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in official relations with the
American Public Health Association

Biosketches

CHAIR

Alek Sripipatana, PhD, MPH is a researcher at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the Bureau of Primary Health Care’s Office of Quality and Data.  Currently he is leading research projects that include assessing racial and ethnic health care access to prevention, treatment, and follow-up care for cancer, hypertension, and diabetes in federally supported community health centers.

 Prior to venturing east and joining HRSA, Dr. Sripipatana was the Project Director for the UCLA Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network and the UCLA-Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, conducting community-engaged research to address cancer-related health disparities. Alek received his indoctrination to community-engaged research while serving as the Policy Coordinator for "Weaving an Islander Network in Cancer Awareness, Research and Training" (WINCART), a National Cancer Institute-funded collaborative effort of 5 universities & 8 community-based organizations directed at reducing cancer health disparities among Pacific Islanders living in Southern California.

 Dr. Sripipatana believes in community work and activism. In addition to his research experience, Alek has served as a facilitator for a Pacific Islander men's health group, Chair for the Council on Multicultural Health at the California Department of Public Health, and the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Alliance.

 Dr. Sripipatana completed his PhD from the UCLA School of Public Health and is a former W. K. Kellogg fellow in health policy research.  Alek is committed to the study of health disparities, elderly health, and the health of underserved populations with a special focus on Asians and Pacific Islanders.

 In his free time, Alek enjoys reveling in watching his sons (Kaimana and Makoa) at play, and running up the score on people who dare challenge him in a game of Madden Football on PS3.


CHAIR-ELECT

Kawika M K I Liu, MD, PhD, JD, FAAP is an internist/pediatrician working as interim director of the Office of Health Equity at the Hawaii State Dept. of Health, as well as Clinical Faculty at the Department of Pediatrics, and Adjunct Faculty, Office of Public Health Studies, John A Burns School of Medicine.  The focus of OHE is on improving health equity and cultural competency throughout the Department of Health.  He is also currently president of the Hawai‘i Public Health Association, and Associate Clinical Faculty in the Department of Pediatrics and Adjunct Faculty in the Office of Public Health Sciences at the John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

Kawika received his MD from St George’s University School of Medicine, his PhD and JD from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, MA from Columbia University, and BA from University of California at Davis.  Between his MA and starting his PhD program, he worked for the US House Subcommittee on International and Insular Affairs, as well as US Representative Nancy Pelosi.  He also practiced law for four years, in the areas of family law, personal injury, commercial litigation, and Native Hawaiian rights prior to starting medical school.  Following medical school, Kawika completed a dual residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at JABSOM, and practiced primary care prior to assuming his present position.

His particular interests are human rights-based approaches to health, particularly indigenous health, the human right to health, causation in public health, cancer prevention, obesity, and asthma.  At OHE, he is focusing on mechanisms such as chronic disease, allostatic load, the developmental origins of health and disease, and epigenetics to articulate the determinants of health to health outcomes.
Kawika has two daughters, and hopes someday to do an ironman.


IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR

Harry T. Kwon, PhD, MPH, MCHES serves as a Health Scientist Administrator in the Office of Communications and Education at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Kwon previously served as a Public Health Educator for the Office of Education and Special Initiatives at NCI and led the cervical cancer screening education program. He also led the Language Adaptation Team which addressed the issues of cultural and linguistic adaptation and translation of cancer education tools and materials.

Prior to returning to NCI, Dr. Kwon was a Technical Director in the Communications and Health Marketing division of ICF Macro, an applied research and management consulting firm and provided program management support for the National Eye Health Education Program at the National Eye Institute. Dr. Kwon has served on many projects affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and other agencies and organizations.

Dr. Kwon has served on numerous boards and committees. He is currently the immediate past chair of the Asian American Health Initiative Steering Committee of Montgomery County, Maryland. In 2007, Dr. Kwon was appointed by the County Executive of Montgomery County to serve on the County’s Commission on Health. Dr. Kwon also serves on several Federal boards and initiatives including the National Institutes of Health Science Education Research Group, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workgroup for the White House Initiative on Native Hawaiian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander, and the Federal Interagency Health Equity Team.

Dr. Kwon received a B.A. in social ecology and a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine and a Master of Public Health degree in health promotion from the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. He earned his Ph.D. in public and community health from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also credentialed by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing as a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES).



COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR
Elena Ong is a Coro Executive Fellow and a Public Affairs Consultant.   She studied Asian American Studies and Women's Studies at UC Berkeley, while serving as the Co-Chair of the KRON-TV Chinatown Community Health Fair, Co-Founder of the Raza Health Education Network, President-Elect of Chicanos in Health Education and Executive Committee Member of the Bay Area Asian Health Alliance and studied Community Health Nursing at UCSF where she served on the Affirmative Action and Recruitment & Retention Committee.  She worked in the community as a Adult Day Health Center Nurse at On Lok Senior Health Services before interning for a State Senator, and studied Health Policy & Management at the Harvard School of Public Health where she served on the School's Recruitment & Retention Committee, and had the opportunity to work for the Medi-Cal Czar of the powerful California Medical Assistance Commission.  Upon graduation, she served as the Strategic Planner, Hospital Administrator and Senior Community Liaison of the second largest public health agency in America, where she co-founded National Public Hospitals Week and co-founded a Loan Forgiveness Program for Primary Care Practitioners Agreeing to Serve in Medically Underserved Areas Affected by the Civil Unrest (Koreatown and South Los Angeles).  She served on the Harvard Alumni Association's Undergraduate Admissions Committee, was elected President of the Los Angeles Women’s Appointment Collaboration, was Rob Reiner's appointee to the California Children & Families Commission's Technical Assistance Advisory Board, and was appointed by the Governor to become the First Vice Chair to the California Commission for Women, where she advanced the health and economic well-being of California's 17 million women & girls - including California's Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families.   One thing led to another, and she served on a number of Gubernatorial and Presidential campaigns, and served as a Policy Advisor to the American Medical Women's Association where she participated in Let's Move! and signing of the Education and Healthcare Affordability Reconciliation Act.  As the Advisor to the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association she produced several PSA's related to the Presidential Inaugural Committee's Day of Service and the Affordable Care Act ("What the Affordable Care Act Means to AA NHPIs" featuring Yul Kwon will be featured at the 2011 APHA Film Festival).

A long-time member of APHA, she served as Secretary, Southern California’s Health Information Section; Executive Board Member of APHA's Health Administration Section; and Session Organizer for “Rebuilding a Healthy Los Angeles."  In 2011/12, she was elected Communications Chair of APHA's API Caucus; appointed Co-Chair of Community Health Planning & Policy Development's Social Determinants of Health Workgroup; and Session Organizer for several invited sessions: (1) "Women's Health in All Policies" featuring the Deputy Director of the White House Council for Women & Girls; (2) "The Road to Health Equity 2020" featuring the US DHHS Assistant Secretary of Health; and (3) "Implementing Health Equity at the Frontline" featuring the Director of the National Partnerships for Action to End Health Disparities.  


CAUCUS COUNCILORS


Doug Hirano, MPH has been working in the field of public health for almost thirty years. He is currently the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Community in Action, a non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. He is an epidemiologist by training and includes in his work experience 14 years with the Arizona Department of Health Services in various program areas, including HIV/AIDS and primary care, and five years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a past president of the Arizona Public Health Association, a current member of the Governor’s Asian American Advisory Council, and current chair of the Community Advisory Board of the ASU Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center. 

Angela Sy, DrPH is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii, Department of Public Health Sciences.  Her research area focuses on employing community based participatory methods to adapt and tailor evidence based cancer prevention and health promotion intervnetions for Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities.  She serves as the Research Director for the Hawaii site of the NCI funded AANCART: The National Center For Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities to promote colorectal cancer screening among Asian American subgroups.  Angela is the evaluator of the CDC Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Health-US funded Pacific Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities to reduce breast and cervical cancer disparities in the US Affiliated Pacific Islands.  She also evaluates youth health promotion programs including a youth after school wellness program for Native Hawaiian youth and a statewide campaign to prevent child abuse and neglect through promotion of community protective factors.  

Angela teaches Needs Assessment, Program Evaluation, and Community Based Participatory Research to master and doctor of public health students.  Angela serves is an advisory member of Asian American Network of Cancer Research, Awareness, and Training- Hawaii, and Caucus Councilor for the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of the American Public Health Association, and board member of the Hawaii Public Health Association, a APHA affilaite. She has a Doctor of Public Health from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Masters of Public Health from the University of Hawai`i.

Jamie Lok Weng, MPH, CHES is the Program Specialist for the Asian American Health Initiative (AAHI), a program under the Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Health and Human Services. In this capacity, she facilitates organizational strategic planning efforts and is responsible for overall program evaluation design and data management of AAHI projects. Before joining AAHI, Ms. Weng was a senior research program coordinator with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health managing vaccine clinical trials research. Her prior research with the University of Maryland’s Center for Health Behavior Research and Maryland Asian American Health Studies program focused on the cultural, physiological and behavioral factors of tobacco use. Ms. Weng has also worked at the National Cancer Institute and the US DHHS Office of the Secretary.

Ms. Weng is committed to empowering underserved communities to achieve better health outcomes and forging understanding within and beyond Asian American communities. Her research interests include examining and addressing sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health, community-based research approaches and health disparities. Ms. Weng obtained her MPH in community health education/health behavior from the University of Maryland College Park, where she received the President’s Ethnic Minority Achievement Award recognizing outstanding contributions to the University’s equity efforts.

SECRETARY

Vishnu Nepal, MSc, MPH has been working in the field of Public Health for more than 7 years at various organizations and at various capacities. Mr. Nepal holds an MPH degree from the University of Texas, School of Public Health. Currently, he is pursuing his DrPH degree at The university of Texas, School of Public Health. His work, at Houston Department of Health and Human Services, as an epidemiologist, is primarily focused on community assessment using novel tools and techniques. His special areas of interest are needs assessment, vulnerable population, immigrants and refugees, social medicine, underserved population and planning.  He is an avid reader and believes in collective efforts and systematic political process for change regardless of the issues.  He has been disseminating his work through national and international scientific communities through seminars and conferences. As a first generation immigrant from Asia, he has vested interest in the health and quality of life issues of Asian-Pacific Islander populations in the U.S. He is the secretary of Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of American Public Health Association (2010-2012). He serves as an executive committee member of Nepalese Association of Houston.

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR

 Corina Chung is a research assistant at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), a national health policy organization dedicated to strengthening policies, programs, and research to improve the health and well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, As part of the Research, Evaluation, and Data team, she works on data collection, management, and analysis to support projects of APIAHF and its partners. She formerly worked at Health Research for Action examining statewide emergency preparedness for Deaf and hard-of-hearing populations. Corina was also a research investigator for the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice toward Epilepsy Study, a quantitative study of Chinese and Vietnamese adults’ perception of epilepsy. She is currently a research investigator for the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Comparison Study, a qualitative study on adults living with epilepsy in the Bay Area. Corina graduated from UC Berkeley in 2010 with a Bachelors of Arts in Public Health with a Community Health emphasis.

POLICY CHAIR

Mona Bormet, MPH, CHES serves as project manager for Christian Connections for International Health’s Policy & Advocacy efforts and Outreach & Research Manager for the Arlington Food Assistance Center. Previously, Mona served as Advocacy Program Specialist for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), where she focused on national policy efforts to improve data collection and analysis for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations. She also served as a Health Policy Fellow for Congresswoman Lois Capps of California with the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies and as an intern with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. Ms. Bormet earned a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where she served as Student Senate President. Mona was born and raised in the southern suburbs of Chicago and is a White Sox fan! 

PROGRAM CHAIR

 Luceli Cuasay, MPH, DrPH is a senior biostatistician and epidemiologist with many years of research experience in cardiovascular medicine, oncology, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes. She has authored or co-authored numerous publications and presentations. She has also conducted laboratory research in immunology, microbiology, and parasitology.

Dr. Cuasay is currently engaged in oncology, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis research at the Clinical Trials Research Unit of Westat in Houston. She also collaborates with the Center for Research on Minority Health at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on health disparities research among Asians.

Dr. Cuasay received a Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois in Chicago. She was a research associate at the University of Illinois, assistant epidemiologist at U.T. M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, assistant director of the Texas Heart Institute Biostatistics and Epidemiology Department, and senior biostatistician of US Oncology. She developed interest on diabetes among Asians and became an active community advocate for diabetes prevention and control, and health promotion. Dr. Cuasay performed the first survey of Filipino Americans to determine the prevalence and risk factors of type 2 diabetes. She completed her doctoral research dissertation and publications on type 2 diabetes among Filipino Americans in the Houston metropolitan area. Dr. Cuasay has been a member of the American Public Health Association and American Society of Clinical Oncology for many years, and recently, a member of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus. She has been in leadership roles in the People Helping People Foundation, the Filipino American Council of South Texas, and her parish church.

PROGRAM CHAIR-ELECT

 Aimee Afable-Munsuz, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center, School of Public Health (SPH).  She received her B.A. in International Relations from Brown University (1995). She received her M.P.H. and Ph.D. in public health from Tulane University (2003). Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Afable-Munsuz held appointments as a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Institute for Health Policy Studies (2005-2007), National Cancer Institute Diversity Fellow (2007-2009) and National Institute on Aging Fellow at the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (2009-2011) all at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Afable-Munsuz is a population health researcher who applies social theory and epidemiological methods to the study of health behaviors and chronic disease risk with a particular focus on immigrant populations to the US.  She is poised to conduct research on diabetes prevention in Asian immigrant populations and Filipino immigrants to the US, in particular.  As a public health researcher, she aspires to building an evidence base that can inform effective behavioral change interventions and local food and physical activity policies addressing diabetes and related chronic conditions in immigrant, underserved and working class populations. 

Dr. Afable-Munsuz also has extensive experience partnering with the community on health promotion, working primarily with agencies serving low-income immigrant populations.  She currently teaches two courses in the Department of Community Health Sciences at SUNY Downstate SPH: “Issues in the Health of Immigrant Populations” and “Program Planning and Evaluation”.

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE

 Félice Le, PhD(c), MPH is a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where she is affiliated with the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health. Her research focuses on the role of education in improving population health in the U.S., and in particular on racial and ethnic disparities in the benefits of education on health. She is also interested in the roles schools can play in improving the future health of students and reducing disparities in adult health.

Félice received a BA in mathematics and French from Brown University and an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley. Her master’s paper was a study of the neighborhood social environment and alcohol use. While pursuing her MPH, Félice worked as a research assistant at UC Berkeley’s Health Research for Action. At HRA, she participated in community-based research aimed at improving diabetes management services in a Chinese American immigrant community. She also collaborated on projects addressing epilepsy awareness in Asian communities and health care access.

Before beginning graduate school she worked as a public high school math teacher in Boston, MA, and then as a quality improvement analyst in a community behavioral health care center in Gainesville, FL. There, she coordinated the Cultural Diversity Committee, whose mission was to improve the cultural competence of the center’s mental health and substance abuse services.

TREASURER

 Perry Chan is the Senior Program Coordinator for the Asian American Health Initiative (AAHI) of Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in Maryland. Mr. Chan is responsible for AAHI's day to day operation. His duties include planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of all health programs and services under AAHI. Perry also provides assistance on budget management, grant monitoring, and other administrative and management related tasks of AAHI. Mr. Chan is a workgroup participant of Equity and Social Justice and Quality Service Reviews initiatives for Montgomery County DHHS.

Mr. Chan has a strong interest in promoting health among Asian Americans and reducing health disparities. Perry received his Bachelor's of Science degree in Community Health from the University of Maryland. Currently, Perry chairs the NIAMS Multicultural Initiative's AAPI workgroup and serves as an advisory board member for the Adventist Healthcare's Center on Health Disparities and the National Children's Study (NCS) in Montgomery County, MD.
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