Rate My Professor Hyeran Chung

Dr. Hyeran Chung is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance within the Woody L. Hunt College of Business at the University of Texas at El Paso, a position she assumed in 2024. She holds a PhD in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2022), a Master of Arts in applied economics, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a focus in business economics from Ohio University. Before joining UTEP, Dr. Chung completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities' Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation, where she also mentored graduate students. During her doctoral studies at UIUC, she was honored as an Outstanding Ph.D. Student, received multiple departmental fellowships, and was recognized on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students.

An applied economist, Dr. Chung's research centers on health economics and the economics of aging, investigating how early-life factors—including education and experiences of racism—shape later-life outcomes in areas such as physical health, cognitive functioning, financial decision-making, and overall well-being. She also examines determinants of health disparities and the impacts of migration on healthcare labor markets. Dr. Chung engages in interdisciplinary collaborations with economists, sociologists, and public health researchers and is a member of the Population Association of America and the American Society of Health Economists. Her notable publications include "Profile and Disparities in Health Outcomes for Older Adults with Dual Diagnoses of Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease" (Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2025; co-authored with Alfonso J. Rojas Alvarez, Jose E. Cabrero Castro, and Emre Umucu), "Does Health Drive Retirement or Retirement Drive Health?" (Oxford University Press, in press; with Sita Slavov), and "Racial, ethnic, and urban/rural differences in the transition into diabetes: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Survey biomarker and self-reported data" (Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 2022; with Mary Arends-Kuenning). Among her awards are the Rising STARs Program Award from The University of Texas System (2024), the Jasso Best Student Paper Award at the 2nd Biennial Conference on Population and Public Policy, and the Research Scholarship Award from the American Council on Consumer Interests. Dr. Chung contributes to the UTEP Health Policy Lab and has received NIH funding through the UTEP FIRST program (2024-2027).