Fengyan Tang

Fengyan Tang earned her PhD and master degree in social work from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Tang’s research focuses on productive and social engagement in later life, that is, engagement in social roles (e.g., volunteer, worker, and caregiver) that are meaningful to the individual and society.  She also conducts research on how to provide adequate care to vulnerable older adults and the aging experiences in Chinese immigrants. Her work aims to address health disparities and advance social justice through investigation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and immigration, which constitute the social contexts of inequality over the life course and have profound impacts on the well-being and engagement with life in old age.

Research Interests

• Productive and social engagement in later life
• Well-being of caregivers for older adults
• Aging experiences among immigrants

Selected Funded Grants

• Co-investigator, Adherence & HRQOL: Translation of Interventions. National Institutes of Health & National Institutes of Nursing Research.
• Principal Investigator, Retirement Transition, Volunteer Engagement, and Physical Health. The Steven Manners Faculty Development Award, University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research.
• Principal Investigator, Productive Engagement and Health during the Transition to Retirement. The Lois and Samuel Silberman Fund.
• Principal Investigator, Aging in Place: Awareness, Accessibility, and Utilization of Community Based Long-Term Care and Supportive Services. University of Pittsburgh, Small Grants Program of the Central Research Development Fund.
• Principal Investigator, The Longitudinal Effects of Elder Service Programs on Older Volunteers Health: The Role of Individual Experience and Institutional Factors. The John A. Hartford Foundation.
• Principal Investigator, Racial Disparities in Volunteer Experience and Health. University of Pittsburgh Center for Racial and Social Problems.