region7

Paul Tran is a pediatric gastroenterologist at Phoenix Childrens, where he has been practicing since summer of 2022 after finishing his fellowship training in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He earned his medical degree from University of Colorado School of Medicine and completed pediatric residency at Children’s Health/University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas Texas.

He considers himself a dedicated medical educator, with formal roles as a Pediatric Clerkship Co-Director and doctoring faculty at UACOMP and Clinical Skills faculty at Creighton University.  He is passionate about mentoring and coaching medical students, residents, and fellows and promoting a culture of kindness, encouragement, and empowerment in medical education. Outside his practice, Dr. Tran enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons – exploring the outdoors and trying out new restaurants.  Paul also enjoys connecting with a broader audience through social media, where he shares his experiences and insights in the medical field.

Dr. Rosanne Kho serves as Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. Prior to 2023, she was Head of the Section of Medical Gynecology and Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (MIGS) at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. She is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and sub-specialty board certified in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS). Dr. Kho focused her clinical and academic career in the field of pelvic surgery. She was involved in the early use of robotics in gynecology and had published on the techniques and appropriate application of the technology. She writes and teaches extensively on the adoption of surgical innovation and techniques to facilitate the performance and teaching of vaginal hysterectomy. She served for 10 years as one of four senior editors for the Journal of MIGS (2022 IF 4.3). In 2015, she founded the FMIGS subsection of the Fellows Pelvic Research Network, a fellows’ forum with senior mentorship for the conduct of multicenter trials to elevate the quality of fellows research work in MIGS. She has over 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters and serves as research mentor for the residents and fellows.

Dr. Kho also served as the fellowship director for FPMRS and later in MIGS at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Columbia University Medical Center in New York. In 2015-2017, as president of the fellowship in MIGS, she organized teams to revamp the fellowship program site requirements, learning goals and objectives, core curriculum and reading list. Additionally, the formal process to seek ABOG recognition of MIGS as a focused field in OB/GYN was instituted.

She currently serves as the President for the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons. She was recently appointed as the Director of AAGL Practice Guidelines Committee for the development of clinical practice guidelines in MIGS.

Peter Nakaji, MD, is an internationally known neurosurgeon, who has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and holds more than two dozen patents. Dr. Nakaji has received a number of teaching awards and has served for nearly a decade as the program director for the Neurosurgery residency at Barrow Neurological Institute. In his current role as department chair and program director for the Neurosurgery residency at Banner Health, Dr. Nakaji extends neuroscience training for medical students, residents and fellows. In addition to treating complex diseases of the brain, Dr. Nakaji is a pioneer in the area of neuroendoscopy for “keyhole” treatment of conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia and colloid cysts. He has a passion for technically demanding brain surgery and is a respected authority in the treatment of aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, cavernous malformations, moyamoya disease, extracranial-intracranial bypass, carotid artery disease, as well as brain and skull base tumors. Dr. Nakaji completed his residency at the University of California – San Diego. He received additional fellowship training in endoscopic neurosurgery at the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery in Sydney, Australia, under the direction of Charles Teo, MD. He completed a second fellowship in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery at Barrow Neurological Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix under Robert Spetzler, MD, before joining the staff as an attending neurosurgeon in 2004.

Dr. Alice Lee is an emergency physician in Mesa, AZ. She received her medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University, graduated from Creighton University EM Residency (formerly Maricopa Medical Center EM Residency) and has been in practice for 32 years.  She is highly experienced in the care of geriatric emergencies, emergent airways, ED acute stroke care, and ED cardiopulmonary resuscitations. In 2017, she joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix faculty as an Assistant Clinical Professor where she assists in the Simulation Lab and the Anatomy Lab. In 2023, she added to her breadth of expertise by working as an aviation telemedicine physician consultant for MedAire/MedLink, Phoenix, AZ, providing medical direction in real-time for in-flight medical events. She is passionately bringing awareness of the little known health disparity of lung cancer in nonsmokers in the AANHPI population since surviving the disease in 2021. She has appeared on KevinMD podcasts and given lectures on this topic. She was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the US with her family at the age of 9. She is competent in conversational Chinese (Mandarin.)

Vivian Huang, MD, MPH is dual boarded in internal medicine and preventive medicine with over 10 years experience in clinical medicine, international & domestic public health. She has a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Vivian’s domestic current and past experience includes working to support Native Americans in the US Southwest; in large urban hospital systems; academic centers; New York City Health Department and Federally Qualified Health Center. Vivian’s international experience includes working with Doctors Without Borders (Syria & Swaziland), Partners in Health (Sierra Leone), Columbia University Global Brigades (Honduras) and The Marshall Islands Government. Dr. Huang’s specialties/interests are Internal Medicine, Public Health, TB, Diabetes, Hepatitis B, Ebola, Immunizations, Vulnerable Populations/Health Inequities. She speaks 3 languages: English Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. She enjoys scuba/free diving, yoga, running & hiking.

Thy Nguyen, OMS-I

Region VII Director, Registration Liaison

A.T. Still University – School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona

Phil Nguyen-Powanda, MS-III

Region VII Director

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Lyndon Bui, MS-IV

Region VII Director

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Amelia Huynh, OMS-IV

Membership Vice President

Pacific Northwest University – College of Osteopathic Medicine

Stephen Yao, MS-III

Director of Conference and Planning

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Brittnay Hong, MS-III

Director of Conference and Logistics

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Euwie Park, MS-II

Director of Speaker Relations

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Khang Dao, MS-III

SIM Workshop Director

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Taylor Lee, MS-II

Doctoring Workshop Director, Director of Marketing and Design

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Chynna Nguyen, MS-II

Volunteer Liaison

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Van Dexter Calo, MS-II

Director of Communications

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Victoria Wang, MS-II

Director of Research

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Teresa Tran, MS-II

Director of Marketing and Design

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

University of Arizona – College of Medicine (Phoenix)

Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Ravi Chandra, M.D. is a psychiatrist, writer, and compassion educator in San Francisco, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He writes for Psychology Today and East Wind eZine, where his longform essays are written “from his corner of the intersection of Black and Asian lives.” His debut documentary, The Bandaged Place: From AIDS to COVID and Racial Justice won Best Film at the 2021 Cannes Independent Film Festival. Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks is his full-length nonfiction debut, and is the winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Book Award for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought. He facilitates healing circles through the Japanese American group Tsuru for Solidarity. Information on his other books, workshops, films and performances is available at www.RaviChandraMD.com.

Emilie Chow, MD has been at UCI since 2005. She is a primary care physician who has been involved with medical education for her whole career. She received her MD from University of Illinois at Chicago. She then completed her combined Internal Medicine and Pediatric residency at University of Michigan. After her residency she worked in Shanghai China for 2-years. She returned to the US to complete a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UCLA. She decided she enjoyed and missed long term preventative care that she would practice primary care at UCI after her fellowship. At UCI, she has been actively involved in teaching medical students and residents. She is currently interested in the improvement of populations’ health with the use of information technologies, as well as mentoring medical students and residents.

Dr. Joe grew up in Southern California and attended UCLA for his undergraduate studies, majoring in Biology. After studying Intercultural Studies for a year at Biola University (La Mirada, CA), he went to medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (Richmond, VA). He completed internship and residency in General Surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center followed by a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Dr. Joe began his career in 2001 at Riverside County Regional Medical Center (Moreno Valley, CA), now known as Riverside University Health System. There he established the Surgical ICU service and served as the first Director of Adult Critical Care Services. In 2004, Dr. Joe moved to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (Colton, CA) where he served as the Associate Trauma Director and the as the Medical Director of the Edward G. Hirschman Burn Center at ARMC from 2005-2013. He was then recruited to join the faculty at UCI School of Medicine to serve as the Medical Director of the UCI Health Regional Burn Center. Since coming to UCI, Dr. Joe graduated with his MBA from the Paul Merage School of Business and serves as the inaugural Vice Chair for Quality in the Department of Surgery as well as the current Vice President of the Medical Staff. When not working, Dr. Joe enjoys spending time with his wife and four children, music, and sports (especially hockey).

Jay W. Lee, MD, MPH, FAAFP, is medical director of Integrated Health Partners of Southern California (IHP SoCal), a clinically integrated network (CIN) serving 350,000+ patients whose medical home is one of nine member community health centers in three counties. Dr. Lee is board-certified in family medicine and serves patients at Korean Community Services (KCS) Health, a community health center serving immigrants and other vulnerable populations in Orange County. He is active in physician leadership, currently serving a 3-year term on the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) board of directors and is a past president of the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP). Early in his career, Dr. Lee co-founded the Family Medicine Revolution hashtag (#FMRevolution), a grassroots social media movement giving the power of telling family medicine’s stories back to family physicians and building a global community of thought leaders. In 2018, Dr. Lee was named a CAFP Hero of Family Medicine and was later honored as 2021 CAFP Family Physician of the Year.  Though he has yet to don a cape, he can be found wearing his white coat for legislative visits in Sacramento and DC.

Dr. Sunny Park is double board-certified in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, and Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery. She specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries of the face and neck, and has a private practice in Newport Beach. After attending UC Berkeley for her BA and MPH, she obtained her MD from Jefferson Medical College. She completed her residency in Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery at Penn State University followed by a fellowship in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at LSU Shreveport. She has lectured regularly at the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery meetings and has volunteered for medical mission trips overseas, most recently in 2019 to Vietnam. In addition, every year since 2021, Dr. Park has been chosen as a Physician of Excellence in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery by Orange County Medical Association and Orange Coast Magazine.

Dr. Alison Taur (she/her) serves as Regional Coordinating Chair of Nuclear Medicine for Kaiser Permanente Southern California and as Clinical Assistant Professor for the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. She graduated from University of Michigan Medical School and completed her Nuclear Medicine residency at Stanford University School of Medicine. In addition to her clinical and administrative duties, Dr. Taur devotes her time to training, education, and advocacy for equitable transgender health care both within and outside of KP. She helped found the multidisciplinary Pediatric GenderCare Clinic at KP San Bernardino County. Dr. Taur also helps facilitate a trans teen support group and is active in her local PFLAG chapter. She lives with her wife of now 25 years and three sons in Newport Beach and enjoys playing double bass and feasting on exquisite sushi.

Dr. Susan Wu is a pediatric hospitalist at CHLA and associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is associate division head of Clinical Programs for Hospital Medicine, and also co-director of the Pediatric Residency IMPACT Advocacy Track, which includes a three-year longitudinal program in quality improvement and patient safety. She is co-chair of the Multidisciplinary Action Plan committee, which develops and monitors adherence to evidence-based guidelines. Dr. Wu has served as physician champion for multiple institutional quality and safety projects, and has participated either as champion or physician representative on several Children’s Hospital Association quality-improvement collaboratives. She is currently co-director of the Quality Improvement core curriculum for CHLA fellowship trainees, and previously served as director of the Quality and Safety curriculum for pediatric residents.

Jason Liang

UCI APAMSA Co-President
University of California, Irvine SOM

Cindy Vu

UCI APAMSA Co-President
University of California, Irvine SOM

Lyndon Bui

Region VII Co-Director
University of Arizona, COM

Rowena Feng

Region VII Co-Director
AT Still University, SOMA

Ameryl Loi

Region VII Co-Director
University of California, Irvine SOM

Clara Nguyen

Region VII Co-Director
David Geffen SOM at UCLA

Jenny Zhu

Research Presentations Coordinator
University of California, Irvine SOM

Leena Lim

Community Outreach Co-Director
University of California, Irvine SOM

Sai Wignarajah

Research & Grants Coordinator
University of California, Irvine SOM

Mio Jiang

Advocacy Director
University of California, Irvine SOM

Janet Nguyen

Mentorship Director
University of California, Irvine SOM