People

ADMINISTRATION

Mariano Rey, MD
Principal Investigator

Chau Trinh-Shevrin, DrPH
CSAAH Director
Director of Grants & Publications

Henrietta Ho-Asjoe, MPS
CSAAH Administrator
Director of Community Development

Noilyn Abesamis, MPH
Deputy Director of Outreach & Program Development

Nadia Islam, PhD
Deputy Director of Research


Advisors
William Bateman, MD
Sun-Hoo Foo, MD
Arnold Stern, MD, PhD

PROGRAMS

Hepatitis B and Liver Cancer Program
Henry Pollack, MD
Director

Mental Health Program
Henry Chung, MD
Director

Cancer & Communications
Francesca Gany, MD, MS
Director

Asian American Hepatitis B Program
Chau Trinh-Shevrin, DrPH
Acting Director
Douglas Nam Le, BA
Acting Program Manager

Chris Cho, BS
Outreach Coordinator

Project AsPIRE
Rhodora Ursua, MPH
Director

David Aguilar
Outreach Coordinator

South Asian Health Initiative
Sapna Pandya, MPH
Coordinator

Vietnamese Community Health Initiative
Douglas Le, BA
Coordinator

Health Disparities Research Training Program
Tom Tsang, MD, MPH
Training Director

Jolene Chou, MPH
Coordinator



Biographical Sketches

Noilyn Abesamis, MPH is the Deputy Director, Outreach & Program Development for the NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH).  In her capacity, she creates, coordinates, and oversees key outreach, educational, and community-based initiatives for CSAAH.  Noilyn also fosters and strengthens relationships with Asian American and immigrant-serving organizations and is integral in the development of CSAAH's community partnerships and advisory committees.  Noilyn has previous experience in the areas of coalition development, capacity building, health profession pipeline and training, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and immigrant health advocacy.  In 2004, Noilyn co-founded the Kalusugan Coalition (KC), a Filipino health collaborative, where she currently serves as a Co-Chair.  Noilyn received a BA, Environmental Analysis & Design from the University of California, Irvine and an MPH,  Sociomedical Sciences from the Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health.

 

David Aguilar, MA is currently the Outreach Coordinator for Project AsPIRE (Asian American Partnership in Research and Empowerment) at the New York University Center for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH). His role in the Project includes developing outreach strategies, building partnerships, fostering and strengthening relationships with various Filipino-American communities and faith based organizations, civic and professional associations, and health providers, as well as coordinating health screening events and managing the research data base. David has more than 10 years of combined experience in management of faith & community based organizations. He received a Graduate Degree on Management of Non-Profit Organization from Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey , holds a Master's degree in Canon Law from the Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, and a Bachelor of Arts degree major in Philosophy. He also holds a National Trainer Certificate from the Community Anti Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and has an extensive experience in coalition training and substance abuse prevention.

William B. Bateman, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine and Directs the Sino-American Health Care Exchange Program for the Institute for Urban and Global Health at NYU. Dr. Bateman has an unequaled record of health services to Asian Americans and he is an expert in health disparities and barriers to access of health care in the Asian American Community. He recently was awarded with a Service Honor Award in 2001 from the group: Asian Americans for Equality. His current focus includes improving health and access to care for the uninsured working poor, studying and expanding the use of a remote, simultaneous medical interpreting system, the reengineering of ambulatory service delivery through workforce retraining and using workplace-based learning as a vehicle for improving the quality of healthcare services and the quality of life of healthcare workers.


Chris Cho, BS serves as the Outreach Coordinator for the Center. Ms. Cho is currently Associate Director for Bellevue Hospital Center. Ms. Cho is the former President of the Chinese Community Social Service and Health Council. She has worked closely with Asian Americans for Equality and with the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center. Ms. Cho coordinated a number of key activities that includes, focus groups, community health assessments in the Chinese and Korean community, and help facilitated a series of community health forums on mental health, cardiac, cancer, diabetes care. Ms. Cho has had extensive experience in doing outreach, collaborating with many community based organizations in New York City and the local Chinese media. As one of the many projects in the Outreach Core, she will work with the schools in developing an appropriate science educational program.

Henry Chung, MD serves as the Mental Health Project Director. Dr. Chung is Senior Director for Research and Strategic Management at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York University’s School of Medicine. He has performed research and published articles related to the integration of mental health treatment in primary care, especially for racial and ethnic minorities. In this regard, he was the Founder and Project Director of the Asian American Primary Care and Mental Health “Bridge” program with primary funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, he was Principal Investigator of the Older Adults/Mental Health and Substance Abuse Primary Care Outcomes Study, a multi-center study funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental health Services Administration. He has been recognized for this work as a winner of the Bureau of Primary Health Care Models That Work competition in 2002, which selected the Bridge Program for model replication. He is a member on the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Minority Health, and a member of the Carter Center’s Leadership Group for the Integration of Mental Health in Primary Care.

 

Sun-Hoo Foo, MD is the Senior Medical Director of the Chinese Community Health Partnership and on the executive board of the Chinese American Medical Society. He is a respected health care provider, working extensively with NYU Downtown Hospital and has dedicated much of his professional and personal work in providing community service for underserved Chinese communities. Dr. Foo has expertise in developing appropriate outreach programs in the Chinese community and works collaboratively with community-based organizations from other Asian ethnic groups to tailor programs specific to each community.

Francesca Gany, MD, MS serves as the Director of the Cancer and Communication Project. Dr. Gany is the director of the Center for Immigrant Health at the New York University School of Medicine (NYUSoM) and the Principal Investigator of the Cancer Awareness Network for Immigrant and Minority Populations (CANIMP). Dr. Gany holds a BS in Biology from Yale University, an MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and an MS in health policy from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Dr. Gany has served as the principal investigator on a number of pioneering immigrant health projects and has facilitated the dissemination of model projects nationally. As a Robert Wood Johnson Faculty Scholar, Dr. Gany conducted a study to elucidate the barriers that immigrants face with respect to completion of tuberculosis screening and prophylaxis. Her reviews led to the development of long-term policy and programmatic changes in tuberculosis screening for immigrants and the establishment of the Center’s Community Tuberculosis Prevention Program. Dr. Gany will be on the Training Core Committee and will serve as mentor or preceptor for the various internships/field placements. Dr. Gany will also assist in the development of culturally competent materials and tools.


Henrietta Ho-Asjoe, MPS is the Administrator and the Director of Community Development for the NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health. As the Center’s Administrator, Henrietta directs the development and operation of program activities; provides fiscal oversight and management; collaborates with community-based partners; markets the Center’s services and programs, as well as organizes seminars and conferences. As the Director of Community Development, she oversees the outreach activities and partnerships building with the community-based organizations, local and national healthcare agencies, and government entities. Formerly, Ms. Ho-Asjoe was the Director of the Chinese Community Partnership for Health at New York Downtown Hospital. She led a multi-culturally diverse professional team that was committed to assisting Chinese Americans overcome barriers to healthcare access and addressed the special needs of the Chinese community. In addition, Ms. Ho-Asjoe’s contribution to the community at large has been recognized by the following awards. She received the 2002 California Pacific Award for Excellence in Patient Education and in 1998; she was awarded a proclamation from the New York Manhattan Borough President’s Office for her dedication in the field of health care.


Nadia Islam, PhD is the Deputy Director of Research within the Center for the Study of Asian American Health. Ms. Islam specializes in community based participatory methods and health disparities research within Asian American and immigrant communities, and has had extensive training in qualitative methods, cancer control research, and access to healthcare issues. Prior to working at CSAAH, Ms. Islam directed the New York site of AANCART, the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training based at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. AANCART was a five-year National Cancer Institute funded project dedicated to developing leadership within and collaboration with community-based organizations to address the needs of the medically under-served New York Asian American populations. Through her work with AANCART, Ms. Islam was actively involved in building a sustainable network of community based organizations, health professionals, and activists to conduct health research in the South Asian community. Ms. Islam has also worked as the Linkage Coordinator at the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA), where she was responsible for establishing formal linkages with providers and organizations around New York City which could serve as potential sites for referral of HIV/AIDS patients of AAPI descent. Ms. Islam has completed several fellowships and internships focusing on community health issues, and is committed to community organizing around health issues for South Asian in NYC.

Ms. Islam is a doctoral candidate in Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University. For her dissertation, Ms. Islam is conducting an ethnographic case study to understand how non-profit organizations serving South Asian immigrant workers in New York City engage in social movement strategies in the public health arena while simultaneously providing services to the community.


Douglas Nam Le, BA is a co-founder and present coordinator for the Vietnamese Community Health Initiative (VCHI) in New York City. The VCHI is a community coalition based at CSAAH whose mission is to build a strong and healthy Vietnamese community through needs assessment, mobilization, partnership, education, and research. Since April 2007, Douglas has assumed the role of Acting Program Manager for the Asian American Hepatitis B Program, through which his responsibilites include the management of program operations, contract reporting, and the planning of community-based Hepatitis B screening and education initiatives. Douglas is also the Director for Southeast Asian Programs under the NYU Institute of Community Health and Research. The Institute's Southeast Asian Programs consist of outreach, education, coalition-building and program development targeting the health needs of Southeast Asian communities in New York City, as well as a medical education program for doctoral students between healthcare facilities in New York and Thailand. In addition, he leads efforts in marketing and outreach for the Institute through the development of web and print information. He has prior experience in the areas of qualitative research and program evaluation in healthcare, HIV/AIDS, youth development, LGBT health, and community organizing. In 2006 Douglas was recognized by the New York Immigration Coalition as a fellow through the Immigrant Advocacy Fellowship Program, and has been selected by CDS International and the Körber Foundation to participate in the New York-Hamburg integrationXchange Program in 2008, an international learning exchange among immigrant advocates from both cities. He holds a BA from Columbia College in Urban Studies, specializing in Anthropology.

Sapna Pandya, MPH is the Coordinator of the South Asian Health Initiative (SAHI) for the NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH) and NYU Center for Immigrant Health (CIH). She serves in her capacity, to coordinate outreach, research and networking initiatives, conduct trainings in cultural competence, and organize community based health outreach events, an activity which involves liaising with community based and faith based organizations. Currently, this role includes projects in cancer education, cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis prevention, and the execution of a South Asian community health needs assessment. Ms. Pandya received an MPH in Epidemiology/Biostatistics and a BA in Religion and Biology with a minor in Spanish and from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. Her research interests include the role of health communication and media in promoting behavior change, the delivery of culturally and linguistically competent health care, and socially and politically disenfranchised groups and their barriers to accessing adequate health services.


Henry Pollack, MD serves as the Project Director and Principal Investigator of the Hepatitis B and Hepaticellular Carcinoma project. Dr. Pollack is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at NYUSoM and the Director of the Fellowship Program in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Dr. Pollack is also Director of the NYC Pediatric Viral Hepatitis Network funded by the Speakers Fund of the City Council which coordinates the care of children with chronic HBV and HCV infection among almost 20 hospitals and community health care facilities in NYC. He is the founder and Director of the Pediatric Viral Hepatitis Clinic at Bellevue Hospital, NYU Downtown Hospital, Charles B. Wang Chinatown Health Clinic and Gouverneur Hospital. Dr. Pollack will provide guidance in the outreach strategies. He also serves as a mentor to the outreach and training cores.


Mariano Jose Rey, MD is the Director of the NYU Institute for Community Health and Research as well as the Director of the NYU Centers for Health Disparities Research. He is the Principal Investigator of the National Institute of Health (NIH) P 60-funded Center for the Study of Asian American Health and the NCMHD-supported R24 Project AsPIRE on cardiovascular disease and hypertension. He is also the Administrative Principal Investigator of the New York City Hepatitis B Program- a public health initiative that is a national model.

Dr. Rey is one of the founding faculty members of the NYU’s Institute for Urban and Global Health and was its Executive Director from 2001 to 2004. He is the originator and Director of NYU’s International Health Program, where students and faculty participate in service and research activities in over 20 countries. Dr. Rey serves as the Course Director of both the Annual Latino Health Conference and the Annual Asian American Health Conference.

After graduating from Columbia College, Dr. Marino Rey received his M.D. from the NYU School of Medicine. He then completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiology at the NYU/Bellevue Medical Center.

He has served as Director of the Bellevue Hospital Cardiology Clinic, as well as Director of the Nuclear Cardiology Laboratories at both Bellevue and NYU.

An expert in cardiac physiology, he was director of the Physiology course for NYU first year medical students. At present, Dr. Rey is Director of the Joan and Joel Smilow Center for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention at NYU.

Dr. Rey has published numerous articles and book chapters in his field of cardiology, as well as in the international health, and in medical education and its interaction with the humanities. His most recently completed manuscripts address general health disparities in New York City and differences in the treatment of HIV-positive patients with protease inhibitors. He has been an Investigator in several multi-center NIH or National Cancer Institute grants, in which he served as a Core Laboratory Director or as the Principal Investigator at the NYU site. His efforts in these endeavors have resulted in numerous publications: peer-reviewed cardiology and public health journals, as well as the New England Journal of Medicine.

Chau Trinh-Shevrin, DrPH is the Director of the NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health and Assistant Professor at the NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Trinh-Shevrin develops and implements initiatives and studies in the Outreach, Research and Training Cores of the Center for the Study of Asian American Health. Dr. Trinh-Shevrin is a co-investigator on several NIH, city-funded, and foundation grants focusing on alleviating health disparities in Asian American and other underserved communities. She has extensive experience in community-based research and evaluation. Currently she develops research initiatives for immigrant and minority communities, mentors junior faculty and medical students and residents on community-based research, and provides research support in data analysis and evaluation. She also chairs the Patient Care and Community Outreach Group on the Dean's Council for Institutional Diversity at the NYU School of Medicine and is on the Board of Directors for the Public Health Association of New York City. Dr. Trinh-Shevrin is a social epidemiologist with a Doctorate in Public Health from Columbia University and a Masters in Health Policy and Management at the State University of New York at Albany.


Thomas Tsang, MD, MPH is the Training Core Director for the Center. Dr. Tsang is also the medical director of the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center (CBWCHC). Dr. Tsang is committed to conducting community-based primary care and expanding research at the CBWCHC with the goal of reducing health disparities in the Asian community in general, and specifically in the Chinese community. He recently received an MPH from the Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and is currently a clinical instructor at NYU School of Medicine.


Rhodora Ursua, MPH received a Masters in Public Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health with a focus in Population and Family Health in May 2004. At the Center, she is the Director of Project AsPIRE (Asian American Partnerships in Research and Empowerment), a community-based participatory research project that aims to improve health access and status for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Filipino-Americans in New York City and New Jersey.  Ms.Ursua also serves as the Project Coordinator of Kalusugan Coalition which is a Filipino health coalition she co-founded and the community partner for Project AsPIRE.  In addition, Ms. Ursua oversees the Center’s Center Student Investigator (CSI) Program and provides general support for the Center’s activities.

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