Dr. Huang is Assistant Professor in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care at UAB. She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology at University of Alabama and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Palliative Psychology and Psycho-oncology at UAB. Dr. Huang serves as Director of Psychology and Counseling Program at UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care. In this role, Dr. Huang builds the infrastructure to integrate psychological services with oncology, geriatrics, and intensive care through health learning system and increases service volume to 5,000 visits across inpatient and outpatient services at UAB to meet the psychosocial care needs of seriously ill patients and caregivers.
In 2018, Dr. Huang founded the Psycho-Oncology Counseling Residency Program (PCRP), the first subspecialty mental health advance practice provider (APP) residency program to cultivate next generation psycho-oncologists. Building upon the co-production model, PCRP offers a 2-year curriculum that provides diverse clinical rotation opportunities in Supportive Care and Survivorship Clinic, Hematology and Oncology Specialty Unit, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Palliative Care Consultation Services, and Brain Aging and Memory Clinic. Funded by Women's Breast Health Fund (WBHF), Dr. Huang launched Psychosocial Oncology Training Academy (POTA), the first community-based interprofessional training program targeting community primary care and mental health clinicians to improve access and quality of psychosocial cancer care for breast cancer survivors and caregivers.
As a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Huang provides counseling to patients and families facing serious illness and spearheads the UAB Psycho-Oncology Distress Screening and Management Program (DSMP) since 2019. The DSMP provides more than 32,000 depression screening per year and connects patients with in-person and telehealth psycho-oncology services to optimize comprehensive cancer care. Her interests include the implementation of system-wide best practices to improve access and quality of psychosocial cancer care, interprofessional education (IPE), mixed-method research, and trauma-informed palliative care.
