Qin Gao

Qin Gao is a leading authority on China’s social welfare system. Dr. Gao is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice in the School of Social Work at Columbia University, where she also serves as the Associate Dean for Doctoral Education. She is also the Founding Director of Columbia’s China Center for Social Policy, the first research center of its kind within a school of social work.

Dr. Gao’s research examines poverty, inequality, social policy, and population well-being in China and among Asian Americans. She led The State of Chinese Americans Survey in 2022 and is a member of the New York City Longitudinal Survey of Wellbeing study research team. Dr. Gao’s book, Welfare, Work, and Poverty: Social Assistance in China (Oxford University Press, 2017) presents a systematic evaluation of the world’s largest social welfare program, Dibao. Her co-edited book, China Urbanizing: Impacts and Transitions (Penn Press, 2022), captures China’s urbanization in its historical and regional variations and explores its multifaceted impacts. 

Dr. Gao is a faculty affiliate of the Columbia Population Research Center, Committee on Global Thought, and Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University; a member of the Faculty Steering Committee for the Columbia Global Centers | Beijing; an Academic Board Member of the China Institute for Income Distribution at Beijing Normal University; and a Public Intellectual Fellow and Member of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Dr. Gao’s work has been supported by multiple funding sources such as the Henry Luce Foundation, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF, and the World Bank. 

Dr. Gao holds a BA from China Youth University of Political Studies, an MA from Peking University, and an MPhil and PhD from Columbia University School of Social Work. She has been interviewed by multiple media outlets such as the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs; the Council on Foreign Relations; and SupChina’s Sinica Podcast