Department of Sociology

Dr. Juhee Woo is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Appalachian State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder and joined the department in 2020. Her research focuses on social inequalities, specifically examining health disparities, health behaviors, and tobacco use. Her work has been published in leading sociological and interdisciplinary journals, including Health & Place, Demographic Research, and Sociological Perspectives.

Dr. Woo teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including Research Methods, Sociological Perspectives, Medical Sociology, and Health Inequalities. She is passionate about integrating research and teaching, and actively involves students in research projects and community-engaged learning.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Woo coordinates the International Mountaineer Faculty (IMF) Peer-Mentoring Circle and the International Faculty-Student Pair (IFSP) Mentoring Program, supporting the success and engagement of international faculty and students at Appalachian State.

Courses Taught

• SOC 1000: The Sociological Perspective

• SOC 2600: Medical Sociology

• SOC 3885: Research Methods

• SOC 4055: Health Inequalities

• SOC 5110: Advanced Research Methods

Research Interests

• Social Inequalities

• Health Disparities

• Health Behaviors

• Tobacco Use

• Mixed Methods

Recent Publications

Lawrence, Elizabeth, Stefanie Mollborn, and Juhee Woo. Forthcoming. “A Social Approach to Gender and Health Behavior.” TheHandbook of Social Epidemiology, edited by Terrence Hill, Tarani Chandola, and Ginny Garcia-Alexander. De Gruyter. 

Truong-Vu, Kim-Phuong and Juhee Woo. 2025. “I trust the health care system, but I also do a little bit of research to understand more: Vaccine decision-making processes of Vietnamese American parents as acts of agency.” Social Science and Medicine - Qualitative Research in Health, 7:100514.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100514

Jackson, Alexandra Malia, Juhee Woo, Marley Olson, Francis Dalisay, Pallav Pokhrel, Clemma J. Muller, and Scott K. Okamoto. 2023. “Methodological Challenges in Web-Based Qualitative Research with Medically Underserved Populations.” Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25: e44086.https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e44086/

Woo, Juhee. 2022. “An intersectional life-course perspective on Black women’s smoking trajectories.” Social Science & Medicine - Qualitative Research in Health, 2C: 100196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100196

Woo, Juhee. 2022. "How place matters for smoking cessation: Barriers to smoking cessation among low-income Black women." Health & Place, 78: 102925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102925

Woo, Juhee, Elizabeth Lawrence, and Stefanie Mollborn. 2022. “Racial/ethnic and gender differences in smoking in early middle adulthood.” Social Science & Medicine - Population Health, 18: 101119. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827322000982