Juliana Chen, MD on Racism Against the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

In a mass shooting in Atlanta in March 2021, six Asian women were killed. While we do not know exactly what led to this mass shooting, we do know that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, people in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community have been the targets of a dramatic rise in discrimination, harassment, and verbal and physical assault.  

Stop AAPI Hate, a website created in March 2020 to track attacks against members of Asian American Pacific Islander communities, received more than 9,000 reports of anti-Asian incidents since the launch of the website in March 2020. 

In a special episode of the Charged podcast produced by Massachusetts General Hospital, Juliana Chen, MD, Associate Director of the MGH Center for Cross Cultural Student Emotional Wellness discusses many of the challenges Asian Americans currently face.   

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Chen has been particularly interested in the impact of Anti-Asian discrimination on children and works with families to educate them about mental health issues and to reduce stigma.  Dr. Chen also participated in a recent webinar sponsored by the MGH Institute of Health Professions:  Predictable Parenting for Unpredictable Times: Promoting the Success and Wellbeing of Asian and Asian-American Students through COVID-19.  

MGH Center for Cross Cultural Student Emotional Wellness

The Asian Mental Health Collective 

NY Coalition for Asian American Mental Health

Combating Anti-Asian Sentiment — A Practical Guide for Clinicians (NEJM)

Juliana Chen, MD is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and is the Associate Director of the MGH Center for Cross Cultural Student Emotional Wellness.  She is the executive producer of the short documentary film “Looking for Luke” produced in collaboration with The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at MGH, to reduce mental health stigma and educate students and families, in particular Asian American families, about mental health issues.  Her clinical interests include parent guidance and family-based interventions to address mental health issues, and to help promote resiliency and overall wellness in children.