UCLA Center for Asian Equity and Health

About the Center

The UCLA Center for Asian Equity and Health at the David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) is dedicated to addressing discrimination experienced by AAPI patients, employees, and students. The center focuses on promoting equity, professional development, and combatting anti-Asian bias and racism through events, education, collaborations, survey research, demographic data review, consultations, and strategic initiatives.

Our mission encompasses understanding and addressing bias and racism while tackling the challenges in equity and professional development faced by Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in collaboration with relevant organizations. We strive to foster positive change by promoting education, facilitating open discussions, and implementing concrete actions.

The UCLA Center for Asian Equity and Health was founded in 2023 by the DGSOM AAPI Alliance. The center is supported by the Dean’s Office at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, with active collaboration in the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) office and affinity groups to address bias and discrimination in the community. It is our collective responsibility to address bias, racism, and discrimination for the betterment of all our colleagues and patients.

Past Events

2024 Events

• Acupuncture Workshop: Integrative Health with UCLA East-West Medicine — Mary Fok, MD
• Stop AAPI Hate: How Healthcare & Academic Medicine Can Participate — Cynthia Choi
• Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Dinner
• AAPI Health Disparities & Leadership Representation — Daniel C. Lu, MD, PhD and Mona AuYoung, PhD, MS, MPH 
• Underrepresentation of AAPIs in Academic Medicine Leadership with Charles S. Day, MD, MBA — Asian American doctors, overrepresented in medicine, are largely left out of leadership
• Underrepresentation of AAPI in Research Awards with Yuh-Nung Jan, PhD — Asian scientists are underrepresented in top biomedical research prizes, analysis finds
• Lunar New Year Celebration and Lantern Decorating — APAMSA
• Lunar New Year Dinner

2023 Events

• Holiday Dinner
• Health Equity and Research Reforms at DGSOM with Sung-Jae Lee, PhD 
• Mental Health Impact on Healthcare Workers with Cindy C. Sangalang, PhD
• Town Hall with AAPI Alliance, Dean Dubinett & JEDI Vice Dean McIntosh
• Challenges Faced by AAPI in Academic Medicine with Augustine M.K. Choi, MD
• AAPI Issues in Healthcare with Dr. Paul Song and Lisa Ling 
• Asian Leadership Paradox with Karen E. Kim, MD
• Lunar New Year Celebration

2022 Events

• Does Harvard Love Asians as Much as Asians Love Harvard?: What Challenges to Affirmative Action Tell Us with Mitchell Chang, PhD
• Standing Against Anti-Asian Hate: Then, Now, and the Path Forward with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles CEO Connie Chung Joe, JD
• Stop the Hate: Addressing AAPI Racism in Healthcare and Society with Drs. Arpana Gupta, PhD, Alice Kuo, MD, PhD, MBA, and Daniel Lu, MD, PhD
• AAPI Heritage Month Dinner Gathering

Resources

Articles of interest:

• Asian Americans and Racial Justice in Medicine
• Asian American doctors, overrepresented in medicine, are largely left out of leadership
• Addressing Bias and Racism Against Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Individuals: A Call to Action to Advance Health Equity and Leadership
• Asian scientists are underrepresented in top biomedical research prizes, analysis finds

People

Director

• Daniel C. Lu, MD, PhD

Associate Director

• Alice A. Kuo, MD, PhD, MBA

Admin

• Regina Ip

Advisory Board

• Steven Dubinett, MD
• David McIntosh, PhD
• Mitchell Chang, PhD
• Karen Umemoto, PhD

Steering Committee

• Mona AuYoung, PhD, MPH, MS
• Enrico G. Castillo, MD, MS, Psychiatry
• Steven Y. Chang, MD, PhD, Critical Care Medicine & Pulmonology
• Eric M. Cheng, MD, MS, Neurology
• Sarah A. Nguyen, MD, Psychiatry
• Lekha Rao, MD, Neurology
• Linelle Libang, MPH
• Teresa Roth
• Animesh A. Sabnis, MD, MSHS, Neonatology
• Monique Trinh, MHA
• James Wu, MD, Endocrine Surgery
• Jane Yanagawa, MD, Thoracic Surgery