Justin Adam Gelzhiser, PhD
College of Arts and Sciences
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Biography
Justin Adam Gelzhiser, PhD completed his Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School where he examined the psychological and mental health impact of gun violence on American communities. He investigated various means of injury prevention. He also served as a Visiting Scientist for three years at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducting various research studies. His PhD is from The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Social Science & Comparative Education and he has a Master of Science degree in Intercultural Communication from the Department of Educational Linguistics at The University of Pennsylvania. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at VinUniversity. Justin spent the last three years in Saudi Arabia as an Assistant Professor and facilitator researching the impact of Saudi’s 2030 Vision on the mental health and wellness of its youth and emerging leaders.
Justin loves to teach and research internationally and has been to nearly 100 countries including holding positions in China and Japan collectively for over seven years. He served as a Teaching Fellow at UCLA for three years where he received various awards including the prestigious George Kneller Research Prize from the Department of Education. He continues to work with top-tier journals both as an author and peer-evaluator. Justin deeply enjoys mentoring students, guiding them in the research process, starting each class with “life advice”, and offering interactive classroom lectures. He has also served on doctoral dissertation committees including at The University of Southern California (USC).
• International & Comparative Psychology
• Mental Health and Wellness
• Qualitative Research Studies
• Ethnography
• Positive Psychology
• International Student Wellness
• Injury Prevention
• Mixed Method Studies
• Psychology of Personality
• Cross-Culture Psychology
• Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy
• Introduction to School Psychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Group Dynamics
• Positive Psychology
1. Gelzhiser, J. A. (2025). The Impact of Vision 2030 on Saudi Youth’s Mental Health and Wellness: A Qualitative Analysis on Emerging Leaders. (Under Review)
2. Gelzhiser, J.A., Song I.H., & Lee, J. H. (2025). Comparison of Safety Concerns Between International Asian, American Asian, and White Students within American Higher Education. (Under review)
3. Gelzhiser, J. A., & Lewis, L. (2023). Black Barbers as Mental Health Advocates, and Interpersonal Violence and Suicide Preventors in the Local Community. Mental Health & Prevention, 31, (200291). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2023.200291
4. Gelzhiser, J.A. (2019). International Student Perceptions of American Gun Culture and School Shootings: A Public Health Examination. Violence and Victims, 34 (6). http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-18-00185
5. Gelzhiser, J. A. (2018). Deadly gun violence on American college campuses: UCLA international student perspectives. University of California, Los Angeles.
• 2018: Ph.D. in Social Science & Comparative Education, UCLA
• 2015: M.S.Ed. in Intercultural Communication, The University of Pennsylvania
• 2012: B.A. in Elementary Education, Eastern University
• The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation (Post-Doctoral Fellowship), 2020
• Best Dissertation Award (International competition – Honorable mention), CIES 2019
• The University of California, Los Angeles, Teaching Fellow 3-Year Aggregate Awards, 2018
• The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), PhD Academic Research Fellowships, 2018
• The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program, 2017
• Awardee, George Kneller Research Prize, UCLA’s Department of Education, 2016
• Awardee, The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Graduate School of Education, 2015
• Awardee, The University of Pennsylvania Fox Leadership Mentorship Selection, 2012
• Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador to Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, 2010
