region7

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~

Dr. Velotta attended medical school at George Washington University and general surgery residency at UCLA Medical Center. During this time, Dr. Velotta also completed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. Following this, he completed his training in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Velotta’s clinical and research interests involve innovative techniques and regionalization pathways for lung and esophageal cancer as well as pleural mesothelioma. In addition, his most recent research efforts involve improving lung cancer screening uptake in Asian Americans and identifying key factors in the rising incidence of lung cancer in non-smoking Asian women.

Sunny S. Park, MD MPH is double board-certified in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, and Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery. She specializes in reconstructive and cosmetic 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 2024 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.

Richard So is dedicated to eliminating hepatitis B and liver cancer, with a vision of making the San Francisco Bay Area the first hepatitis B free region in the U.S. He has over a decade of experience in healthcare, including five years as Executive Director of Hep B Free, one of the country’s leading hepatitis B organizations. His background spans healthcare consulting, Peace Corps service in rural Paraguay, and leadership across major coalitions like Hep B United, End the Epidemics, and the California Hepatitis Alliance.

Richard holds dual master’s degrees in public health and public administration from Columbia University. His work has centered on community-powered, culturally responsive strategies to expand hepatitis B education, screening, and care.

Under his leadership, Hep B Free helped secure $8 million from the California legislature for the state’s first chronic hepatitis B demostration projects and co-led the successful passage of AB 789, which requires primary care providers to offer hepatitis B and C screenings. Richard is known for building effective partnerships, scaling innovative programs, and turning grassroots ideas into statewide and national action.

Eric R. Gross MD, PhD, FASA (@ericrgross.bsky.social, @ericrgross) is a physician-scientist and practicing anesthesiologist within the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Stanford University. He runs a NIH-funded research laboratory studying how alcohol metabolism impacts anesthesiology and in general human health. He is a member of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Neuroscience Institute, and Center for Asian Research and Education (CARE). Dr. Gross is also the section editor for basic science for the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia and the editorial fellowship director for the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Today, Dr. Gross will discuss the health implications of alcohol flushing.

Jacob Hwang is a licensed UCI Health specialist in naturopathic medicine. His goal is to combine the latest evidence-based medicine with an integrative, whole-person approach to care, emphasizing health and well-being.

His clinical interests include heart disease and cardiometabolic disease, kidney disease, urological disorders and men’s health. He coordinates with other specialists and integrative health providers to provide additional supportive care options.

Hwang earned his doctoral degree in naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University in Kenmore, Wash., followed by a one-year residency program at Bastyr University Clinic in San Diego. He went on to complete an additional two-year residency at the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, part of UCI Health.

His passion to empower patients drives his philosophy of care, which is also informed by evidence-based medical practices and patient-centered values.

Dr. Alamshaw is a board certified family medicine physician.  After graduating family medicine residency from USC, as chief resident, he immediately started working for Kaiser Permanente and says after marriage, the 2nd best choice of his life.  He’s been with KP for 26 years now and still enjoys cradle to grave FM.  As a DO, he uses osteopathic manipulation (OMM) maybe 5% of his practice. He is more than happy to use OMM for patients who request it, but will generally choose patients that are maybe an ideal candidate like acute neck pain/spasm from sleeping wrong on a pillow. 

He’s been married for 34 years, and his daughter went to CAL/WUHS and is now a FM resident at KP Sunset.  She just got married 5-25-25, and her husband is an IM resident 2nd year in Long Beach.  His son works in Tech Sales in Scottsdale. For fun, he’s an avid snow skier, loves riding his road bike usually 50-60 miles on weekends, has done a half ironman and loves great food and travel.

Dr. Nguyen is a Family Medicine Physician and Dean’s Scholar at UCI SOM. He has been serving as the faculty advisor for UCI APAMSA and Family Medicine Interest Group. As the Director for Medical Education in FM, Dr. Nguyen oversees various electives for medical students including Gender Health Diversity, Health Equity, and Medical Vietnamese. Dr. Nguyen’s goal is to work with faculty and students in developing a PRIME track to better equip medical students to become future physicians who can provide comprehensive and culturally sensitive care for underserved AANHPI communities.

Dr. Yun-San (Amy) Huang is a double boarded internist and pediatrician, providing primary care at the Wen Ambulatory Care Center in Irvine. Dr. Huang has worked in academic medicine for over 15 years and she joined UC-Irvine as an associate professor in 2022 in the Division of General Internal Medicine.

Medical education has always been Dr. Huang’s passion. She has taught at three different medical schools and along the way created curricula for medical students, residents, and faculty members. She pioneered a global health track and inspired a resident as clinician educator pathway for the residency programs at her previous institutions. At UCI, she leads the Medical Mandarin elective and the Med-Peds Interest Group for medical students.

Dr. Huang strives for a work-life wellbeing and is the Wellness Officer of the Department of Medicine. Outside of work, she can be found doing outdoor activities and exploring new restaurants with her family. She is an avid tennis player and a proud tennis nerd.

Dr. Nguyen serves as the Associate Dean of Career Advising in the Office of Student Affairs at UC Riverside School of Medicine. He guides and supports medical students from career exploration to residency applications to help them reach their desired goals and specialties. He is passionate about underserved medicine and guiding high school and college students to careers in medicine. Dr. Nguyen came to UC Riverside from UC Irvine School of Medicine where he previously was the Assistant Program Director of the Family Medicine Residency Program and the Medical Director of UC Irvine Health Family Health Center – Anaheim.

Thy Nguyen

Membership Vice President

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

Philip Nguyen-Powanada

Membership Vice President

University of Arizona COM – Phoenix

Melanie Jun

Region VII Director

University of New Mexico SOM

Carol Chen

Region VII Director

University of Arizona Pre-Health – Tucson

Teresa Anh Tran

Region VII Director

University of Arizona COM – Phoenix

Allison Chang

Region VIII Director

University of California, San Francisco SOM

Naomi Tsai

Region VIII Director

Oregon Health & Science University SOM

Julia Liu

Region VIII Director

Oregon Health & Science University SOM

Matthew Cho

Co-President

UCISOM

Dylan Ta

Co-President

UCISOM

Jazzmhine Oconer

Mentorship Chair

UCISOM

Megan Jung

Mentorship Chair

UCISOM

Gianna Insogna

Health Education Chair

UCISOM

Trinh Woolridge

Community Outreach Chair

UCISOM

Yinuo (Anna) Zhang

Research Grants Chair

UCISOM

Ashley Sun

Advocacy Chair

UCISOM

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