Bio:

Professor Bhattacharya is a longtime NYS licensed clinical social worker, member of the Academy of Ceritified Social Workers, and holder of the Qualified Clinical Social Worker and Diplomate in Clinical Social Work designations. She has more than a decade of clinical practice experience in substance abuse treatment and both adolescent and adult HIV infection prevention. Professor Bhattcharya has evaluated the social environmental situations of acculturating South Asian immigrant familes in NYC and recommended strategies to enhance the school adjustment process for children from non-English speaking countries. She has published on adolescent drug abuse amd HIV prevention in diverse sociocultural contexts. Professor Bhattacharya has longstanding affiliations throughout the NYC and U.S. Asian-Pacific Islander communities and serves on the board members of community-based HIV/AIDS prevention and care organizations. She chairs or participates as a member in several review committees for the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Professor Bhattacharya's clinical practice and policy-level experience in various sociocultural contexts have enriched her many community-based studies and publications on HIV prevention efforts in India.

Research Interests:

• Cultural diversity, health care access and outcome disparities, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
• Substance abuse prevention and treatment strategies for multiethnic communities.
• Evaluation of substance abuse and mental health illness treatment programs.
• Immigrant health research, with a focus on HIV prevention among South Asian immigrants to the U.S.
• Globalization and its challenges for health, clinical practice, and social work curriculum building.

Current Projects:

• Social capital and vulnerability to HIV among heterosexual immigrant men from India to NYC. (work in progress).
• Social environmental context of immigration and HIV infection risk: Asian Indians in the United States. Funded by the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco, and the National Institute of Mental Health, (2001-2004).
• HIV Risk in sociocultural context: A case study in South India. Funded by the International Council, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), 2001-2002.
• Sociocultural patterning of individual health behaviors: The case of HIV/AIDS infection risk in India. Funded by the International Council, UIUC, 2000-2001.
• Perceptions of the risks of HIV infection among Asian-Indian youths. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 1997-1998.
• Asian-Indian youths: Prevalence of drug use. Funded by NIDA, 1996-1998.

Recent Publications:

Books and Chapters
Bhattacharya, G. (2005). Drug use among Asian-Indian adolescents: Identifying protective/risk factors. In M. C. Paul (Ed.), Drugs and substance abuse problems: An interdisciplinary study of causes, consequences and prevention strategies. New Delhi, India: Mittal Publishers. Adapted from Adolescence, 33 (129), 169-184.

Bhattacharya, G. (2002). Intergenerational conflict, acculturation and drug use among Asian Indian adolescents. In N. V. Benokraitis (Ed.), Contemporary ethnic families in the United States: Characteristics, variations, and dynamics (pp: 269-279). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bhattacharya, G. (2000). Parent-child communication in drug abuse prevention among adolescents. In S. B. Kar & R. Alcalay (Eds.), Health Communication: A multicultural perspective (pp. 193-210). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Journal Articles
Bhattacharya, G. (Accepted, 2007). Acculturating Indian Immigrant Men in New York City: Applying the Social Capital Construct to Understand Their Experiences and Health: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.

Bhattacharya, G. (Accepted, 2007). The Indian Diaspora in Transnational Context: Social Relations and Cultural Identities of Immigrants to New York City: Journal of Intercultural Studies.

Shedlin, M., Drucker, E., Decena, C.U., Hoffman, S., Bhattacharya, G., Beckford, S., & Barreras, R. (2006). HIV Perspectives after 25 Years: Immigration and HIV/AIDS in the New York Metropolitan Area. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, doi:10.1007/s11524-005-9006-5.

Bhattacharya, G. (2005). Social capital, acculturative stress, and HIV risks among acculturating Asian Indian men in New York City. AIDS Education and Prevention, 17 (6), 555-567.

Bhattacharya, G. (2004). Risks of HIV transmission and the 100% condom use program: A comparative study of HIV prevention programs in Thailand and in India. AIDS & Public Policy Journal, 17 (4), 138-154.

Bhattacharya, G. (2004). Health care seeking for HIV/AIDS among South Asians in the United States. Health and Social Work, 29 (2), 106-115.

Bhattacharya, G. (2004). Social environmental influences on HIV risks: Implications for HIV prevention. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 2 (3), 11-31.

Bhattacharya, G. (2004). Sociocultural and behavioral contexts of condom use in heterosexual married couples in India: Challenges to the HIV prevention program. Health Education & Behavior, 31 (1), 101-117.

Bhattacharya, G. and Schoppelrey, S. L. (2004). Pre-immigration beliefs of life success, post-immigration experiences, and acculturative stress: South Asian immigrants in the U.S. Journal of Immigrant Health, 6 (2), 83-92.

Bhattacharya, G. (2003). Cultural guidelines, cognitive scripts, and sexual meanings: Promoting the prevention of HIV infection in India. The Community Psychologist, 36 (2), 23-25.

Bhattacharya, G. (2002). Drug abuse risks for acculturating immigrant adolescents: A case study of Asian-Indians in the United States. Health and Social Work, 27 (3), 175-183.

Bhattacharya, G., Cleland, C., & Holland, S.(2000). Knowledge about HIV/AIDS, the perceived risks of infections, and sources of information by Asian-Indian adolescents born in the United States. AIDS Care, 12 (2), 203-209.

Bhattacharya, G. (2000). Adjustment of South Asian immigrant children to schools in the United States. Adolescence, 35 (137), 77-85.

Last updated July 01, 2009.