
Asians in
Medicine:
CONFERENCE ON ADVOCACY AND ALLYSHIP
Breakfast and lunch provided!

Meet the conference planning team!
Left to right: James Fan, Aaditi Naik, Namrata Garg, Daniel Ahn, Bonnie Song, Abhinav Srinath. Not pictured: James Zhang, Helen Wei, Kevin Chung.

ABOUT
Asians in Medicine 2019
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine's chapters of the South Asian Medical Students Association (SAMSA) and the Asian and American Medical Student Association (APAMSA) will be hosting a conference on Asians in Medicine this May. The theme of our conference will be advocacy and allyship, and we hope to raise awareness on the unique challenges faced by Asian American communities as well as highlight the work being done to serve these communities.



Speakers
Dr. Karen Kim
PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Dr. Kim is a Professor of Medicine, Associate Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center and Dean of Faculty Affairs at University of Chicago School of Medicine.
Dr. Kim founded and directs the University of Chicago Center for Asian Health Equity, an academic-community partnership with the Asian Health Coalition, and the only research center dedicated to the study of Asian and African immigrant health disparities in the Midwest. This Center serves as a national platform for advancing the health of underserved populations through community-engaged health research and policy strategies.
Dr. Kim supported Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) students to establish the Bridgeport Free Clinic to serve the limited English proficient Chinese population and to provide service learning and cultural competency training opportunities for the PSOM students and faculty. In addition to Dr. Kim’s academic interest, she is devoted to serving the broader community through active service.


Rep. Theresa Mah
ILLINOIS HOUSE OF REP. DISTRICT 2
Born in San Francisco’s Chinatown as a child of immigrants, Illinois State Representative Theresa Mah has fought tirelessly for working families, focusing on education, job growth, and immigrant rights. As a former senior policy advisor to Governor Quinn, Rep. Mah’s leadership helped to create job and education opportunities for working families including many immigrants. In her work as a community organizer, Rep. Mah rallied the Chinese American community to push for a single district and a unified voice for the Chinese American community in the last round of redistricting. In November 2016 Rep. Mah became the first Asian American elected to the Illinois General Assembly. Rep. Mah represents the Illinois 2nd House District, located in Chicago, which includes Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, Brighton Park, Chinatown, McKinley Park, and Pilsen.
In the General Assembly Rep. Mah serves on the Committees on Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations, Health Care Licenses, Energy & Environment, among others. During her first term, Rep. Mah successfully carried and passed legislation in the areas of civil rights, consumer protection, language access, and immigrant rights. More recently, she has been appointed to the State of Illinois’ Complete Count Commission, whose mission is to ensure the accurate count of all populations during the 2020 Census.
Selma D'Souza
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
INDO-AMERICAN CENTER
Selma D'Souza has been the Executive Director of the Indo-American Center since August 2015. Prior to that she was a practicing attorney for 20 years and later worked for Governor Pat Quinn's administration as the Chief of Legislative Affairs at the Illinois Department of Health Care and Family Services.
IAC's mission: The Indo American Center (IAC) addresses the needs of South Asian immigrants as well as people from more than thirty nations the world over. IAC provides services that facilitate their adjustment, integration, and friendship with the wider society, nurture their sense of community, and foster appreciation for the diversity of culture and heritage. Our programs include Immigration and Citizenship, Adult Education and Employment, Civic Engagement, Health Literacy, Public Benefits Assistance and Seniors Program.


Dhara Puvar
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN POLICY & RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Dhara joined SAAPRI as its Executive Director in 2017. She graduated with a B.S. in psychology from Loyola University Chicago, where she served as the coordinator for the first international, interdisciplinary conference on South Asian womanhood and girlhood. Prior to SAAPRI, Dhara completed a contract at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to help develop their Junior Professional Officer Program. Much of Dhara’s experience lies in community-based research. Dhara has been a part of research focusing on the impact of peer mentoring on students in Chicago public schools in low income neighborhoods with high rates of violence. She has also conducted research abroad in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she studied risk factors for suicide among female migrant workers and worked for a nonprofit that provided legal aid and rehabilitation services to displaced Nepali migrants. She is passionate about issues surrounding equity and social justice, labor rights, public health, and migration. As SAAPRI’s Executive Director, Dhara looks forward to continuing her work engaging those in Chicago and beyond through social justice initiatives and research that can empower and unite the South Asian community.
Amy Wang
PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGER
CENTER FOR ASIAN HEALTH EQUITY
Amy Wang is a Public Health Program Manager at the Center for Asian Health Equity (CAHE). She leads two federally-funded programs on Asian mental health education and AANHPI engagement in the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program. She employs community-based participatory research methods (CBPR) to collect community feedback, tailor education and engagement methods, and advocate for fair representation of Asian Americans in research and policy.
Amy received a Master of Public Affairs from University of Wisconsin-Madison with focus on program design and evaluation.


Inhe Choi
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
HANA CENTER
Inhe Choi is the Executive Director of HANA Center, Chicago’s leading community organizing and social services organization dedicated to empowering Korean American and multi-ethnic immigrant communities in advancing human rights. A community and civic leader for more than 30 years, Inhe has dedicated her life’s work toward building strong communities and coalitions across boundaries of race, gender, income level, sexual orientation, gender identity, abilities, and immigration status. Her professional background includes serving as the Executive Director of Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, an immigrant rights organization; Program Director at the Crossroads Fund, a public foundation that funds organizations working on social justice issues in the Chicago area; and Community Organizer in the Harold Washington administration for the Commission on Asian American Affairs. Inhe immigrated to the U.S. from Seoul, Korea at the age of 12 and attended the Chicago Public Schools. Inhe is a graduate of the University of Chicago with a degree in Economics.

MEDICAL STUDENT
PRITZKER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Tae Yeon Kim is a fourth-year medical student at The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Prior to medical school, she received her B.A. in anthropology at the University of Chicago. During medical school, she was involved in several organizations, including Bridgeport Free Clinic and the Identity and Inclusion Steering Committee. After graduation, she will begin her pediatric residency at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Kathleen Yang-Clayton
DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Dr. Kathleen Yang-Clayton brings extensive legislative, advocacy, organizing and applied research experience to her clinical professor position in the Department of Public Administration, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is Director of Undergraduate Studies and Civic Partnerships for the Department, ensuring that the growth and expansion of the bachelor’s degree program in public policy engages the top government, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders in the city and state.
Her experience in social justice and racial equity campaigns includes immigrant and voting rights issues, with a current focus on expanding the use of racial equity policy analysis across a range of sectors and issue areas. Her cross-movement work on voting rights resulted in the passage of landmark legislation in Illinois that expanded access to underserved communities through Same Day Registration. She has given presentations and participated on panels related to voting rights, redistricting and racial equity at numerous conferences and meetings. She is a co-founder of a racial equity leadership development organization, sits on several boards and associations, is the faculty adviser for UIC’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institute and recipient of a civic engagement research award for UIC faculty by the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement at UIC for spring 2018.


Dr. Wei Wei Lee
ASSISTANT DEAN OF STUDENTS
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE
PRITZKER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Dr. Lee is the Assistant Dean of Students at the Pritzker School of Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine. She earned her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine and a Masters of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell, where she served as an ambulatory chief resident. At the Pritzker School of Medicine, she is the Director of Wellness Initiatives and leads innovative programming to improve physician and trainee well-being for over 300 medical students. She is an award winning medical educator and researcher, and leads efforts to integrate physician wellness, informatics and quality improvement initiatives at
the University of Chicago.
She is a national expert on the intersection of technology use, patient experience and physician well-being. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on the impact of electronic health records (EHRs) on the patient experience and provider satisfaction and developing team-based care interventions to improve ease of practice and physician well-being. She has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on these topics, presented her research at over 70 national and international conferences, including the American College of Physicians, Society of General internal Medicine, Association of Chiefs and Leaders in Internal Medicine, and at EPIC user group meetings. She has received funding from the American Association of Medical Colleges, the Gold Foundation, the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine and the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical excellence for her research.
Daniel To
MEDICAL STUDENT
LOYOLA STRITCH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Daniel To is a second year medical student at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine (SSOM). He was the APAMSA president for the SSOM chapter this past year. Prior to attending SSOM, he was heavily involved in the Asian American community at Pomona College as a mentor for the Asian American Mentoring Program and an intern at the Asian American Resource Center. He is passionate about engaging in discussions surrounding Asian American identity and addressing Asian American health disparities. He hopes to create meaningful and effective change.


Apoorva Ram
MEDICAL STUDENT
FEINBERG SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Apoorva Ram is a third-year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She plans to go into Internal Medicine where she hopes to work with underserved immigrant communities. During medical school, she has been involved with the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study. The longitudinal prospective study aims to understand risk factors for cardiovascular disease in South Asian immigrants.
Tae Yeon Kim

Dr. Seeba Anam
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
PRITZKER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Seeba Anam, MD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. Her research and clinical efforts examine the impact of cultural factors on mental health, health equity, and social determinants of health. Her recent efforts focus on the utility of film and narrative storytelling to address mental health in underserved communities, specifically related to trauma and resilience. She is a founding member of the University of Chicago Global Mental Health Initiative, and currently serves as a research investigator and advisor for the University of Chicago Center for Asian Health Equity (CAHE), the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and the Society for the Study of Culture and Psychiatry.
Dr. Vikrant Jagadeesan
CARDIOLOGY FELLOW
FEINBERG SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

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Grace Koo
INTERNAL MEDICINE RESIDENT
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Grace Koo is a third-year resident in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago. She is a first-generation Korean-American, born and raised in Maryland. She earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and then her medical degree from University of Maryland Medical School. Following medical school, she moved to Chicago to start her Internal Medicine residency. Next year, she will be chief resident at MacNeal Hospital and will ultimately pursue a career in Allergy and Immunology. Interests and hobbies outside of medicine include Pilates, traveling, and baking.
Sponsors




Venue
ADDRESS:
924 E 57th St
Chicago, IL 60637
FINDING THE BSLC:
The Biological Sciences Learning Center (BSLC) at the University of Chicago is located on Ellis & 57th St in Hyde Park. Street parking is available. The closest public transportation includes the Red Line/55 bus and the 6 bus.
Dr. Vikrant Jagadeesan is a second-year Cardiology fellow at Northwestern Medicine. He did his Internal Medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He earned his medical degree at Pritzker School of Medicine where he founded Pritzker’s chapter of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, now termed SAMSA.

Schedule
8:30 am
Registration
9:00 am
Welcome & Pre-Conference Survey
9:30 am
Morning Keynote: Advocacy
Dr. Karen Kim, University of Chicago
10:15 am
Challenges in AAPI Communities
Selma D'Souza, Indo-American Center
Dhara Puvar, SAAPRI
Amy Wang, Asian Health Coalition
Inhe Choi, HANA Center
12:15 pm
11:30 am
Breakout Session #1: Advocacy
Advocacy in Chicago Asian Communities
Leadership & Career Paths Lunch
1:30 pm
2:30 pm
Afternoon Keynote: Allyship
Representative Theresa Mah, Illinois District 2
Breakout Session #2: Allyship
Building Trust with Non-Asian Minority Patients
Navigating Asian-American Identity
Allying with Other Communities
3:30 pm
Closing Session & Post-Conference Survey
4:00 pm
Mixer