Contact details

Location

Skinner Hall

651 N Pleasant St
Amherst, MA 01003
United States

Room 220

About

Dr. Poudel-Tandukar is an Associate Professor at the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, UMass Amherst. She has a broad background in international health, epidemiology, social science, and general medicine, with training in community-based participatory research, intervention design, and longitudinal data analysis. She has over 15 years of experience researching global mental health, HIV, and nutrition. She is interested in applied and translational research on developing and testing culturally-tailored, community-driven, strength-based interventions to reduce mental health disparities among refugees, immigrants, and HIV-infected populations using a mixed-method approach.

Dr. Poudel-Tandukar is the Principal Investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded research project (R34MH118396) to evaluate the effect of preventative mental health intervention to reduce stress and mental health problems among immigrants using a randomized controlled design. She has received grants to implement Social and Emotional Well-being (SEW) intervention for the Bhutanese community members (from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts Inc) and the Ukrainian and Afghan community members (from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of MA). She has also received a grant from the MA Department of Public Health to implement Healthy Aging interventions among older adult immigrants in MA.

She published several peer-reviewed articles on global health issues in high-impact journals, including the Lancet, the Journal of American Medical Association, Brain Behavior and Immunity, and the American Journal of Public Health. She has widely disseminated the results of her database research, publishing over 60 articles and making 60 presentations at national and international academic conferences. Dr. Poudel-Tandukar is a Subject Matter Expert and Standing Reviewer Board Member for PCORI. She is a mentor and abstract reviewer for the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Society of Nutrition, and the International AIDS Society. She has reviewed manuscripts for about 30 peer-reviewed journals.

She is a member of the Faculty Senate Research Council, Research Council Internal Funding Review Panel, and Faculty Senate Status of Diversity Council at UMass Amherst.

Dr. Poudel-Tandukar received a Distinguished Community Engagement Award for Research, one of the most prestigious awards from the Provost Office at UMass Amherst. https://www.umass.edu/news/article/two-faculty-members-honored-2022-distinguished-community-engagement-awards

Press and Media Releases:

https://www.umass.edu/news/article/kalpana-poudel-tandukar-receives-federal https://www.umass.edu/news/article/researchers-receive-grant-expand-their-mental-health-intervention-program-refugees

https://www.umass.edu/news/article/researchers-awarded-massachusetts-community-health-and-healthy-aging-funds-grant

https://www.umass.edu/news/article/community-engagement-preventive-intervention-promotes-mental-health-bhutanese-families

https://www.umass.edu/family/reducing-stress-anxiety-and-depressive-symptoms-family-centered-preventative-intervention-immigrants

https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-announces-awards-of-159-million-for-community-health

https://www.ascentria.org/about/newsroom-and-social-media-hub/springfield-jewish-community-center-camp-brings-jo

https://www.theravive.com/today/post/new-study-looks-at-reducing-immigrant-stress-with-culturally-tailored-preventative-behavior-intervention-0004855.aspx

https://www.nhpr.org/2022-06-10/researchers-study-ways-to-relieve-stress-among-bhutanese-refugees-in-western-massachusetts

https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=N5iwyaUAAAAJ