National Advisory Council

A volunteer National Advisory Council provides guidance to assist APINCSN in pursuing its mission, vision, and goals. Membership in the National Advisory Council consists of individuals from the United States and Pacific Island Jurisdictions who provide APIAHF staff with recommendations on planning, implementing, and evaluating community-driven strategies to address cancer in our communities.

Standing L-R: Hyomee Kim, Furjen Deng, Kimlin Ashing-Giwa, Anu Sharma, Liza Laguana-Merrill, Mieko Smith, Chien-Chi Huang, Karen Teshima, Dorothy Schmidt-Vaivao

Sitting L-R: Lucianne Latu, Susan M. Shinagawa, Zul Surani, Giang Nguyen

Click on each NAC member name to read their full bio.

[1]

[2]

Zul Surani [2]

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).

Dr. Giang T. Nguyen [3]

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.

Susan Matsuko Shinagawa [4]

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…

Kimlin Tam Ashing-Giwa, PhD [5]

Kimlin Tam Ashing-Giwa, PhD is the professor and director of the City of Hope Center of Community Alliance for Research and Education. She studies how culture, ethnicity, ecological and systemic contexts influence health outcomes. She is a community-minded scientists guided by a biopsychosocial and eco-cultural paradigm.

Dr. Furjen Deng [6]

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.

Chien-Chi Huang [7]

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

Hyomee Kim [8]

Hyomee Kim is a program coordinator at the Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been facilitating the Korean breast cancer support group for at least 3 years. She also leads a Korean senior wellness program with over 80 seniors weekly, as well as providing homemaker services to senior adults in their homes.

Liza Laguana-Merrill [9]

Liza Laguana-Merrill is the Chamorro Outreach Specialist/Event Coordinator at Asian Pacific Community in Action (APCA) in Phoenix, Arizona. She has planned and organized the biggest gathering of Chamorros in the State of Arizona for the past 10 years. She serves as a Commissioner on the Pacific Rim Advisory Council, Human Relations Commission and the Phoenix Women's Commission.

Lucianne Latu [10]

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.

Anuradha Sharma [11]

Anu Sharma, MA, MPH, MCHES, CGFM, CFE is currently a Public Health Analyst in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She works in the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO) Office, in the Internal Controls Division, where she focuses on Program Integrity and Risk Management.

Dr. Mieko Smith [12]

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.

Karen Teshima [13]

Karen Teshima was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawai`i and married with 3 children. She was employed as a case manager coordinator for 15 years at a non-profit community health center, Bay Clinic, Inc.

Dorothy Etimani-Vaivao [14]

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.