Rate My Professor Hsien-Chang Lin

Dr. Hsien-Chang Lin serves as Department Chair and Professor of Health Behavior and Policy in the Department of Child and Family Development at San Diego State University College of Education, joining in August 2024. Prior to this, he was Professor and Interim Associate Dean at the Indiana University Bloomington School of Public Health for 13 years. Lin earned a dual Ph.D. in Health Policy and Pharmaceutical Health Services Research from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in Economics from National Taiwan University, and a B.A. in Economics and Sociology from National Taiwan University. His research examines the prevention, treatment, and effects of substance use behaviors such as vaping, marijuana use, and opioid misuse, alongside their interactions with the healthcare system. He focuses on childhood well-being, adverse childhood experiences, stressful life events, and their influences on later-life health outcomes, employing quantitative methodologies, big data analytics, and the socioecological model to integrate macro-level health policy with micro-level health behavior analysis.

Lin has published over 120 journal articles and received R01 grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Key publications include Summit et al., Assessing the Association Between Child Maltreatment and Chronic Pain (Pain, 2026); Zheng et al., Reciprocal Relationships Among Youth Social Media Use, Internalizing Symptoms, and Substance Use (Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2026); Yang et al., Optimal Urinary Cotinine and Total Nicotine Equivalents Cut-point for Distinguishing Tobacco Users from Non-Users among American Youth (Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2025); and Zheng et al., Meme Exposure on Social Media Associated with More Positive E-cigarette Perceptions and Greater Usage Among Youth (Journal of Health Communication, 2025). His accolades include Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine (2024), Mentorship Award from the American Academy of Health Behavior (2023), Indiana University Trustees’ Teaching Award (2014, 2017), Fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior (2019), and service as its President. He also contributed to a National Academies committee on opioids' impact on veterans.