Erica Cao

Erica Cao is a Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar with the Housing and Health Equity Lab at the School of Public Health and Program for Recovery and Community Health at the Department of Psychiatry. Her work seeks to understand and address social determinants of behavioral health through development and characterization of arts-based strategies through qualitative, mixed-methods, and community-engaged approaches. She taught Music in Psychic and Social Life, a community-partnered songwriting course and study with Canyon Oaks Youth Center and Humans in Harmony arts nonprofit (Stanford Music, Anthropology, Theater and Performance Studies - Winter 2025, Spring 2026). Her interests are in community-based participatory research, health services implementation, and health equity.