“Social work gave me a pathway to work directly with families navigating violence, trauma, and systemic barriers.”
When Professor Rose Wong, PhD, was five years old, her family immigrated from Hong Kong to California’s East Bay. They lived in a multigenerational home with her grandparents. In that home, Dr. Wong saw the devastating toll of untreated mental illness up close: her grandmother lived with severe depression, and years later, her eldest brother would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
“I took an interest in psychology when I was very young,” she recalls. “Mental illness wasn’t something we really talked about in my community or in my family. But I saw how it shaped the lives of people I loved.”
Those early experiences planted a seed that would guide her life’s work. Today, Dr. Wong is a full professor at Palo Alto University (PAU), leading the effort to create the university’s new Master of Social Work (MSW) program, one designed to train the next generation of behavioral health professionals to meet California’s urgent workforce needs.
Dr. Wong’s path to social work was anything but direct. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business from UC Berkeley and a master’s in public and international affairs from Princeton, she began her career in international development. Her work took her to Brazil and Portugal, where she focused on projects that improved the lives of underserved communities.
But while living abroad in Toulouse, France, a new chapter unfolded. To stay in the country while training as a long-distance triathlete, she enrolled in a master’s program in psychology. There she worked in a lab studying autism in children. The experience shifted her focus from policy to people, and she returned to California to earn both a master’s and PhD in social welfare at UC Berkeley.
At first, she imagined a career in school psychology or research. Then, a mentor encouraged her to shift into social work, a field that married her interests in psychology, community well-being, and immigrant mental health. “Social work gave me a pathway to work directly with families who were navigating violence, trauma, and systemic barriers,” she says. After earning her MSW, she worked with parents and children who had survived long-term domestic violence, and later completed a post-doctoral fellowship at UCSF focused on clinical services research.
It was during this time that Dr. Wong became acutely aware of a growing crisis: California faced — and continues to face — a severe shortage of behavioral health workers, particularly in the Central Valley, Central Coast, and Bay Area. Determined to be part of the solution, she shifted her career toward social work education. From 2019 to 2021, she founded and directed the MSW program at the University of the Pacific. She also authored a textbook on evidence-based practice decision-making in the context of serving diverse populations.
Then in 2022, she partnered with PAU to conduct a market analysis of social work education in Northern California. The findings confirmed what many already knew: the need was urgent. With support from PAU’s leadership, she applied for and helped secure a $1.5 million state grant to develop a new MSW program that would train graduates to serve California’s diverse and underserved populations.
Now at PAU, Dr. Wong is focused on building a program that is not only rigorous but also deeply rooted in cultural humility and real-world needs.
“We are developing a very innovative curriculum,” she says. “We have a faculty advisory committee, as well as a community advisory council composed of high-level professionals and leaders who are very knowledgeable about behavioral health practice in the public system.”
The program, which welcomed its first students in 2025, emphasizes Culturally Informed Behavioral Health Practice. Students will choose one of two tracks:
- Children and Youth in School and Community Settings
- Adults in Public Behavioral Health Settings
Classes are primarily online, paired with intensive immersion residencies to foster connection and applied learning. For Dr. Wong, the program’s mission reflects both her professional journey and a commitment to serving diverse communities across the state.
In addition to program development, Dr. Wong’s research focuses on culturally grounded clinical practice and immigrant and minority mental health. Her recent contributions to the Clinical Social Work Association’s Clinical Update highlight the importance of identity, lived experience, and culturally responsive care in improving outcomes for marginalized communities — themes that now inform the MSW curriculum and training model.
Launching a new program is no small undertaking. Over the past several years, the MSW has gone through extensive development, including approval from PAU’s Board of Trustees, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and candidacy status with the Council on Social Work Education. The program is also pursuing accreditation with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing for school social worker preparation.
Now, the program has launched a vibrant inaugural class of 39 students — far above the expected enrollment for a brand-new program. “The timing is right,” Dr. Wong says. “There’s tremendous support within PAU.”