Clara Nguyen, Region VII Co-Director
Growing up the daughter of Vietnamese refugees in Orange County, CA, I have felt the impact of and participated in advocacy for most of my life. As an undergraduate at UCLA, I pursued a double major in Human Biology and Asian American Studies to examine how histories from people like my parents could play a role in better medical care and health outcomes for underrepresented populations, especially AAPI communities. My love for working with AAPI peers was mobilized through student organizations such as Southeast Asian Admit Weekend and Vietnamese Culture Night. My desire to apply my studies and leadership toward addressing health inequities materialized in my work with non-profit community-based organizations like Asian Health Services and California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, where I phone-banked, created social media campaigns, and conduced policy advocacy to support AAPI women immigrant laborers. Now I am back at UCLA once again, pursuing my MD/MPH with an emphasis on health policy and management. As a medical student, I have had the privilege of co-chairing Health Disparities in our APAMSA chapter. I hope to continue my research in intergenerational trauma and women’s mental health in AAPI populations, ultimately supporting the community that raised me.