviewed journal articles, presented over 260+ papers at national and international conferences, and given over 160+ invited international presentations, workshops, or seminars.

Leadership Conversation with Su-I Hou

• Mixed Methods Research (MMR)
• Evaluation of Health Programs
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

• DrPH - School of Public Health, University of Texas – Health Science Center at Houston
• MPH - School of Public Health, University of Texas – Health Science Center at Houston
• BSN – School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Dr. Hou brings extensive public health research experience and expertise in mixed methods research, program evaluation, and community based participatory research (CBPR) to UCF.  Her research has focused on Aging-in-Community (AIC) models / programs and older adult healthy aging, as well as community and worksite strategies to promote early detection and prevention of selected cancers and HIV/AIDS.  Most of her research has involved working with community partners in developing and validating study instruments, assessing psycho-social factors of health behaviors, developing and implementing theory-based health programs, and evaluating the effectiveness of program interventions.

• Healthy Aging-in-Community
• Cancer Screening Disparities
• HIV Behavioral Research
• Global Healthcare Management

Barriers to effective screening for food insecurity in outpatient clinical settings – Screen and Intervene: Connecting Food Insecure Patients to Resources.
Project PI: Karen Broussard (Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida)
Project Co-PIs: Christina Bernhardt (Georgia Health Policy Center), Jane Simon (Alliance for Community Health (Alliance)
UCF-subaward Principal Investigator: Su-I Hou, DrPH, CPH, MCHES, RN
UCF-subaward Co- Principal Investigator: Christian King, PhD
Sponsor: Florida Blue Foundation – Food Security Grant (#13308)
Award Period: 1/02/2022 to 12/31/2024
Total Award: $9,000 UCF ($300,000 total)

Barriers to effective screening for food insecurity in outpatient clinical settings – A convergent mixed methods case study identifying patient and provider perspectives.
Principal Investigator: Su-I Hou, DrPH, CPH, MCHES, RN
Co- Principal Investigators: Christian King, PhD, and Ann Miller, PhD
Co-Investigators: Christina Bernhardt, PhD, and Karen Broussard (community partner)
Sponsor: UCF Downtown Interdisciplinary Research Initiative (DIRI) – Phase I & II
Award Period: 9/01/2019 to 6/30/2021
Total Award: $63,000

Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) & Global Research Group – Asia SDGs: Healthy lifestyle does matters for community dwellings pursing quality of life.
Principal Investigator:: Li-Fan Liu, PhD (NCKU, Taiwan)
Co- Principal Investigators: Su-I Hou, DrPH (UCF), Li-Chung Lin, PhD (NCKU), Shyh-Nan Liu, PhD (NCKU), Hoi-Lam Fung, PhD (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Sponsor: National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan
Total award: $7,200

• 2024-2026 - Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences
  Promoting Healthy Aging in Community with Digital Tech – Brain Health & Dementia Prevention. University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. The Fulbright Finland Foundation, the Saastamoinen Foundation, & the U.S. Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB), U.S. Department of State
• 2023 - National Science & Technology Council (NSTC) Visiting Scholar & Visiting Professor Award, NSTC, Taiwan. Visited the School of Public Health, National Defense Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2023 - Erasmus+ Mobility for Teaching Award. Visited Tallinn University Haapsalu College & School of Governance, Law and Society, Estonia
• 2023 - Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (FGSA)
• 2022 - Fellow of American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE)
• 2020 – Teaching Incentive Award (TIP). University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
• 2020 –Research Incentive Award (RIA).  University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
• 2020 –Fulbright Specialist Grant.  Mixed Methods Research Workshops and Consultation.  Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB), U.S. Department of State
• 2019 –Fulbright Specialist (2019-2024). Fulbright Specialist Program. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

• PAF 7325 Policy & Program Evaluation (3 Cr.)
• PAF 7868 Statistics III – Mixed Methods Research (3 Cr.)
• PAF 7947 Practicum (3 Cr.)
• PAF 7919 Doctoral Research Hours (1-9 Cr.)
• PAF 7908 Doctoral Independent Study (1-9 Cr.)
• HSA 6946 MHA Internship (3 Cr.)
• HSA 4912 Undergraduate Research Hours (0 Cr.)
• HSA 4563 Healthcare Needs for the Elderly (3 Cr.)
• HSA 3111 U.S. Healthcare Systems (3 Cr.)
• HSC 3573 Medical Terminology (3 Cr.)
• HSC 3593 HIV/AIDS (3 Cr.)
• HSA 4995 / HSA 6998 / PAF 7998 Asian Culture, Healthcare, & Aging (3 Cr.)