Lois Takahashi

Lois Takahashi    lois.takahashi@sjsu.edu  WSQ 103

Lois M. Takahashi is Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Success in the College of Social Sciences at San Jose State University. Prior to joining San Jose State, she was Houston Flournoy Professor of State Government at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy, and Director of the USC Price School of Public Policy in Sacramento. She was President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (2015-2017). She had a long career at UCLA, where she was Interim Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs (2015-2016), Associate Dean for Research at the Luskin School (2014-2015), Chair of the UCLA Department of Urban Planning (2011-2013), and Director of the University of California Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Multicampus Research Program (UC AAPI Policy MRP; 2009-2013). She received her PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California, a dual MS in Public Policy and Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University, and an AB in Architecture from UC Berkeley.  

Her research interests include precarious and unstable housing, HIV prevention for underserved populations, access to social services for populations in need (homelessness and HIV/AIDS), the effects of violence exposure on social service use, and community participation and environmental governance in Southeast Asian cities. Her current research projects include a study of the effects of transitional housing and integrated on HIV outcomes (PrEP uptake and viral load suppression) for transgender women in Los Angeles and Orange Counties (funded by the California HIV Research Program) and a study of precarious and unstable housing among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (funded by AAPI Data/UC Riverside and private gifts). She is also a member of research teams studying the effects of community violence on African American adolescent development (Dexter Voisin/PI, Case Western University). 

Dr. Takahashi’s 1998 book on the NIMBY syndrome, homelessness, and HIV/AIDS was published by Oxford University Press. With her collaborator Dr. Amrita Daniere, Dr. Takahashi’s 2002 book assessed urban development and environmental degradation in Bangkok, Thailand (Ashgate Publishing).  In addition to these books, she has published over 100 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. 

In addition to the NIH, her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, California Endowment, University of California’s California HIV Research Program (CHRP), University of California Pacific Rim Research Program, Pacific Rim Research Center (Harvard/Soka University), University of California-San Francisco Collaborative HIV Prevention Research in Minority Communities Program, the University of California-Los Angeles Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS), UCLA Institute for American Cultures, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Dr. Takahashi is a board member of the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

She can be contacted at lois.takahashi@sjsu.edu.