Research Team
Faculty Leadership
Dr. Milkie Vu
Dr. Milkie Vu (she/her) is a mixed-methods researcher with over a decade of experience conducting community-engaged research to promote health equity. Her research program focuses on developing and implementing culturally-relevant, community-centered solutions to reduce cancer and chronic disease health disparities in Asian American, immigrant, and other minoritized populations. She draws on methodologies and theories from social and behavioral sciences as well as implementation science. Dr. Vu is deeply committed to building multisectoral partnerships and leveraging community engagement to explore and address structural and social determinants of health. She is well-recognized for her research contribution on HPV vaccination in Asian American and diverse populations. In addition, Dr. Vu has also conducted research on food insecurity, cancer screening, mental health, tobacco use, and physical activity. Dr. Vu completed her Bachelor’s degree in History and Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, her Master’s degree in Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, and her PhD degree in Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences at Emory University. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the T32 program in Cancer Prevention & Control at Northwestern University.
Project Management
Ninh Nguyen
Ninh Nguyen (she/her) earned her B.S. in Health Sciences from Gettysburg College, where she first explored public health research by contributing to ecological studies on seabird populations in the Gulf of Maine. She later expanded her research experience by mentoring high school students in assessing air quality under New York City subways, advocating for ventilation policy improvements at Columbia University, and contributing to cancer drug development research at NYU. Ninh is excited to join the Vu Lab, where she hopes to advance the quality of health services for minority populations by centering the patient perspective.
Jeimmy Hurtado
Jeimmy Hurtado (She/Her) holds a BA in Psychology from New York University. As a Research Project Coordinator, she splits her efforts between the Vu Research Lab, where she manages Project HOPE-T2DM that investigates how home care workers can support diabetes self-management in older Asian American adults, and the Center for Applied Health Research on Aging, where she supports the LitCog study that explores health literacy and cognitive function in older adults. Jeimmy is currently pursuing her Master’s in Healthcare Administration at Northwestern University and is particularly interested in financial management in healthcare.
Recent Updates
Genna Landi presented a research poster (“User-centered design of a video featuring healthcare providers sharing evidence-based HPV vaccine information for the U.S. Vietnamese community”) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s 2025 19th Annual Lewis Landsberg Research Day.
Linh Do Schiffer presented a research poster (“Community Perspectives on Factors Influencing Participation in a Digital Health Trial to Promote HPV Vaccination in the U.S. Vietnamese Population”) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s 2025 Health Equity Research Symposium.
Layna Lu presented a research poster (“Exploring Factors Influencing Mental Health Service Referral and Use Among Chinese American Populations through Community-Based Implementation Science”) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s 2025 Health Equity Research Symposium.
Chau Tran presented a research poster (“Enhancing HPV Vaccine Education: Culturally tailored digital interventions for U.S. Vietnamese parents”) at Northwestern University’s Institute for Public Health and Medicine’s 2025 Public Health Summit. Chau was selected as a finalist for the Bing Chang Award for Excellence at the event.
Jane Gou presented a research poster (“Leveraging community strengths and resources to combat food insecurity in Asian American communities”) at Northwestern University’s Institute for Public Health and Medicine’s 2025 Public Health Summit.
Lillian Bui presented a research poster (“US Vietnamese parents’ perceptions of different approaches for confirming adolescent HPV vaccination records in research studies”) at the 12th Annual Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy Symposium (The University of Chicago).
Justine Liu presented a research poster (“Cancer fatalism among Asian American adults by origin group, 2012-2022”) at the 2024 Health Equity Poster Session (Feinberg School of Medicine). As an undergraduate student, Ms. Liu completed an internship with Dr. Vu through the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Grant Program (Northwestern University). This project won her a nomination as the Semi-Finalist for the Fletcher Undergraduate Research Grant Prize.
Valerie Espinoza presented a research poster (“Understanding the factors that influence U.S. Vietnamese parents’ engagement with digital health interventions for HPV vaccination: perspectives from parents and community partners”) at the 2024 Arch Scholars Research Symposium (Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences). As an undergraduate student, Ms. Espinoza completed an internship with Dr. Vu through the 2024 NU Bioscientist Undergraduate Research Grant Program (Northwestern University).
Jane Gou presented a research poster (“Leveraging community strengths and resources to combat food insecurity in Asian American communities”) at the 2024 Health Equity Poster Session (Feinberg School of Medicine). As an undergraduate student, Ms. Gou completed an internship with Dr. Vu through the 2024 Summer Internship Grant Program (Northwestern University).
