NSME new faculty: Dr. Linh Bui

Public health, housed in the Department of Nursing

By California State University, Bakersfield

August 23^rd, 2021

Starting a new teaching position is an exciting opportunity for any faculty member, but for Dr. Linh Bui, joining CSUB as a professor of public health is also a rare chance to be part of an entirely new program and see how it grows from the ground up.

“I am really excited about the new bachelor’s degree in public health at CSUB,” Dr. Bui said. “I look forward to joining CSUB faculty who are all passionate about teaching and research. I want to be part of a bridge to connect students who have an interest in health science and healthcare to a new career pathway.”

Dr. Bui will teach two courses, Careers in Public Health and Public Health Practices, as part of CSUB’s new program, which was approved by the CSU Chancellor’s Office in the spring. Dr. Bui will be housed in NSME’s nursing department, while her public health colleague, Dr. Andrea Lopez, will be housed in the School of Social Sciences and Education’s kinesiology department.

Originally from Hanoi, Vietnam, Dr. Bui earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from Hanoi University of Public Health before receiving her master’s in international public health from the University of Sydney, Australia. She worked as a public health instructor and researcher at her first alma mater for six years before moving to the states to pursue her Ph.D. in public health with a health policy concentration from Oregon State University. Most recently, she was a health equity and implementation science postdoctoral research fellow at University of California, Berkeley and Sutter Health.

“As a health services and policy researcher, my research focuses on healthcare delivery reforms and innovations, especially for women, children and persons with mental illnesses, and how healthcare innovations could improve health equity,” Dr. Bui said.

Recent topics of Dr. Bui’s research include looking at innovative care models for low-income women and children in Oregon and how the availability of behavioral health services at hospital emergency departments impacts patients with mental illnesses seeking care there. In the last year, she has also studied the use of telehealth for prenatal and postnatal care of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Sutter Health system and whether it was different among racial or ethnic groups.

“My parents are physicians, so I grew up hearing healthcare stories and seeing the disparities in health, healthcare access and quality across the country and different groups of population,” Dr. Bui said. “While I was working in Vietnam, I had opportunities to work in health programs and interventions for communities, women and children in rural areas and realized that it will be a long way to go to reduce health disparities. This is how I became more interested in policy and innovations that could help improve community’s health and reduce inequity in healthcare, especially how to improve health for vulnerable populations.”

Here in Bakersfield, Dr. Bui looks forward to collaborating with faculty both within and outside of the nursing department to study health programs addressing health issues that are a priority in Kern County, like access to healthcare, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity and addiction. She is excited to involve students in her research and strengthen the partnership with the Kern County Public Health department.

After living in the Bay Area for the last year, Dr. Bui is excited to move to Bakersfield. She and her 11-year-old son like to play tennis, swim, hike, bike and go to the movies in their free time.

“I was born and grew up in a crazily busy and populated Asian city, so I appreciate the ‘small-town’ feel,” Dr. Bui said. “I love nature, so I look forward to exploring all the national and state parks in Kern County. I learned that the Bakersfield community is diverse and inclusive, and I look forward to being part of this community.”