Dr. Ma is a nationally recognized behavioral health scientist, leader and pioneer in cancer and health disparities research. In her role as Associate Dean for Health Disparities, Dr. Ma has provided critical and effective leadership in building robust research infrastructure and leading multidisciplinary teams across Temple schools/colleges and multiple institutions in conducting independent and collaborative, highly competitive and innovative cancer research and education/training a pipeline of junior investigators in population, translational and clinical sciences.

In 2000, Dr. Ma established Temple University Center for Asian Health (CAH), one of the first in the nation dedicated to reducing cancer and health disparities Dr. Ma in partnership with community leaders co-founded the first Community Cancer Health Network in the U.S. Eastern Region, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York City, Delaware and DC/Maryland.

Built on two decades of her leadership, Dr. Ma and her research team established successful partnerships with over 400 community organizations to engage in population health research and interventions. During her career, Dr. Ma has received continuous awards in research grants from National Institutes of Health (NIH), federal agencies and other funders. She has made seminal contributions in reducing health disparities. Dr. Ma’s expertise spans a broad range of health disciplines. Her community-based participatory research (CBPR) and patient-centered outcome research (PCOR) have focused on improving early detection, patient navigation, cancer prevention and control (Hepatitis-related liver cancer, cervical, breast, lung and colorectal cancers), smoking cessation, and access/quality of healthcare. Dr. Ma has directed more than 100 intervention or observational longitudinal research studies, including large-scale cluster randomized intervention trials, implementation and dissemination studies at worksites, community health centers, primary care clinics, community-based organizations and churches. Dr. Ma also conducted a number of studies focusing on multilevel risk factors and viral related diseases, evidence-based interventions for improving screening, vaccination, disease management, medication adherence, quality of life and continuum of care in underserved populations.

Dr. Ma mentored over 270 minority junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, doctoral and master students that created a pipeline of workforce of research researchers. Dr. Ma authored 5 books, over 240 scientific journal articles, and delivered over 680 professional presentations at regional, national and international conferences, member of 30 scientific journal editorial boards. Dr. Ma has served on more than 40 scientific advisory boards in health disparities research, including NIH national Health Disparity Science Vision Advisory Panel and NIH study sections. As a recognized leader, Dr. Ma received numerous distinguished awards from NIH, academic institutions, scientific associations, and community organizations (e.g. 2005 NIH Martin Luther King Award in Reducing Health Disparities, 2019 Yamasaki Prize Medal for Visionary Leadership, College of William & Mary and 2020 Temple University President’s Award for Public Impact Research).