Audrey Hang Hai, PhD, MSW, is an associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. Her work focuses on the intersection of substance use disorder, technology, and spirituality. Drawing on intervention science, implementation science, and community-engaged research, she develops and implements effective interventions for people who need them most but are least able to access them.
One of Dr. Hai’s current research projects, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), develops a technology- and spirituality-enhanced intervention for Hispanic young adults with alcohol use disorder. The project aims to transform the underutilized evidence-based Twelve-Step Facilitation intervention into an engaging, accessible, and scalable smartphone app. She also leads another project, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), testing an innovative AI-enhanced, VR-delivered mindfulness intervention for people with HIV and substance use. Dr. Hai’s research articles have appeared in top behavioral health journals such as Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Hai earned her MSW from the University of Southern California and practiced as a medical social worker in Los Angeles before moving to Austin for her doctoral studies at UT Social Work. She went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the Boston University Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health, and she was also a selected training fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Enhanced Interdisciplinary Research Training Institute on Hispanic Drug Abuse.