Zul Surani

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).

He is also the National Cancer Institute (NCI ) National Outreach Network Liaison to WINCART (Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research & Training). For the decade prior to his current position, he had been the Partnership Program Coordinator in the Southern California Office of The National Cancer Institute's (NCI’s) Cancer Information Service of California (CIS). CIS is based at USC Norris Cancer Center. Through his work with CIS, he developed partnerships with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, African American, American Indian, and Latino communities, linking them with external resources, as well as with each other, to grow and strengthen the communities’ involvement and input into local, regional, statewide and national cancer education, control, and research programs.

Mr. Surani has also been a passionate and proactive advocate on behalf of underserved South Asian populations, calling for improved access to language appropriate health information and high-quality health care services. He played a key role in the concept development, planning and launching of the Community Health Action Initiative, the nation’s first South Asian-focused, comprehensive health education and empowerment program, which received grants totaling $1.3 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and was subsequently nominated for RWJF’s Health Leadership Award.

In 2004, Mr. Surani co-founded and continues to serve as the in-kind Director of Saath USA, a community service agency focused on cancer and survivorship in underserved South Asian communities. Through his leadership, Saath has collaborated with the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, utilizing community-based participatory research methodology to adapt evidence-based intervention programs for cancer control and survivorship for South Asian breast cancer survivors, for this the organization was honored with the 2009 Dr. Diane Fink Comprehensive Cancer Control Mobilization Award. Saath has also developed community-focused cancer education materials in several South Asian languages, and is now broadening its scope of services to include effective programs and tools in the early detection of cancer and cancer prevention strategies in South Asian community environments. In recognition of his extensive professional and community service, Mr. Surani received the Spirit of the CIS Award from NCI's Cancer Information Service in 2006 and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Community Hero Award. In 2010, he was honored with the Susan Matsuko Shinagawa LiveSTRONG Cancer Control Leadership Award at the San Francisco Intercultural Cancer Council Regional Symposium. He has also received awards from the American Cancer Society and the Aga Khan Education Board for USA.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree at University of Southern California, where he is currently completing his Master of Public Health. Mr. Surani is a South Asian immigrant from Kenya and is a Shia Ismaili Muslim. He has been an APINCSN National Advisory Council member since 2010.