Pa Der Vang

Dr. Pa Der Vang is an associate professor of Social Work at St. Catherine University. She has her master’s and Ph.D. in social work from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. As a professor of social work, she stays engaged in her practice as a therapist for adults and a clinical supervisor for social workers in the community. She has also served as a consultant for ARMHS and CTSS programs. She also worked as a crisis worker and social worker with adults with severe and persistent mental illness. Not only that, but she was a mental health planning specialist with Ramsey County Human Services. She co-founded the Minnesota Hmong Social Worker’s Coalition in 2015 and currently serves as the Board President of the Minnesota Board of Social Work, where she oversees the regulation of almost 16,000 social workers in the State of Minnesota. Her dissertation is titled Southeast Asian Mental Health from the Perspective of the Bicultural Provider. She has published over 14 articles on Hmong and mental health and is primary author of Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Methods, published by Cengage Publisher in 2022.