WASHINGTON—Today, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) welcomed Karin Wang, Dr. Jeffrey S. Roh and Dr. Benjamin Eng to the organization’s board of directors.
“I’m honored to welcome Karin, Jeff and Ben to the Board,” said Oliver J. Kim, APIAHF board chair. “I’m excited by the diversity in expertise and the Board’s commitment toward health equity for our Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. With our newest members, the board looks forward in supporting Juliet and the organization to ensure that our communities and concerns are represented in the national conversation.”
“On behalf of the communities we serve, I am thrilled to welcome Karin, Jeff and Ben to serve on our board of directors,” said Juliet K. Choi, APIAHF president and CEO. “These three individuals have extensive careers and experience across multiple sectors including health policy, medicine, government and civil rights. We are incredibly fortunate to have their guidance as we continue to work to improve the health and well-being of our communities.”
Karin Wang is a long-time civil rights and immigrant rights advocate and currently serves as Executive Director of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, the nation’s oldest training program for future social justice lawyers. Before joining UCLA in 2018, Karin was Vice President of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, overseeing programs and communications for the nation’s largest Asian American civil rights legal group and as Deputy Regional Manager for the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. As a civil rights advocate and enforcer, Karin focused on immigrant access to health care and public benefits for many years, including significant work on language rights in Los Angeles County and the state of California.
Dr. Jeffrey S. Roh, MD, MBA, MSc is the Chief Executive Officer & Board Chair of IntuitiveX, a life science consultancy and incubator created to help entrepreneurs and startups transform their ideas from concept to commercialization. Dr. Roh is a pioneer in minimally invasive spine surgery and is an internationally recognized speaker on cutting-edge medical innovation. With his combined medical and business background Dr. Roh is a transformational advocate for greater equity in entrepreneurship opportunities and has dedicated himself to the advancement of underserved communities with access to quality healthcare. He established the Roh Family MBA Diversity Fellowship at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business to help women and minorities excel in business.
Dr. Benjamin Eng, MD, MA is an economist and a physician at the nexus of business and medicine where he spent 17 years at a global pharmaceutical company, most recently as head of medical strategy and innovation. He specialized in collaborations with large healthcare organizations, worked on measuring and improving health care quality, developing research partnerships, developing digital tools for the analysis of real world data, and supported the transition to Medicare Part D. Transitioning to the nonprofit sector in 2016, his focus has been on equity in health and education for immigrant and disadvantaged populations including collecting oral histories on the impact of COVID-19 in Asian American communities, successful transitions to college for first generation students, and enhancing maternal and neonatal survival in Indonesia.
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The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) influences policy, mobilizes communities and strengthens programs and organizations to improve the health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.