Hyeyoung Oh Nelson

Hyeyoung Oh Nelson
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Public Health • Assistant Professor
Health and Behavioral Sciences
hyeyoung.nelson@ucdenver.edu

Office location:
North Classroom 3031

Office hours:
Thursdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Dr. Oh Nelson is a medical sociologist and qualitative methodologist. Her research interests include maternal health, racialized health experiences and disparities, and healthcare professions and organizations. She is the author of Conflicted Care: Doctors Navigating Patient Welfare, Finances and Legal Risk (2022). Her work has been published in various outlets including Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science and Medicine, and Sociology of Health and Illness

Ph.D., Sociology, University of California–Los Angeles, 2014
M.A., Sociology, University of California–Los Angeles, 2009
B.A., Sociology, Princeton University, 2005

Nelson, H.O., Lange, A., Shah, M.K.,  and Kibet, M. 2025. “Structural Inequities, Persisting Disparities and Provider Burnout in Maternal Health.” Social Science and Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118010.

Nelson, H.O. 2024. “Experiencing Birth Trauma: Individualism and Isolation in Postpartum.” Social Science and Medicine, 345:116663

Spencer, K. L. and Nelson, H.O. “The Importance of Qualitative Methods for Understanding Racialized Injustice and Health.” Sociology Compass, https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13261.

Nelson, H. O. 2022. Conflicted Care: Doctors Navigating Patient Welfare, Finances and Legal Risk. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

Nelson, H. O. and Spencer, K.L. 2021. "Sociological Contributions to Race and Health: Diversifying the Ontological and Methodological Agenda." Sociology of Health and Illness, Special Issue on Ethnicity.

Nelson, H.O. 2024. “Experiencing Birth Trauma: Individualism and Isolation in Postpartum.” Social Science and Medicine, 345:116663

Nelson, H. O. 2022. Conflicted Care: Doctors Navigating Patient Welfare, Finances and Legal Risk. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

Nelson, H. O. and K. L. Spencer. 2021. "Sociological Contributions to Race and Health: Diversifying the Ontological and Methodological Agenda." Sociology of Health and Illness, Special Issue on Ethnicity.

Oh, H. 2017. 2017. "Resisting Throughput Pressures: Physicians’ and Patients’ Strategies to Manage Hospital Discharge." Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 58(1), 116-130.

Oh, H. 2014. Hospital Consultations and Jurisdiction Over Patients: Consequences for the Medical Profession, Sociology of Health and Illness, 36(4), 580-595. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.1208

PBHL 2001: Introduction to Public Health

PBHL 3002: Ethnicity, Health and Social Justice

PBHL 3030: Health Policy

PBHL 3100: Disparities in US Maternal Health

PBHL 4099: Capstone

HBSC 7051: Qualitative Research Design and Methods