Threads of Wellness: Weaving Community, Connectedness, and Cultural Humility within the AANHPI Experience

Date: Saturday, October 12, 2024

Location: Yale School of Medicine | Sterling Hall of Medicine

2024 Region 1 & 2 Conference Booklet (IT'S HERE!)

Registration Details: Click below for more info

Registration and Tickets (Sold Out!)

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We are very excited to announce that the 2024 APAMSA Northeastern Regional Conference will be held in person this year at Yale School of Medicine! Hosted by Regions I and II, all APAMSA members, pre-medical members, and non-members are welcome to register and attend this one-day event featuring a variety of AANHPI speakers, panels, workshops, networking opportunities, research presentations, and more!

Conference Information:

Theme: “Threads of Wellness: Weaving Community, Connectedness, and Cultural Humility within the AANHPI Experience”

Date & Time: Saturday, October 12, 2024 | 9 AM – 5 PM

Location: Yale School of Medicine Sterling Hall of Medicine | New Haven, CT (333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT 06510)

Saturday, October 12th, 2024

Event Time
Check-in / Breakfast / Booths (Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium / Rose Garden) 9:00 AM

Opening Statements / Introductions (Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium)

Dean Marietta Vázquez / All of Us (AoU) / National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)

10:00 AM

Keynote Address (Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium): 

Keynote Speaker: Victor Sta. Ana, MD, MSED, FAAFP

10:45 AM
Breakout Session A 11:30 AM

Session 1: Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Asian Americans: Current Issues & Local Solutions

Dr. David Yang, MD / Jasmine Jiang, MS3

Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium

Session 2: Never Enough: ADHD Experiences in Asian Americans

Dr. Zilin Cui, MD, EdM

Sterling Hall of Medicine (SHM) 115

Session 3: Advancing Girl Empowerment and Women’s Health Equity in India

Dr. Ishita Sunita Arora, Ph.D., M.A.L.S.

The Anlyan Center (TAC) Auditorium

Session 4: Working with Limited English Proficient Patients and their Interpreters

Esther Lim

Brady Auditorium

Lunch / Research

Lunch: The Analyan Center Upper Lobby Courtyard | Rain Location: Cafe Med
Research: The Analyan Center Upper Lobby

12:30 PM
Breakout Session B 1:30 PM

Session 1: ​​WE Medicine: Convergence of Western and Eastern Medicine to Develop Future Medicines

Dr. Yung-Chi Cheng, Ph.D.

The Analyan Center Auditorium

Session 2: Spot the Signs, Stop the Cycle: Treating Eating Disorders in the AAPI Community

Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist: Eling Tsai, MPH RD CDCES

Brady Auditorium

Session 3: Palpating Breath – An Osteopathic Approach to the Respiratory Patient

Dr. Jake Gallagher, DO

Sterling Hall of Medicine (SHM) 115

Session 4: Mentorship: Stories of Asian Americans journeys in medicine

Dr. Joyce M. Oen-Hsiao, MD / Dr. Yingfei Wu / Dr. Barry Wu, MD, MACP

Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium
Breakout Session C 2:30 PM

Session 1: Inside the Mind of a Program Director: Navigating Residency with the Experts!

Dr, Ethan Daniel Fried, MD / Dr. Shwetha Iyer, MD / Dr. Timothy B. Sullivan, MD / Dr. Ingrid Walker-Descartes MD, MPH, MBA, FAAP

Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium + ZOOM

Session 2: Liver “Transplantation and Medical Education”

Dr. Hiroshi Sogowa, MD, FACS

The Analyan Center Auditorium

Session 3: Balancing Points of View

Dr. Mina L. Xu, MD

Brady Auditorium

Session 4: Enhancing Cultural Competence: Addressing Mental Health Disparities in AANHPI Communities

Karen Chen, MS2 / Kanoe Evile, MS2 / Ted Shi, MS2 / Maya Xia, MS2

Sterling Hall of Medicine (SHM) 115
Boba Break (Interactive BINGO) (Rose Garden) 3:15 PM
Breakout Session D 3:30 PM

Session 1: Sew It Together: A Suturing Adventure

Dr. Hiroshi Sogowa, MD, FACS

Sterling Hall of Medicine (SHM) 115

Session 2 (PRE-HEALTH): Creating Your Personal Roadmap into Medicine

Steve Paik, MD, EdM (Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Admissions at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University)

The Anlyan Center (TAC) Auditorium

Session 3: Medicine is a Noble Pursuit and Necessary to Sustain Life, But Art Is What We Stay Alive For

Dr. Andy Nguyen, MD

Brady Auditorium

Session 4: Residency Unlocked: Expert Guidance for Your Medical Journey & Insider Tips from Top Competitive Specialties!

Dr. Karen Bach, MD (Plastic Surgery) / Dr. James Hwang, MD (Radiology) / Dr. Arvin Saleh, MD (Anesthesiology) / Dr. Amanda Zhou (Dermatology)

Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium
Closing Remarks / Raffle (Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium) 4:30 PM
Conference Ending / Clean Up (Mary S. Harkness Memorial Auditorium) 5:00 PM
Post-Conference Social (BAR New Haven) 6:00 PM

Keynote Speaker

Victor Sta. Ana, MD, MSED, FAAFP

Dr. Victor Sta. Ana (pronounced “Santa Ana”) is a family physician, Medical Director of Homeless Services at the Institute for Family Health, and Director of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Primary Care Scholars Program. Dr. Sta. Ana graduated from Brown University with a concentration in Ethnic Studies and focus on Asian and African American literature.  He subsequently earned a Master’s Degree in Education and taught Science and Special Education in the NYC public school system.  In 2005 he changed careers to medicine, ultimately graduating from Albany Medical College and completing residency at the Institute for Family Health’s Beth Israel Residency in Urban Family Medicine. After residency he joined the faculty of the new Harlem Residency in Family Medicine where he continues to teach and provide patient care.

Since 2010, Dr. Sta. Ana has partnered with Damayan Migrants Workers Association, a grassroots organization dedicated to organizing low-wage Filipino workers, combating labor trafficking, promoting human and workers’ rights, and developing social justice leaders.  Through his work with Damayan, he conducts worker health assessments in support of their applications for legal immigration status as survivors of labor exploitation.  He has worked in community-based settings such as federally-qualified health centers, homeless shelters, food pantries, public schools and jails.  

In 2015 he was chosen to direct Mount Sinai’s Primary Care Scholars Program for medical students interested in careers in primary care for underserved communities, and in 2021 he was promoted to Medical Director of Homeless Services at the Institute for Family Health.  In this role he oversees five health centers for people with lived experience of homelessness. Dr. Sta. Ana also provides direct care at the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBTQIA+ youth, and the Broadway Presbyterian Church for chronically homeless adults.

Dr. Sta. Ana has appeared in local and international news media advocating for domestic worker rights, advocated successfully at the state-level for homeless and runaway minors to consent to their own medical care, published, and has been invited to present locally, regionally and internationally on his clinical and advocacy work.  Dr. Sta. Ana lives in Queens, NY with his partner and 3-year old.

Breakout Session A: Health Disparities

David Yang, MD

Dr. David Yang is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He earned his BS in Biomedical Engineering and BSAS in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, MD from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, and his MHS from Yale University. He recently completed his emergency medicine residency through the Yale Emergency Scholars Program and his Yale Emergency Scholar and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fellowship. 

Nationally, Dr. Yang has served as Mental Health Co-Chair for the Asian American Pacific Medical Students Association (APAMSA) and on the Equity and Inclusion Committee with the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). At the local level, he works closely with the sexual assault forensics committee and providing language concordant education to improve bystander interventions in cardiac arrest.

Dr. Yang’s current research focuses on addressing disparities of care in three domains. First, he examines the discrimination that healthcare workers face in the clinical setting with a particular focus on Asian Americans. Second, he focuses on improving the quality of care that survivors experience after a sexual assault. Third, he examines disparities in health outcomes and prehospital service utilization.

Jasmine Jiang, MS3

Jasmine is a third-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2021, with a second major in Medicine, Health, and Society. During her time at Vanderbilt, she founded the university’s Doctors Without Borders student chapter, focusing on serving both global and local communities. In Nashville, she established and developed public health workshops for local refugees with the goal of increasing health literacy on critical topics such as navigating the U.S. healthcare system and first aid.

Now in New Haven, Jasmine continues her commitment to community health by organizing Mandarin CPR workshops for local immigrants, training over 100 Mandarin-speaking individuals in the past year. She is passionate about improving community health and looks forward to integrating these efforts into her future career as a physician.

Zilin Cui, MD, EdM

Dr. Zilin Cui is a PGY-2 psychiatry resident at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, MA. She is interested in going into child and adolescent psychiatry. She graduated from UMass Medical School in 2023, and before that she completed my undergraduate studies at UChicago.

Contact information: Zilin.cui@bmc.org

Ishita Sunita Arora, Ph.D., M.A.L.S.

Dr. Ishita Sunita Arora (she/her/hers) is a Faculty member at the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine and a Research Fellow in Community Evaluation and Youth Programming at the Research Institute for Structural Change, Michigan State University. Dr. Arora is a clinical, community, and applied social psychologist who works with underserved and marginalized populations in the resource-limited settings of South Asia and the United States. As a psychotherapist and research scientist, her healthcare services focus on four core areas – (a) advancing health equity and evidence-based policy for women’s, reproductive and maternal health, (b) promotion of girl empowerment and prevention of gender-based violence, (c) advancing anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, and (d) equitable access and utilization of mental healthcare among historically minoritized communities. Dr. Arora has expertise in community-engaged participatory research, mixed-methods research, program development and evaluation, implementation science, and violence prevention and intervention in academic medicine, community and not-for-profit organizations. Dr. Arora earned her Ph.D. in Human Services Psychology from the University of Maryland and a Master’s in Liberal Studies and Leadership from Ashoka University, India. Dr. Arora’s work is guided by anti-racist, anti-casteist, anti-oppressive, decolonial, and liberatory praxis.

Volunteer Health Interpreters Organization (Represented by Esther Lim, MS1)

Volunteer Health Interpreters Organization (VHIO) is a student-run organization at UC Berkeley that strives to eliminate language barriers in healthcare by providing free language interpretation and translation services in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the past 17 years, we have worked with various healthcare organizations and medical schools to facilitate effective communication between providers and patients.

Many limited English proficient (LEP) patients do not have access to medical interpreters when they need the service, leading to lapses in understanding during the clinical encounter. A healthcare interpreter ensures that the patient and provider can communicate effectively, and in addition, acts as a cultural buffer and patient advocate.

Our presentation will explore what it means to have cultural competence vs. cultural humility when interacting with LEP patients of different cultural backgrounds, and how healthcare professionals can maintain a collaborative relationship with patients’ interpreters.

Contact information: cal.vhio@gmail.com

Breakout Session B: Alternative Medicine

Yung-Chi Cheng, Ph.D.

Henry Bronson Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, Academician of Academia Sinica and Connecticut of Academia of Science, Chairman and founder of Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine (CGCM)

Professor Yung-Chi Cheng has been a leader in cancer and viral pharmacology. There are four approved drugs in Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Hepatitis B (HBV), including the first anti-CMV drug, Gancylovillin and first anti-HBV drug, Lamivudine™ (3TC), discovered from his lab. Currently he has four additional drug candidates, including Chinese medicine PHY906 under clinical trials for the treatment of cancer, Hepatitis B Virus, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). His leadership in antiviral and anticancer research has been recognized by his service as a member and Chairman of the Therapeutic Study Section of NIH, a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Division of Cancer Treatment of the National Cancer Institute, and a member of the AIDS Research Advisory Committee of NIH, a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research. 

He is also chief consultant for many government and research institutions in Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong. He also holds honorary professors in more than 20 institutions in greater China. He is the founder of Society of Chinese Bioscientist in America which just celebrated 30 year birthday. He is also a consultant for many pharmaceutical firms and is the scientific founder of three biotechnology companies sponsored by Yale University, including Achillion who went public, PhytoCeutica who licensed its lead candidate drug PHY906, and Yiviva who is developing evidence-based botanical products to address aging-associated diseases. Throughout his career he has received numerous honors, including the Leukemia Society of America Scholar Award, the Rhodes Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research, ASPET Award (Am Soc Pharm and Exp Therap), an Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute and Cheung on Tak Intl Award for Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Med among many others, Fellow of the National Foundation of Cancer research. He was the strategy consultant in biotech area for the Division of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province and has as academician working station in Quanming. He has received more than 10 honorary professor or doctor degrees from different institutes around the world.

Professor Cheng’s interests are in the development of new drugs and the improvement of the use of clinically proven drugs for the treatment and prevention of cancer, and cancer associated viruses such as herpes virus, human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B virus associ­ated diseases. The types of agents are deoxyribonucleoside analogs, folate analogs and compounds that interfere with DNA and RNA metabolism. Currently he is interested in exploring the potential uses of Chinese medicines for unmet clinical needs.

Eling Tsai, MPH RD CDCES

Eling Tsai is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist. She specializes in eating disorder treatment and prevention, weight-inclusive diabetes management, and family feeding. Eling received her Master of Public Health degree at the Yale School of Public Health and has experience in counseling and programming in a variety of settings, including private practice, hospitals, and community centers. 

Eling uses a Health at Every Size® and Intuitive Eating approach to support her clients in improving their health, well-being and outlook around food.  In addition to individual counseling, Eling enjoys educating groups about weight stigma, cultural competence in healthcare, and the joys of building a positive relationship with food and nutrition. 

Jake Gallagher, DO

Dr. Jake Gallagher completed his residency at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, a level 1 trauma center and had the privilege of performing OMT on a variety of patients from newborns to acutely ill patients in the ICU. He was also in residency during the covid pandemic, and experienced treating patients with OMT in that setting. Currently, outside of teaching at Touro, he works at his private practice in Stamford, CT, where he see many patients with forms of chronic pain, often incorporating OMT with home exercise planning and mindfulness practices (thinking about somato-emotional types of pain) when appropriate.

Joyce M. Oen-Hsiao, MD

Dr. Oen-Hsiao is the Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine), Medical Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation at the Yale New Haven Health Heart and Vascular Center. She is a non-invasive cardiologist, focusing on women’s heart health, prevention, and general cardiology.  She also sees patients in the office and also reads echocardiograms, nuclear stress tests, and cardiac CTs. She did her undergrad at Brown University and medical school at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Email: joyce.oen-hsiao@yale.edu

Barry Wu, MD, MACP

Barry J. Wu, MD, MACP received his BS degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MD from the University of Rochester. He completed his internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. He is a Professor of Medicine and co-directs the first and last courses at Yale School of Medicine and recruits and trains 200 faculty involved in the clinical skills training and interprofessional education for medical, nurse practitioner and physician associate students. He co-directs the Connecticut Older Adult Collaboration for Health (COACH) 4M to enhance the geriatric workforce in primary care and is Chair of the Health Committee for the Yale China Association and collaborated on a model of residency training at Xiangya Hospitals adopted by the government of China. He is married with one son and faculty advisor for the Yale APAMSA Group, Yale ACP Internal Medicine Interest Group and Yale Health Professional Christian Fellowship. His email is barry.wu@yale.edu.

Yingfei Wu, MD, MPH

Yingfei Wu, MD, MPH completed her BS from the University of California, Los Angeles, MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She trained in Internal Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and is currently a General Internal Medicine fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Wu served on her local APAMSA chapter board at the Medical College of Wisconsin as well as on the APAMSA National Board, including as National President from 2018-2021. Her research experience ranges from basic neuroscience research and qualitative community surveys to systematic reviews and analyses of large clinical trials. Dr. Wu is passionate about primary care and clinical research in chronic cardiometabolic diseases, especially in addressing health inequities for minority/underrepresented populations.

Breakout Session C: Transplanting Dreams

Hiroshi Sogawa, MD, FACS

Dr. Hiroshi Sogawa is a multi-organ transplant surgeon, performing adult and pediatric liver, kidney, pancreas, and intestinal (multi-visceral) transplant, and hepatobiliary surgery (including robotic- assisted and laparoscopic liver resection and pancreas surgery). Dr. Sogawa has served as the associate director of adult and pediatric liver transplant. Prior to joining the medical staff at Westchester Medical Center, Dr. Sogawa served as Director of Abdominal Transplant Surgery Fellowship/Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, preceded by an appointment as Assistant Professor of Surgery at Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center. 

A graduate of the Shiga University of Medical Science in Shiga, Japan, Dr. Sogawa completed residency in general surgery and gastrointestinal surgery at the Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. Then he came to the US and completed a residency in general surgery at the State University of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook. Following residency training, Dr. Sogawa completed a multi-organ transplant and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Sogawa also completed a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School for tolerance induction using mixed chimerism. 

Dr. Sogawa is Professor of Surgery, Vice Chair of Education, and Surgical Clerkship Director at the Department of Surgery, New York Medical College. Dr. Sogawa’s research interests focus on improving post-transplant outcomes, induction of clinical immunologic tolerance in transplant recipients, safety and efficacy of living donor liver transplantation, intestinal transplantation, and minimally invasive (robotic and laparoscopic) hepatobiliary surgery. He is a member of numerous committees at national and international organizations as well as an editorial board member of major surgical journals.

Mina L. Xu, MD

Dr. Mina L Xu, MD, is the Director of Hematopathology and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, specializing in diagnosing blood diseases and cancers. She is an internationally recognized academic pathologist and is also Director of Yale Pathology’s Expert Consultation Practice. Dr. Xu’s research focuses on the pathogenesis of hematopoietic malignancies, aiming to translate findings into diagnostic and therapeutic advancements in the field. Specifically, she is working on spatial multi-omics of lymphomas in transformation and in the development of novel cancer biomarkers.

Karen M. Chen, MS2

Karen Chen is a second-year medical student from Dallas, TX at the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). She serves as the Columbia APAMSA chapter’s co-president. She is also the co-director of the Human Rights Clinic at Columbia. Karen graduated from Stanford University in 2022 with a B.S. in Computer Science and minor in Human Rights. Prior to medical school, Karen spent a year as Fulbright Research Scholar at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, conducting global health research to develop novel corneal transplant hydrogel alternatives for use in low-resource areas. Karen is passionate about AANHPI issues, driven by her desire to address the healthcare disparities at home and abroad, and hopes to serve as a voice for the AANHPI community in future career in medicine.

Kanoe Evile, MS2

Kanoe Evile is a second year medical student at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. She grew up in the town of Haleiwa, HI on O’ahu in a Filipino-Samoan family that inspired her love for her community and Pacific Health. She completed her B.S. in Biological Engineering with a minor in Linguistics at MIT before entering the MD/PhD Program at Columbia. She is passionate about addressing Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) issues and looks forward to best serving these communities at the intersection of medicine and public health. Currently, she serves as the NHPI Director on the APAMSA National Board.

Ted Shi, MS2

​​Ted Shi is a second-year medical student at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians in Surgeons. He is originally from Overland Park, Kansas and attended The University of Texas at Dallas, where he received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. In medical school, he serves as the social chair for the school’s APAMSA chapter, where he plans social events for the organization.

Maya Xia, MS2

Maya Xia is a second-year MD-PhD student at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians in Surgeons. She is originally from Houston, TX and graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor’s in Neuroscience. Prior to starting medical school, she worked at the National Institutes of Health, where she studied mechanisms underlying PTSD in mouse models. At Columbia, she serves as the culture and education chair for the school’s APAMSA chapter.

Ethan Daniel Fried, MD

Dr. Ethan Daniel Fried is a graduate of the City College of New York, Sophie Davis School for Biomedical Education (a 7 year BS-MD program) and the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine.  He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at SUNY Downstate-Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn and a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Cornell University Medical School – New York Hospital.  He has a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.  He also has a Master’s Degree in Health Professions Pedagogy and Leadership from Hofstra University.  Dr. Fried is currently Associate Chair for Education and Internal Medicine Residency Program Director at Lenox Hill Hospital, part of Northwell Health and Professor of Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Northwell/Hofstra.  He is also Associate Designated Institutional Official for Lenox Hill and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Northwell Health.  In 2012, Dr. Fried was inducted as a Master of the American College of Physicians.

Shwetha Iyer, MD

Dr. Shwetha Iyer is Program Director of the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine Program at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Temple University and completed her residency in the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine Program Track at Montefiore. She developed and completed training as a global health faculty fellow in the Global Health and Clinical Skills Fellowship at Montefiore. Her area of interest includes medical education, specifically in curriculum development and coaching. She has adapted and teaches a weight management curriculum for residents, developed and co-directs the clinical reasoning curriculum, and has refined the advocacy and women’s health curriculum for the residency program. Her current curricular focus is the development of the Master Adaptive Learner model and structural competency in residency education.  Prior to her current position, she served as Associate Program Director for the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine Program.

Timothy B. Sullivan, MD

Dr Timothy B. Sullivan is Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the founding Program Director of the Psychiatric Residency Training Program, from 2013-2023, at Northwell Health/Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH); and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Donald and Barbara Zucker SOM at Hofstra/Northwell. After graduating from Dartmouth Medical College, he trained in Internal Medicine and Hematology-Oncology at Saint Vincents Hospital in Greenwich Village, New York; and subsequently pursued further training in Psychiatry at the New York Hospital Westchester Division, Cornell University Medical Center, where he then served as a member of the faculty for several years.

Dr Sullivan is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association; Fellow of the International Society for Affective Disorders; Co-Chair of the Psychotherapy Section of the World Psychiatric Association; Vice President of the World Association for Dynamic Psychiatry, a member of the Executive Council for the World Federation of Psychotherapy, and Associate Editor of Psychodynamic Psychiatry. He is also Chair of the Education Committee for the American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis (AAPDPP).

Dr Sullivan, throughout his career, has been active in the communities where he has worked, maintaining relationships with and frequently lecturing to NAMI, as well as serving for several years as First Vice President of the Board of Westchester Arc, and as a member of the Board of Governors of NYSARC. He currently serves on the Board of Partners Health Plan, a first-in-the-nation managed care organization focused on providing quality care for individuals with developmental disabilities.

 

In addition to founding the psychiatry residency training program at SIUH when he arrived there in 2011, he has subsequently, in his role as Chair, focused on modernizing systems of care and recruiting teaching faculty from distinguished institutions; collaborated with other hospital departments on a variety of projects, including Integrated/Collaborative Care models; developed programs that improve the recognition and treatment of persons with substance use disorders in primary care settings; promoted efforts to enhance behavioral care for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their families; participated in community public health initiatives targeting underserved communities and populations at risk, especially adolescents; and helped begin hospital programs addressing resident and physician wellness. His current area of academic interest is the structure of future psychiatric practice and the training/educational needs of future psychiatrists, with an emphasis on proposed models of psychotherapy training.

Ingrid Walker-Descartes MD, MPH, MBA, FAAP

Dr. Walker-Descartes attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry where she obtained her Doctorate in Medicine. Upon graduating from medical school, she did a residency in Pediatrics at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, NY and subsequently pursued further training in a combined General Academic Pediatrics and Child Abuse Fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Walker-Descartes is currently on faculty at Maimonides Children’s Hospital of Brooklyn. In the Department of Pediatrics, she serves in two roles – one as a clinician and the other as an administrator. In her clinical roles, she practices General Pediatrics and a Child Abuse Pediatrics. As an administrator, she serves in the following roles: Program Director of the Pediatrics Residency training program, Fellowship Director for the Child Abuse Fellowship Program, the Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Pediatrics, and the Director of Child Maltreatment Services for the Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Walker-Descartes has published several articles as well as book chapters focused on the various forms of child maltreatment. Her involvement in child protection and advocacy also includes her involvement in several local and national professional organizations such as the AAP Chapter 2 Committee on the Prevention of Family Violence, the AAP Special Interest Group on Child Abuse and Neglect, the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), the New York State Child Abuse Medical Provider Program (CHAMP) and the Ray Helfer Society for Child Maltreatment Pediatricians. She has also served as a consultant for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services Accountability Review Panel that reviews the child fatalities across the five borough and continues to lend her skillsets wherever possible to advance the healthcare agenda for all vulnerable children.

Contact: (718) 283-7503

Breakout Session D: Stitching Success

Steve Paik, MD, EdM

Steve Paik MD, EdM is the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Admissions at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University.

He earned his MD at the Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his Pediatric residency training and Chief Residency at the Babies and Children’s Hospital at Columbia University. He then went on to complete a Pediatric Academic Fellowship in Urban Community Health at Columbia. During his fellowship, he earned an EdM at Teachers College Columbia University in Adult Learning and Leadership. Dr. Paik is Board Certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hospital Medicine, and he has served on faculty at NYU and Columbia as a Pediatric Hospitalist. He has served in pediatric residency leadership for 15 years (as Associate Program Director at NYU and Program Director at Columbia) prior to joining the Netter School of Medicine.

Dr. Paik has been an active member of the medical education community. He was in the first cohort of the Pediatric Academic Societies’ Educational Scholar Program. He has served as a faculty member for the Academic Pediatric Educator Excellence (APEX) Teaching Program.  He currently serves as a member of the AAMC Advancing Holistic Principles Advisory Committee.  His educational scholarly interests have included curriculum development and evaluation, faculty development, mentoring/coaching, professional identity formation, inclusive and equitable learning environments, skills development (teaching, feedback, conflict resolution, communication, and leadership).

Dr. Andy Nguyen, MD

Dr. Andy Nguyen, MD is a first year anesthesiology resident at Yale. As a first generation physician, he completed his undergraduate and medical school education through one of the inaugural cohorts of a combined BS/MD 7 year accelerated medical program at Augusta University and the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA where he grew up.  During his time in medical school, he used his more than decade long professional experience in photography and videography to merge digital media and medicine to build a social media platform culminating in over 300k in following and 50 million views across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and podcast streaming platforms. Most notably on YouTube (@ND M.D.) his 73Q interview series has created a library of resources that include testimonies from notable physicans of specialties ranging from psychiatry to plastic surgery such as Dr. America Revere, Dr. Jake Goodman, Doc Schmidt, Dr. Glaucomfleken, and much more. His experience traveling all around the country to share physician stories, directing and hosting multiple podcasts, using media experience to enrich medical school curriculum, and even being a TEDx speaker has been an example of the importance of maintaining creative passions in medical school and how important it is to share your story…because someone out there needs to hear it.

Dr. Karen Bach, MD

Dr. Karen Bach, MD, is a second-year plastic surgery resident at Yale. As a first-generation college graduate, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Physiological Sciences from UCLA. She then graduated from the University of Toledo College of Medicine in Ohio, where she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Karen’s involvement with APAMSA began during her premed years, where she served as the national bone marrow director. Later, during her medical training, she founded the local regional chapter at her medical school as served as President. Her professional interests include addressing healthcare disparities across different ethnic groups, microsurgery, and hand surgery. During her leisure time, she enjoys traveling with her fiancé, exploring the newest food scene, and hanging out with her cat.

James Hwang, MD

James Hwang is radiology resident at Yale University. He went to Duke University, where he studied biology with minors in Chemistry and Psychology. For medical school, he went to the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, which has multiple campuses. He was part of a program where I completed my first two years of medical school at the Rochester, Minnesota campus, and my clinical training years at the Jacksonville, Florida campus. Radiology requires a preliminary year, which he completed at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Clara, California. He is now in my first year at Yale, and he intends to complete a radiology fellowship in the future. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with my fiancé, friends, and family, along with traveling, both nearby and internationally. He is passionate about lifelong learning and mentorship and would love to connect with those with questions for him.

Contact information: james.hwang@yale.edu, Twitter @jameshwang214

Arvin Saleh, MD

Arvin Saleh is currently a CA1/PGY2 anesthesiology resident at Yale in New Haven. Arvin grew up in the US Pacific Northwest, Indonesia, and Singapore, before earning his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. During his undergraduate studies, Arvin spent 4 months researching agriculture and nutrition policy in Nepal. Arvin then moved north to Boston to pursue his MD/MPH at Tufts. During this period, he spent a year living in Tanzania researching child growth and development outcomes. Arvin’s professional interests include global health, critical care, and pediatric anesthesiology. During his spare time, Arvin enjoys cooking, trying to cultivate a green thumb, and saving up to get more travel experiences. He can be reached at arvin.saleh@yale.edu.

Amanda Zhou, MD

Dr. Amanda Zhou is a PGY3 dermatology resident. She went to college at the University of Southern California and medical school at Yale. In medical school, she was involved in medical education, medical student wellness, the humanities in medicine, and basic science research in a dermatology lab studying skin cancer prevention. In residency, she is on the Clinician Educator track and continues to focus on medical education and wellness, including serving as a member of the Graduate Medical Education Committee and being a “Friend” in Yale’s “Call a Friend” one-on-one peer support initiative.

Directions to the Venue

Venue: Sterling Hall of Medicine
333 Cedar Street, New HavenCT06510
Nearest airports:
Nearest train station:
  • Union Station
    • Amtrak – service is scheduled daily from Boston, Washington, D.C., or New York (Penn Station)
    • Metro-North – Hourly service to New Haven from Grand Central Station in New York every day of the week

By car:

  • From I-95 North or South Take Exit 47 (Route 34) to Exit 1. Visitor parking is available in the Air Rights Garage, which can be entered from MLK Jr. Boulevard, South Frontage Road, or York Street.
  • From I-91 South Take Exit 1 (Route 34) to Exit 1. Continue to the Air Rights Garage, as above.
  • From Merritt Parkway (Rte. 15) North Take Exit 57 to Route 34 East into New Haven. Turn right onto Ella T. Grasso Boulevard (Rte. 10) and then left onto South Frontage Road (Legion Avenue). Follow Yale New Haven Hospital and Rte. 34 signs. Continue to the Air Rights Garage, as above.
  • From Wilbur Cross Parkway (Rte. 15) South Take Exit 59 immediately after the tunnel. Go right at end of ramp. Merge left onto Whalley Avenue at light. Stay on Whalley until you see signs for Yale New Haven Hospital at Park Street. Follow hospital signs, then make a left turn onto South Frontage Road. Continue to the Air Rights Garage, as above.

In need of funds? Apply for the APAMSA Diversity Travel Grant! Deadline: 9/20/2024

Diversity Travel Grant

Campus Map (Click on Maps for Better Resolution)

Hotels and Accommodations

APAMSA Regions 1 and 2 invite you to submit an abstract for the Northeastern Regional Conference on October 12, 2024. There is no cost for submitting an abstract.

Deadline for abstract submission: September 28, 2024 @ 11:59 pm EST.

Submissions are now closed. Thank you all who submitted their abstracts. If you have not bought your ticket, please do so as soon as possible.

 

Research Prize Winners:

First Place: Su Htwe – Real World Application of Gene Therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Second Place: Justin Kong – Preschool mother-child emotional preparation program leads to significant improvement in autonomic regulation: a randomized controlled trial

Third Place: Ryan Yu – Prostate Cancer Characteristics and Outcomes for Medicare Recipients With and Without HIV

Featured Abstracts and Accepted Posters

Alexander Yu
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Poster #1:

Biportal Endoscopic Spine Surgery Shows Greater Reduction in Disability, While Uniportal Offers Faster Recovery in Lumbar Degenerative Disease: A Meta-Analysis 

Alyssa Carlson
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine

Poster #2:

Acquired Hemophilia A Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination: Mechanistic and Clinical Insight

Eric Wang
Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine

Poster #3:

A Culturally Relevant Approach to Nutrition Education: Chinese Heritage and Identity through Food And Nutrition (CHIFAN) 

Ethan Wang
Yale School of Medicine

Poster #4:

Effectiveness of Mandarin-Language Workshop on CPR Skills in Chinese Americans Who Speak Mandarin As a First Language

Jefferson Poserio
University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine

Poster #5:

Deletion of 11β-HSD1 Prevents Craniofacial Bone Loss Caused by Caloric Restriction

Jennifer Hong & Alyanna Tam
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Poster #6:

Dismantling Structural Racism in Pediatric and Obstetric Clinics: Observing Health Disparities and Medical Mistrust

Jessalyn Li
Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine

Poster #7:

Bridging the Digital Divide: Enhancing Digital Health Literacy through One-on-One Technology Coaching in Rural Living Communities

Ji Hyun Kim
New York Medical College

Poster #8:

Single-Surgeon Prospective Cohort Study: Comparing the Usage of Transanal Hemorrhoidal Dearterialization (THD) with Anolift, THD with Mucopexy, and Traditional Excisional Treatment for Grade IV Hemorrhoids

Joy Miao
Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine

Poster #9:

Interventional Education in Cancer Prevention to Promote Sun Safe Habits and Lower Risk of Cancer in Rural Youth Populations

Joyce Quon
Yale School of Medicine

Poster #10:

Evaluation of CHATogether as a Creative Community-Based Intervention for Asian American Mental Health Needs: A Mixed-Methods Study

Justin Kong
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine

Poster #11:

Preschool mother-child emotional preparation program leads to significant improvement in autonomic regulation: a randomized controlled trial

Mehreen Pasha
University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Poster #12:

CFAP45, a heterotaxy and congenital heart disease gene, affects cilia stability

Paul Teng
New York Medical College

Poster #13:

Outcomes of Pediatric Patients Before and After RNS Thalamic Neurostimulation

Rebecca Chang
Yale School of Medicine

Poster #14:

Developmental Deconvolution of Pediatric Hepatoblastoma

Rithikaa Rajendran
Rutgers University

Poster #15:

Differential Roles of LPO Glutamatergic and GABAergic Neurons in Modulating Cocaine Reward and Aversion: Implications for Cocaine Use Disorder

Ryan Yu
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Poster #16:

Prostate Cancer Characteristics and Outcomes for Medicare Recipients With and Without HIV

Ryan Chan
New York Medical College

Poster #17:

Asian Representation in Kidney Transplant Clinical Trials

Sarah Ho
Yale School of Medicine

Poster #18:

Asian American women leadership in academic medicine: a qualitative study of medical residents’ perceptions of facilitators and barriers to leadership

Su Htwe
New York Medical College

Poster #19:

Real World Application of Gene Therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Sharon Yu
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine

Poster #20:

Utilizing Myeloperoxidase Staining and Clinicopathologic Correlation for Diagnosing Prurigo Pigmentosa Linked to Diabetic Ketoacidosis in New-Onset Type 1 Diabetes Post COVID-19

National Board

Melissa Calica

Region 1 Director
Tufts University School of Medicine

Stephen Lin

Region 1 Director
University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine

Ruby Chung

Region 2 Director
SUNY Downstate
College of Medicine

Ker-Cheng (KC) Chen

Region 2 Director
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine

Yue Jiao Jiang

Region 2 Director
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine Harlem

Sarah Lee

Region 2 Director
New York University Grossman Long Island School of Medicine

Paul Tominez

Membership Vice President
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine

Local Chapter Leadership

Isabel Wang

Co-President
Yale School of Medicine

Emily Xu

Co-President
Yale School of Medicine

Ashley Wang

Event Planning Co-Chair
Yale School of Medicine

Tiffany Jiang

Event Planning Co-Chair
Yale School of Medicine

Rebecca Chang

Service and Conference Co-Chair
Yale School of Medicine

Joyce Quon

Service and Conference Co Chair
Yale School of Medicine

Javieer Singh

Treasurer
Yale School of Medicine

NEW APAMSA Skin Cancer Screening Toolkit

Rachel, our Cancer Initiatives Director of National APAMSA is promoting our brand new Skin Cancer Screening Toolkit launched earlier this year. It is packed with everything a local chapter needs to host their own skin cancer screening event. Here is the link if you’re interested: https://www.apamsa.org/skin-cancer-screening-protocol/

Chinese American Medical Society Events

FCMS & CAMS Scientific Conference on Health Care of the Chinese in North America on Saturday, November 2, 2024
Location: Pier 60 Chelsea Piers | NY

Save the date for the CAMS & CAIPA Red Lantern Gala on Saturday, November 2, 2024
Location: Pier 60 Chelsea Piers | NY

ASPIRE is starting its first Asian American cohort study for cancer research.

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Talk: The Alcohol Flushing Response

Dr. Eric Gross is an anesthesiologist at the Stanford School of Medicine, where his research laboratory focuses on the impact of genetic variants on perioperative organ injury. Taking a translational approach, the lab primarily investigates cardiovascular injury, with a current emphasis on aldehydes and the genetic variant responsible for inefficient aldehyde metabolism.

One common phenomenon related to this research is alcohol-induced facial flushing, where individuals experience redness and an increased heart rate after drinking. This flushing is linked to a genetic variant that leads to the accumulation of acetaldehyde, a harmful intermediate from alcohol metabolism. Traced back to the Han Chinese in Central China, this variant heightens health risks, including certain cancers, especially among those who smoke or drink. Additionally, it diminishes the effectiveness of nitroglycerin, a medication used during heart attacks.

Dr. Gross will discuss the genetic basis of alcohol flushing, its associated health risks, and the urgent need for greater education among medical professionals and the public. His research centers on aldehydes and their metabolism by the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), affecting nearly 540 million people worldwide. The significance of this work is evident in publications in prestigious journals such as Science Translational Medicine, Pain, BJA, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Redox Biology, and Physiological Reviews.

The NIH Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP)

The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, the world’s largest research hospital, continues the proud tradition of training the next generation of clinician-scientists. The NIH Medical Research Scholarship Program (MRSP) is a year-long residential professional development program for research-oriented medical, dental, and veterinary students at the NIH intramural campus in Bethesda, MD, as well as its satellite campuses.

The MRSP offers a robust investigational experience through a basic, clinical, or translational research project with an experienced mentor that matches their professional interests. Focused on helping develop a career in biomedical research, the MRSP year provides students with a dedicated advisor/mentor and a vast curriculum of academic activities featuring world-renowned clinician-scientists, networking opportunities, and professional development workshops. The NIH MRSP has a proven history of launching the next generation of clinician-scientists into highly successful, impactful careers.

Medical, Dental, and Veterinary students currently enrolled in their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th years with a strong interest in biomedical research are eligible to apply. Diversity strengthens our community and improves the quality of our training mission. We welcome and encourage applicants from all communities and backgrounds to apply. Applications must be fully completed and submitted by DECEMBER 2, 2024 at 5:00PM EST. **Please note the earlier application cycle and deadline this year. **

Students will be notified of their selection by mid-January. Interviews will take place February 18 & 19, 2025 during a 2-day virtual program that also includes informational sessions. Notifications of selection for the MRSP Class of 2025-2026 will be sent on February 28. The deadline to accept the offer will be March 7, 2025.

The NIH MRSP Team will conduct a live, virtual informational webinar on Thursday, October 10th at 1:00PM (EST).

Click Here to Register or go to Zoomgov.com Meeting ID: 161 702 4095 Passcode: MRSP2526 More information about our program can be found at: NIH Medical Research Scholars Program. If you have any questions or would like additional information about the MRSP, please do not hesitate to contact us at mrsp@mail.nih.gov.

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