Kristen R. Choi, PhD, PMHNP-BC, FAAN
Associate Professor; Audrienne H. Moseley Chair in Nursing
About
Kristen Choi, PhD, PMHNP-BC, FAAN, is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and health services researcher. Dr. Choi studies health services and policy approaches to improving mental health, trauma, and health disparities among children and other vulnerable populations. Her current research projects include studies on adverse childhood experiences, suicide risk, nurses and nurse practitioners in the mental health workforce, and mental health disparities. She is an Associate Director of Nursing for the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program and holds a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. As a both a clinician and a scientist, Dr. Choi maintains a clinical practice as a PMHNP at a community psychiatric hospital in Los Angeles. She addresses child behavioral health from individual, family, system, and policy levels in her research and is committed to an action-oriented program of research that will improve the health of children and communities.
Faculty Research and Clinical Expertise
Trauma; violence; stress; mental health; developmental disabilities; homelessness; children and adolescents; health services research; health policy
Education and Degree(s)
Post-doctoral fellowship, UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program, Los Angeles, CA
MS, Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
PhD, University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, MI
BSN, University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, MI
Publications
Full bibliography and publication highlights:
Choi, K. R., Yama, C., Leon, Y., & Kersey, L. (2026). A pilot study of healthcare trusted messengers to promote tax credit receipt among low-income families in Los Angeles. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 22(1), 105603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2025.105603
Choi, K. R., Dunn, E., Comulada, S., & Saadi, A. (2025). Latent class analysis of household and community adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among pre-adolescent youth in the United States. Child Psychiatry & Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-025-01883-7
Choi, K. R., Morris, E., Bustamante, D., & Mead, M. (2024). Applying the Pediatric ACEs and Related Life Events Screener (PEARLS) in child psychiatry to identify and address child adversity. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2024.2378435.
Choi, K. R., Ayala, L., Lierly, R., Bustamante, D., Cioppa-Fong, B., Mead, M., Mkroyan, H. J., Morris, E., Babajanyan, I., & Maryanov, D. (2023). Implementing the NCTSN Trauma Informed Organizational Assessment (TIOA) for improving trauma-informed care in inpatient child psychiatry. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 30(3), 722-732. https://doi.org/10.1177/10783903231171590.
Choi, K. R., Wisk, L., & Zima, B. (2023). Availability of LGBTQ mental health services for youth in the United States, 2014–2020. JAMA Pediatrics. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.1473
Choi, K. R. & Roberson, A. J. (2022). Looking to the VA for a roadmap on how to sustain tele-mental health care. Psychological Services. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000722
Choi, K. R., Castillo, E., Seamans, M., Grotts, J. H., Rab, S., Kalafonos, I., Mead, M., Walker, I., & Starks, S. (2021). Mental health conservatorship among people experiencing homelessness and serious mental illness in Los Angeles. Psychiatric Services.
Choi, K. R., Bhakta, B., Knight, E., Becerra-Culqui, T. A., Gahre, T., Zima, B. T., & Coleman, K. J. (2021). Patient outcomes after expansion of Applied Behavior Analysis for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000995
Choi, K. R., Stewart, T., Fein, E., McCreary, M., Kenan, K., Davies, J., Naureckas, S., & Zima, B. (2020). The impact of attachment-disrupting adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on child behavioral health. Journal of Pediatrics, 221, 224-229. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.03.006
Choi, K. R., Knight, E. A., Stein, B. D., & Coleman, K. J. (2020). Autism insurance mandates in US states: Comparison of mandated commercial insurance benefits across states. Maternal and Child Health Journal. DOI: 10.1007/s10995-020-02950-2.
Choi, K. R., McCreary, M., Rahmanian, S. K., Ford, J. D., Kenan, K., & Zima, B. (2019). Validation of the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory for ACEs. Pediatrics, 143(4), e20182546.
Choi, K. R., Seng, J. S., Briggs-King, E., Munro-Kramer, M. L., Graham-Bermann, S. A., Lee, R. L., & Ford, J. D. (2017). The dissociative subtype of PTSD among adolescents: Co-occurring PTSD, depersonalization/derealization, and other dissociation symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(12), 1062-72. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2017.09.425
Honors and Awards
2022-2025 | Fellow, Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators
2022 | Early Career Achievement Award, University of Michigan School of Nursing
2021 | Fellow, Health Policy and Media Fellowship, George Washington University Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement
2021 | Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
2020 | Forbes ’30 Under 30’ Healthcare
2019 | Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health, Child Intervention, Prevention, and Services (CHIPS) Research Training Institute
2018 | Fellow, Jonas Policy Scholars Program, American Academy of Nursing