Dr. Christina S. Lee Promoted to Professor at BU School of Social Work
BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) is proud to announce the promotion of Christina S. Lee, Ph.D., to professor. In addition to her role at the school, Dr. Lee is faculty director of the Health Equity Research Lab at The Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health at BUSSW. Her scholarship bridges intervention science, addiction psychology, and health inequities with a focus on improving addiction treatment for stigmatized populations. Her work examines the role of social and environmental stressors, including discrimination, stigma, and racism, in shaping substance use and treatment outcomes. Through this work, Dr. Lee has become an influential voice in understanding substance use as a social justice issue and in developing interventions to reduce risky health behaviors among diverse and understudied populations.
Dr. Lee’s book, “Motivational Interviewing Across Cultures,” received first place in the Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing category from the American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards 2025, one of the most respected honors in nursing and healthcare publishing. In 2025, she also received the Dora Goldstein Distinguished in the Sciences Award, which recognizes demonstrated excellence and creativity in alcohol research, as well as a sustained commitment to diversity and mentoring from the Research Society on Alcohol. As principal investigator and co-principal investigator, Dr. Lee has led NIH funded clinical substance use treatment research with diverse populations and has trained community health workers and recovery coaches in Motivational Interviewing. She also mentors BUSSW graduate students and NIH-funded postdoctoral scholars from diverse racial-ethnic groups. At BUSSW, she teaches the course on substance use and treatment to social workers.
Dr. Lee serves as a senior editor for the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, as well as the NIAAA journal Alcohol Research: Current Reviews. She also serves on the Board of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers FoRSE. In 2024, she was elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Lee is a volunteer clinician at Casa Esperanza in Boston. Shehas been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) since 2006 and has completed certification training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. She is an invited contributor to Psychology Today with a blog, “Connecting Across Divides: Building Therapeutic Bridges in a Fractured World.”