Department of Sociology

Dr. Juhee Woo earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder and joined the Sociology Department at Appalachian State University in 2020. Her research interests are broadly rooted in social inequalities, specifically health disparities, health behaviors, and tobacco use. Her work has been published in various sociological and interdisciplinary journals, such as Health & Place, Demographic Research, and Sociological Perspectives. At App State, Dr. Woo has taught graduate and undergraduate courses, including Research Methods, Sociological Perspectives, Medical Sociology, and Health Inequalities. As a teacher-scholar, she enjoys connecting her research with teaching, involving students in research projects and community-engaged learning. Additionally, Dr. Woo leads and facilitates the International Mountaineer Faculty (IMF) Peer-Mentoring Circle and the International Faculty-Student Pair (IFSP) Mentoring Program at App 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

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