Joon-Ho Yu, MPH, PhD

Chair

Joon is a research assistant professor in the Division of Genetic Medicine and Division of Bioethics and Palliative Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, and a faculty member at the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, Seattle Children’s Hospital. He received his MPH and PhD in the interdisciplinary field of public health genetics from the University of Washington and is a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded principal investigator.

Prior to academia, Joon worked for over a decade in the non-profit sector to support the health of AANHPI communities. During his tenure at Asian Pacific Islander Health Forum, Joon served as mini-grant’s program coordinator, APITEN network coordinator, APITEN director, and chronic diseases program director. In this capacity, he staffed the API Cancer Survivors’ Network and served as a member of the RWJF-AMA Smokeless State’s National Advisory Committee. Now as a community-based researcher, he continues to work with diverse communities and community-based organizations to build capacity and engage in policy advocacy efforts on a range of health topics.

Joon is an active member of the APICAT coalition and serves as deputy director of the Korean Community Service Center. His NIH-funded research focuses on developing and evaluating strategies to benefit under-represented communities in research and healthcare in areas such as genomics, precision medicine, mHealth, and learning healthcare systems.

Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH

Member

Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH, is Professor in the Department of Health, Society and Behavior in the Program in Public Health, and Associate Director of Cancer Health Equity and Community Engagement in the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Irvine.  Previously she was Professor in and Chair of the Department of Health Sciences at California State University, Fullerton for 15 years. Her research focuses on community health promotion to reduce cancer health disparities among diverse populations, particularly Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Her work applies community-based participatory research to tobacco prevention and cessation, cancer early detection, and survivorship, and she has served as PI or Co-PI on over two dozen extramurally funded cancer-related studies, including Principal Investigator of the four-year NIH P20 Cancer Health Equity Research Partnership and the two-year DHHS OMH Health Equity and Literacy in Orange County (HEAL OC). Her research has been published in such peer-reviewed journals as American Journal of Public Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Education & Behavior, and Health Promotion Practice. Dr. Tanjasiri has serves or has served as advisor to numerous organizations, including the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership, Orange County Women’s Health Project, and the St. Joseph Health System Community Partnership Fund. She received her DrPH in Community Health Sciences and her MPH in Behavioral Science at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Jake Ryann Sumibcay, DrPH, MPH, CHES

Member

Jake Ryann Sumibcay, DrPH, MPH, CHES (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. A dedicated public health scholar with a strong focus on promoting health equity, Dr. Sumibcay specializes in ethnographic research and culturally responsive strategies to support Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities. By advocating for data disaggregation and examining structural racism’s impact on health outcomes, he advances inclusive public health policies and practices. Before joining the University of Hawaiʻi, Jake was a Yerby Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Health and Human Rights Fellow at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. He earned his Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) in Leadership and Management, with a minor in Health Policy, from Claremont Graduate University, and he is also an alumnus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholars Program. In addition, Jake was also an APPEAL Health Policy Fellow and served as a SPARC Leadership Coach. Jake currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Hawai‘i Public Health Association.

Through his research and leadership, Jake hopes to champion APPEAL’s mission to achieve social justice and create healthy and equitable AA and NHPI communities. His commitment to addressing health disparities, combating misinformation, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders underlines his dedication to improving the health and well-being of all.

Liza Merrill, BA

Member

Liza is a personable, trusted and respected community organizer with over 30 years of relationship building within the diverse communities in Arizona. She has been successful in planning and implementing community events and is a vocal advocate for the underserved and minority populations in Phoenix, Arizona and Nationwide.

Liza is of Chamorro and Filipino descent. She has lived in Arizona for over 40 years, but is a strong believer that the Chamorro and Filipino cultural beliefs, language and traditions should be taught and perpetuated by the future generations of her communities. When her mother passed away of cancer in 2001, she made it her mission to find her Voice and the tools necessary to help those around her navigate the complex healthcare and social services system.

Liza has a BA in Liberal Studies from Arizona State University. She is married to her biggest supporter/life-long fan, Paul E. Merrill. They have 4 adult children and 3 grandchildren.

Rod Lew, MPH

Member

Rod Lew, MPH, is the Founder and Executive Director of APPEAL. Prior to APPEAL, Rod was the Health Education Director at Asian Health Services and the Associate Director for the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations. Rod was a contributing author to the 1998 Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco Use and has written and published widely on tobacco and health disparities. Rod provided testimony to the U.S. Congressional Committee on Commerce on the impact of national tobacco policy in 1999 and to the U.S. Surgeon General in 2004. He has also served on numerous national health advisory committees, including the State of California Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (2000-2006), American Public Health Association (APHA) Equal Health Opportunity Committee (2005-6) and APHA Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, where he served as Chair (1998-2000). Rod was the 2002 recipient of the Christopher Jenkins Cancer Control Award. In 2009, he also received the Lester Breslow Lifetime Achievement Award from the UCLA School of Public Health, his alma mater.