Johnnie Yang, PhD

Project title/Research interests: Reimagining Higher Education as a Driver of Population Health, Holistic wellbeing; wellbeing measurement; survey development and psychometrics; mixed-methods research; contemplative interventions; educational policy.

Background:
Dr. Johnnie Yang is an education researcher whose work advances holistic wellbeing in higher education. He received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he examined how colleges and universities can better support student wellbeing through measurement, intervention, and curriculum. His expertise includes survey development and validation, mixed-methods research, and the study of multidimensional wellbeing across diverse student populations. Drawing from prevention science and implementation science, Dr. Yang investigates how higher education can function as a population health intervention by translating evidence-based wellbeing practices into educational settings at scale. More broadly, he seeks to expand equitable access to health and wellbeing through contemplative practices such as yoga, meditation, and breathwork integrated into general education. His long-term research agenda is to design and evaluate scalable, evidence-based strategies that leverage educational systems and institutional policy to improve population health.