Yi-Wen Shih, M.D., M.P.H.

Yi-Wen Shih is a Ph.D. candidate in Health Services Policy and Management at the University of South Carolina. She holds an MD and MPH from China Medical University in Taiwan. Her research focuses on mental health, health disparities, and substance use, particularly opioid use. She has been engaged in various research projects – funded by the NIH, HRSA, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), and NIMH – including examining racial disparities in several maternal mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic; exploring social determinants of health and structural racism on adverse birth outcomes; assessing rural-urban disparities in quality of mental health care; evaluating community mental health services availability for suicide mortality; as well as studying the use of nonpharmacologic treatment among adults with chronic noncancer pain with opioids. She is passionate about improving health outcomes for disadvantaged populations and developing healthcare strategies for preventing opioid use disorder in the United States and beyond.

Dr. Shih is a recipient of a 2023 AcademyHealth Alice S. Hersh Student Scholarship for the Annual Research Meeting.