Chronic Diseases: Taxonomy term: APIAHF

Dorothy Etimani-Vaivao is the Executive Director of the Samoan National Nurses Association (SNNA), the only community-based health organization of professional Samoan nurses in the United States and established in Carson, CA in 1996.

Mieko Smith has been a Professor of Social Work at the University of Akron since 2009. Prior to that, Mieko was Professor of Social Work at Cleveland State University (CSU) and directed the Biomedical and Health Institute for two years.

APINCSN Co-Founder and Past Chair

Susan Matsuko Shinagawa is a survivor of three breast cancer diagnoses [1991 primary, 1997 recurrent (spine), 2001 primary]. Ms. Shinagawa is widely recognized as the nation's leading Asian American cancer and chronic pain advocate/ activist. She has been appointed to numerous governmental and non-government organizational advisory boards and councils at the national/federal, state and local levels, frequently serving in a leadership capacity.

Chair

Zul Surani has served as a public health administrator, consultant and ardent advocate in disease prevention and access to care for over a decade. He currently manages the Patient Education & Community Outreach Center, and the Jennifer Diamond Cancer Resource Library at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California (USC).

Lucianne Latu was eight years old in 1987 when she was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) in Auckland, New Zealand. Despite losing her right leg to cancer in 1987, Luci refuses to let that minor "physical limitation" slow her down.

Chien-Chi Huang is a breast cancer survivor and is the Director of the Asian Breast Cancer Project in Massachusetts.

Furjen Deng received her Ph.D. in sociology from Purdue University- West Lafayette, Indiana. She is presently a professor and associate chair of the Department of Sociology at Sam Houston State University.

Immediate Past Chair

Giang T. Nguyen, MD, MPH, MSCE is a primary care physician, board-certified in Family Medicine, with a scientific background in clinical epidemiology and public health. He received his education at the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the University of Pennsylvania, completing his clinical training at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Network Development Director

Roxanna Bautista, MPH, CHES, is director of Network Development at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), a national health justice organization which influences policy, mobilizes communities, and strengthens programs and organizations to improve the health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

The Asian and Pacific Islander National Cancer Survivors Network (APINCSN) is a network of cancer survivors, their family members, health care providers, researchers, health advocates, community members and organizations who are concerned about the issue of cancer and survivorship in Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.