SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Ms. Moka Yoo-Jeong received her BS in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin where she worked as a student researcher in a supramolecular chemistry lab constructing peptide-based sensors used to differentiate wine varietals and also in a social psychology research study examining behavioral manifestations of individual’s personality. She continued her education at Emory University, where she received a BS in nursing. While pursuing her BSN, Ms. Yoo-Jeong was also involved in a Quality Improvement project at a rural clinic in West Virginia, where the clinic mainly served adult/older adult patients with multiple and complex chronic conditions. Close contact with such patients has instilled Ms. Yoo-Jeong’s research interest in aging in vulnerable and underrepresented populations with complex chronic conditions, such as those aging with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Yoo-Jeong is currently pursuing PhD in Nursing at Emory University and is also in the process of becoming an adult-gerontological nurse practitioner. Ms. Yoo-Jeong’s research interest is focused on the intertwining associations between psychosocial factors, emotion regulation, and behavioral regulation. Her dissertation research will examine the effects of social isolation on an important self-management behavior (i.e., adherence to routine clinic visits) and emotion regulation in older patients living with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Yoo-Jeong’s goals are to establish a strong foundation of research and Adult/Gero specialty, to utilize her education and research expertise to educate nursing students and nurses, and to ensure high quality care for patients aging with complex chronic conditions like those aging with HIV/AIDS

Even though I have over 14 years nursing experiences, I came to realize that having some nursing experience is not enough to take good care of my patients due to an imbalance of limited knowledge and skills. Therefore, I decided to study in America, which has one of the most advanced nursing curriculums. My research interest is the correlations between chronic disease and alternative treatments such as ear acupressure, cupping glass and so on. I initially became interested in this topic due to my father who has hypertension. My father’s blood pressure was controlled well and finally stopped taking medications. As a professional nurse, I thought about what made him adjust better than his friends who had same diseases and my patients at a hospital. My father liked listening to any music so he could relax and manage his stress. Even though technologies, machines, procedures, and medications are advanced and we exchange a lot of knowledge between western and eastern nowadays; we are still experiencing the need of research for more integral and combination of alternative methods with high technology medical methods. Furthermore, when we try this type of research it is effective to conduct research actively with many different fields for quality cares, such as dietitian or music therapy. I definitely believe that these research results will be practical, useful, and worth pursuing for better care of people.