Ann Marie Yamada joined the faculty in 2003 as an assistant professor after completing a National Institute of Mental Health-funded fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of assessment and diagnosis, cultural research methodology and culturally relevant mental healthcare. She is especially interested in enhancing the cultural relevance of community mental health services for adults and older adults with severe mental illness. Her current research is focused on developing faith-based services for Asian Americans and other under-represented groups with documented disparities in mental health service use.

As a degree fellow at the East West Center in Honolulu, Yamada received a PhD certificate in intercultural studies and was honored for distinguished service. For more than a decade, she has been dedicated to enhancing the quality of life and quality of care delivered to underserved and underrepresented populations. Her clinical practice experience has centered on providing health and mental health assessment and interventions with culturally diverse people with severe mental illness. 

In 2007, Yamada received a three-year NIMH grant to pilot test a new intervention to give mental health providers in psychosocial rehabilitation services a more effective way to assess sociocultural issues across diverse client populations.

Yamada was appointed and served as a chair of the Council on Social Work Education's Council on Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Diversity. She is currently a member of the Council on Social Work Education's Council on Disability and Persons with Disabilities. Her USC appointments include the Saks Center on Law, Mental Health and Ethics and the advisory committee for the Office of Student Accessibility Services. She participates with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s Faith Based Advisory Committee and the Asian Pacific Islander Underserved Cultural Community.

To reference the work of Ann Marie Yamada online, we ask that you directly quote her work where possible and attribute it to "Ann Marie Yamada, associate dean and faculty at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work” (LINK: https://dworakpeck.usc.edu)