Nataliyah Tahir

National Conference Logistics Director
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

Eric Chio

National Conference Logistics Director
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

Avery Zhou

National Conference Speaker Relations Director
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

Michelle Zhu

National Conference Speaker Relations Director
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

Kenny Do

National Conference Finance Director
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

Tiffany Chen

National Conference Communications Director
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

Logistics

National Conference Committee Members
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

From left to right: Nataliyah Tahir, Michelle Zheng, Charissa Alo, Eric Chio

Speaker Relations

National Conference Committee Members
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

From left to right: Kim Inciong, Avery Zhou, Michelle Zhu, Leah Yim

Communications

National Conference Committee Member
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

From left to right: Allen Zhang, Tiffany Chen, Claire Ong

Not pictured: Celica Cosme

Finance

National Conference Committee Member
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine

From left to right: Gemma Lagasca, Kenny Do, Mira Dani

Vivienne S. Hau, MD, PhD is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and a retina surgeon with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. She is the Area Vice-Chair of Clinical Research and Director of the largest KP ophthalmology clinical research program focusing on age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Dr. Hau is an openly transgender woman and first-generation Vietnamese boat immigrant.  As a medical student she established the University of Arizona APAMSA chapter and later elected Regional Director and 2001 National President.  Her chapter was one of the first to involve pre-med students.  She is the first LGBTQIA+ elected board member of the American Society of Retina Specialists and currently co-chairs the DEI Committee and started the first LGBTQIA+ ophthalmology mentorship program. She’s an invited national speaker on supporting transgender and non-binary (TGNB) patients and colleagues and spoken to Fortune 500 companies on better supporting their TGNB communities.  She was one of the first physicians to have transitioned at KP.

Dr. Hau is a mother to a beautiful 9-year-old daughter and her perfect day is taking her to Disneyland.   She also volunteers guiding blind athletes in marathons and does triathlons.

Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza is a Pinay Ph.D. Candidate studying Higher Education and completing a graduate certificate in Program Evaluation and Assessment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Her research interests revolve around race-based higher education policies, currently focusing on Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs; i.e., Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)) and racial data classifications. As part of her UNLV MSI Student Council initiative, she advocated for the systematic collection of disaggregated race data in the UNLV undergraduate and graduate admissions applications, which went into effect for Fall 2023 admits. She spoke on the importance of disaggregation of race data for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders on Nevada Public Radio’s (KNPR) Exit Spring Mountain podcast. Before graduate study, Kristine worked full-time as the Student Affairs Officer in the UCLA Asian American Studies Department. She was a community college transfer student from Long Beach City College to the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, where she earned her B.A. in Biology, B.A. in Anthropology, and M.Ed. in Educational Administration.

David Kuykendall is the current program director for the Kirk Krekorian School of Medicine Family and Community Medicine Residency. He leads the residency that trained him as a resident. Immediately after graduation he signed on as faculty and is now an associate professor with the school of medicine. He enjoys primary care and acute issues and loves medical education and community outreach.

Dr. Bernice Ponce de Leon, DO is a board-certified adult psychiatrist who recently completed a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at University of Southern California (2021-2023). She earned her BS in Psychology at Duke University, attended medical school at Touro University Nevada, and completed her adult psychiatry residency at University of Nevada Las Vegas. Her journey has been driven by her passion for Asian American mental health, from hosting outreach events to decrease mental health stigma in medical school, to serving as a Diversity Leadership Fellow with the American Psychiatric Association (2020-2022) as a resident/fellow. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Korean variety shows and crocheting.

Yingfei Wu, MD, MPH completed her BS in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and is currently a General Internal Medicine fellow at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. She has served on her local MCW APAMSA chapter board 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 secondary analyses of large randomized 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.

Ruey Hu, MD, MPH is a cardiovascular outcomes researcher and third-year fellow in cardiovascular medicine at Yale School of Medicine. He was voted by Yale medical students as outstanding fellow teacher of the year in 2021, voted by Yale medical residents as the Department of Medicine’s 2022 Fellow of the Year, voted by APAMSA medical students as 2023 Alumnus of the Year, and voted by Yale emergency medicine residents as the 2023 Consultant of the Year. Originally from Canada, Dr Hu served as national president of APAMSA 2016-2018. He completed his AB at Princeton University, MD and residency at Vanderbilt University, and MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where he was inducted into the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society. A metabolomics researcher, he is a two-time winner of the NKF National Young Investigators’ Forum. His research has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Annals of Internal Medicine. His tool for guideline directed medical therapy, GDMT.org, has been recognized by the American Heart Association and is used by clinicians in 70 countries. He is an active peer reviewer for cardiology and nephrology journals and serves on the intern selection committee of the Yale internal medicine residency program.

Dr. Francisco Sy is Professor & Chair, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at UNLV School of Public Health. He is the Principal Investigator of Mountain West Clinical & Translational Research Infrastructure Network, funded by NIH/NIGMS. He is the Editor of AIDS Education and Prevention- An Interdisciplinary Journal since 1988. His research expertise include infectious disease epidemiology and health disparities research. Dr. Sy worked as a Senior Health Scientist Administrator at NIH National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities Health for 12 years. At Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he was a Senior Health Scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention for 4 years. He was a member of the CDC SARS Outbreak Investigation Team in 2003. Dr. Sy was an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at University of South Carolina School of Public Health for 15 years. Dr. Sy earned his Doctor of Public Health degree in Immunology & Infectious Diseases in 1984 from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; and Master of Science in Tropical Public Health in 1981 from Harvard School of Public Health. He obtained his MD in 1975 & BS Pre-Med in 1970 from University of the Philippines.

Dr. B U.K. Li is an Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). He completed his A.B. (religion) at Princeton University, M.D. and internal medicine internship at Kansas University, and pediatric residency, chief residency, and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over his career, he investigated the intestinal transport of carnitine, developed a 27-hour medical student diversity curriculum and a 3-year curriculum for 78 pediatric subspecialty fellows, studied the mechanisms of cyclic vomiting syndrome, and established the first interdisciplinary Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) Program that treated national and international referrals. He was elected the first minority President (2008-2010) of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (NASPGHAN.org). He published over 160 articles and chapters and gave 80 Grand Rounds and international presentations. He chaired or co-chaired the Clinical Guidelines task force on the Diagnosis and Treatment of CVS in Children (2008), on the Diagnosis and Treatment of CVS in Adults (2019) and the ongoing pediatric update (2023). He co-edited the Fellows’ Concise Review of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and serves as a Section Editor of Pediatric Gastroenterology for UpToDate. He received the Outstanding Clinical Teacher Award at the University of Wisconsin, three Diversity Awards from The Ohio State University, the MCW President’s Diversity and Inclusion Award (2018) and two career achievement awards in pediatric gastroenterology – the Murray Davidson Award (2012) and the inaugural Master Educator Award (2018). Dr. Li co-founded the Asian American Student Association at Princeton (1970) and the national Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA.org) in 1995 and continues on the advisory board. He has spoken to regional APAMSA Chapters and National Conferences and received APAMSA’s 10 th Anniversary Service and 25 th Anniversary Mentor Awards.

Born in South Korea and raised in the greater Los Angeles area, Kevin Riutzel is a family physician currently working in the heart of LA’s Koreatown. The clinic he works at is a federally-qualified health center primarily serving local AAPI communities, many of whom are the 1st generation in their families to immigrate to the U.S. He has served in several roles for APAMSA including National President for three terms as well as National Pre-med Director, Region XII Director, and local chapter president. He finished his undergraduate studies at UC San Diego and graduate studies at Columbia University. After graduating from Touro University Nevada, he completed his training in family medicine at UC Irvine with a focus on integrative medicine. He served as one of the chief residents while at UC Irvine. Kevin takes a particular interest in mental health and culturally-sensitive nutritional counseling in AAPI communities along with providing an integrative and holistic approach to the care he offers to the communities he serves. He is not burned out, and he enjoys his job.

Hieu Pham, MD, MSPH, AAHIVS, FAAFP (he/him) works at International Community Health Services (ICHS) in Seattle, WA as a Family Medicine Physician. ICHS is the biggest healthcare provider to AANHPI in Washington state. He provides full spectrum primary and obstetrical care to all patients, and serves as the in-house HIV specialist and gender affirming care subject expert. Additionally, Dr. Pham directs the ICHS Family Medicine Residency, a site of the larger Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency (SCHFMR). As an immigrant, queer physician of color, Dr. Pham is particularly interested in immigrant and refugee health, LGBTQIA+ health, and mentoring the next generation of physicians of color. His other clinical interests include health equity, anti-racist framework in medicine, chronic hepatitis B, obstetrical and gynecological health, and diabetes. Dr. Pham was born in Saigon, Vietnam and was raised in Queens, New York. He did his undergrad at Columbia, Master’s at Johns Hopkins, and medical degree at Rush Medical College, where he was involved with APAMSA national board. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at SCHFMR, where he was also chief resident. Outside of work, Dr. Pham enjoys bouldering, reading, traveling, camping, board games, mixology, and cooking the food of his motherland. He is always in search for the best bún bò huế.

A graduate of the UCSF School of Medicine, Dr. Winston Wong, MD, MS, FAAFP, is the Chair and acting CEO of the National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP). Dr. Wong was a founding member of NCAPIP when it was established in 2007 to provide a national voice for API physicians to advocate for health equity on behalf of their communities. Dr. Wong has served in national leadership roles in the U.S. Public Health Service and Kaiser Permanente, where he led population management efforts to address health disparities and to support Kaiser’s commitment to safety net providers. Dr. Wong has ongoing roles at the National Academy of Medicine, and in health philanthropy including the CDC Foundation and Grantmakers in Health. He is also a Scholar-in-Residence at the Kaiser Permanente UCLA Center for Health Equity. He was featured as a “Face of Public Health” in the American Journal of Public Health, and received the Community Hero Award from Asian Health Services based in Oakland, California.

Dr. Aakash Shah is a practicing emergency room doctor who helped treat the earliest confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New Jersey. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Shah has founded several programs to promote community health. Most recently, Dr. Shah founded Healing the Vote which helped recruit, train, and mobilize over 250 pre-health students to assist over 3,500 New Jerseyans to vote over the course of six weeks. He has also served as an advisor to the US Secretary of Health and Human Services and multiple federal, state, and local policymakers. Dr. Shah obtained his MD from Harvard Medical School, his MBA and MSc in Comparative Social Policy from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and his BA and BS from Ursinus College. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Centenary University.

Dr. John T. Pham is the Dean and Chief Academic Officer of the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine. He formerly served as Vice Dean of Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest in Lebanon, Oregon. He is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and has a passion for teaching and inspiring the next generation of osteopathic physicians. Dr. Pham settled in Portland, Oregon with his parent and younger brother after emigrating from Vietnam in 1975. He is the eldest of three sons and the first in his family to attend medical school. Dr. Pham attended Oregon State University, where he majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. After graduating from Oregon State University, he left the state for the first time since arriving in Oregon to attend medical school at Des Moines University in Iowa. Dr. Pham completed his residency in family medicine at the Eastmoreland Hospital. After graduating from residency, Dr. Pham was an ambitious and eager physician. His ambition and motivation to give back to his community was embedded in his fiber. He became an entrepreneur and opened a solo practice clinic in Portland, where he practiced for more than 9 years prior to joining WesternU in 2011. Being fluent in Vietnamese, Dr. Pham’s practice served a large number of first- and second-generation Vietnamese. Throughout his time in private practice, Dr. Pham mentored countless numbers of medical students and pre-med students at his clinic. Dr. Pham has been recognized for mentoring both locally and nationally. These acknowledgements have earned him D.O. of the Year from the State Association in 2010 and Mentor of the Year from the AOA in 2007. His love of teaching led him to Western University COMP-Northwest, where he began educating as an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine for the inaugural class in 2011. When the opportunity arose for him to give back to the community and train future compassionate and competent physicians, he did not hesitate. He now brings his passion for education and mentoring to the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine as Dean.

Dr. Lee is a private practice radiologist in Los Alamitos, CA. He was one of the original student organizers that helped lead to the formation of APAMSA in 1995, and has helped lead APAMSA’s Advisory Board ever since. He is a board member of the National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP). He is president of the Orange County chapter of OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, and has previously held many roles in the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), including National President, President of its Chicago chapter, and co-chair of its 2008 National Convention. He is also the Medical Advisor for the Diagnostic Medical Sonography programs at Platt College. Dr. Lee received his bachelor’s degree in Engineering Sciences at Harvard University and obtained his medical degree from the University of Maryland. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of Chicago, where he was chief resident, and a fellowship in abdominal imaging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston. On the side, Jhemon writes and performs sketch comedy with the Asian American comedy group “No MSG Added,” and he and his wife previously performed improv comedy for years with groups such as Cold Tofu, Los Angeles’ longest running API improv troupe.

Dr. Sandhya Wahi-Gururaj is a board-certified general internist and professor of internal medicine. Dr. Wahi has been in medical education for over 20 years across the continuum. She held multiple roles including program director for 12 years at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), now known as the Kirk Kerkorian SOM of at UNLV internal medicine residency program. Dr. Wahi has a keen interest in physician professional development and well-being, and among other activities she regularly presents faculty development sessions at the national level. . She is the Governor of the Nevada Chapter American College of Physician (ACP), a Well-being Champion Emeritus, and was the program planning chair for 11 years. In addition, she is an active board member of the Nevada Physician Wellness Coalition. Dr. Wahi is a recipient of multiple awards including the NV ACP’s Chapter Laureate Award, Woman Physician of the Year, and is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She is a graduate of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the Boston University School of Public Health. She completed her internal medicine residency, chief residency, and general internal medicine fellowship at the Boston University Medical Center.

Dr. Marcus Kawika Iwane was born and raised in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. He earned his medical degree from the University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) in 2010. He continued his training at the University of Hawaii Internal Medicine Residency Program and is board certified in internal medicine. He belongs to the American College of Physicians, Hawaii Chapter and serves as president of ‘Ahahui ‘o nā Kauka, the Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians. In 2014, Dr. Iwane joined Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, where he practices internal medicine. He is the chief of the Kaiser Permanente West Oahu Medical Office at Kapolei, known as Kīpukaoha, where he leads a collective effort with community organizations to create innovative programs and partnerships that promote Native Hawaiian health and healing. He serves as clinical faculty for JABSOM, the Kaiser Permanente Bernard Tyson School of Medicine and the Kaiser Permanente Hawaii Internal Medicine Residency Program. In 2018, Dr. Iwane was named to Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40 list of exceptional leaders. Most recently, he was recognized on the peer-nominated list Best Doctors in America® and received the 2021 Kaiser Permanente David Lawrence Community Service Award. In 2023, Dr. Iwane completed the Climate and Health Equity Fellowship through the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health.

Jennifer serves as the Director of Community Engagement at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine where she also lectures on health policy, social determinants of health, health systems science and population health. She attended the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and graduated with a Bachelor in Political Science. After 20 years in healthcare she obtained a Masters in Public Affairs with a concentration in health policy from Indiana University. Currently she is pursuing a doctorate in public policy and her research focuses on identifying and addressing social needs in primary care settings.

Susan has been associated with Be The Match since 2014, as the Director of Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M), a network partner organization based in Los Angeles and dedicated to engage and enroll potential donors from communities of color. Susan joined Be the Match in 2022 and currently serves as the Manager of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Partnerships and Patient Engagement. In this role, Susan manages community and collegiate partnerships with the goal of increasing aware of Be the Match’s mission and diversifying the registry. Susan also leads the Patient Engagement Program and organizes collaborative efforts with patients and the Be the Match recruitment team to explore and support recruitment opportunities.

Susan Choi is originally from Hong Kong and raised in Southern California. She holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Health Science and Policy from the University of California, Irvine. She is a busy mom of three and could be found in a gym on weekends watching her boys’ basketball games.