Biography
Dr. Sean Arayasirikul (they/them) is a Medical Sociologist and an Associate Professor In-Residence in the Department of Health, Society, and Behavior (DHSB) at UCI’s Program in Public Health (PPH). Dr. Arayasirikul was a National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) T32 Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Alcohol Research Group, UC Berkeley, an American Sociological Association Minority Fellow (Cohort 38), a Diversity Scholar of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions, and an Inter-CFAR Implementation Science Fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Currently, Dr. Arayasirikul is an Associate Director of the University of California Global Health Initiative (UCGHI) Center for Gender and Health Justice (CGHJ), a Board Member of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC), and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Fellow.
Prior to their academic career, Dr. Arayasirikul’s applied public health work began serving adolescents and young adults, young people living with HIV, and sexual and gender minoritized (SGM) communities of color. They were a Public Health Worker providing STI testing and health education in LA County’s STD Program, a mobile HIV Case Manager for newly diagnosed HIV-positive youth across LA County at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and a Cross Training Program Coordinator at the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention team (APAIT). In Washington, D.C., Dr. Arayasirikul oversaw mobile health and HIV testing initiatives at Whitman-Walker Health. At the federal level, Dr. Arayasirikul served as a Scholar at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Health Literacy Fellow at the United States Department of Health & Human Services (US DHHS). They have represented youth communities in HIV community planning processes as a member of the HIV Prevention Planning Committees in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
Research Interests
Dr. Arayasirikul’s research interrogates the social etiology and root causes of health among sexual and gender minoritized communities. They believe in the transformative power of community-engaged research, digital technologies, and homegrown interventions. They are focused on the following lines of inquiry:
1) the examination of health disparities and inequity among sexual and gender minoritized (SGM) communities, particularly trans women, BIPOC communities, and those with intersectional identities;
2) the development and implementation science of systems-level, digital health interventions; and
3) liberatory applications of participatory approaches to surveillance, data democratization, and health justice.
For a list of published work on PubMed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1xM98YsP9VoAb/bibliography/public/.
UCI students interested in getting involved in this work are encouraged to complete an interest form: https://forms.gle/GF5WhUhJcpLaYJm17.
Education
Dr. Arayasirikul holds a doctorate in sociology from University of California, San Francisco and a bachelor of arts degree in Asian American studies from UC Los Angeles. Their doctoral dissertation was titled, “A Three-Paper Examination of Social Inequity and Health and Illness among Trans Women”.
Honors and Awards
2023-2025, Secretary, The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration
2021-2024, Fellow, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders
2021-present, Member, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Group, Implementation Research and Practice
2021, Reviewer and Advisory Group Member, Report: Health and Socioeconomic Well-being of Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Women in the United States, UCLA Williams Institute
2020-2021, Fellow, Inter-CFAR Implementation Science Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University
2018-2021, Diversity Scholar, Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions
2018-2021, 2022-2023, Awardee, National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program
