These are the medical students that are working hard to put together this educational, interesting, and fun conference about minority health issues.

Susan Park

Susan Park is a second year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She received her B.S. in Physiological Sciences and Women's Studies from UCLA in 2003. She was also born and raised in L.A., which makes her a loyal Californian and a bit of a homebody. During her undergraduate years, she developed her interests in minority health issues while planning various conferences and engaging in research. Susan's other interest in international health took her on memorable missions trips to Ukraine, Mexico and Albania. When not obsessively organizing lecture notes into neat outlines and charts, Susan enjoys traveling, relaxing with friends and family, attending church, and caring for her handsome 12 year-old Dalmatian.

Vanessa Lauzon

Vanessa Lauzon is a second year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She received her B.A. in Spanish and B.S. in Biological Sciences from USC in 2004, and is thrilled to have remained within the Trojan Family for medical school. Vanessa is passionate about ameliorating disparities in health care access, whether those disparities are caused by linguistic and cultural barriers in the U.S. or by the unequal distribution of global resources in developing nations. Ultimately, Vanessa plans to combine a career in primary care in a medically underserved area with significant international health work. She is the student co-coordinator of the Keck School of Medicine's Medical Spanish Program, which teaches Spanish to Year I & II medical students in order to prepare them to better serve the primarily Spanish-speaking patient population of LAC-USC Medical Center during their clinical years. When she's not thinking about saving the world, Vanessa enjoys cooking, foreign films, traveling, learning languages, and reading anything non-medical.

Lotus Kyi Loo is a second year medical student in UCLA School of Medicine. She is current APAMSA National Hepatitis B project director and participating in 2005 MHC planning committee as Speaker Committee Chair. Being an immigrant herself, Lotus believes that culturally competent health care is very crucial in health care delivery especially in minority immigrant communities. Volunteering and serving as a director in UCLA Asian Pacific Health Corps, undergraduate student-run community service organization for underserved API communities strengthened her interest in community outreach and health education. Her favorite activities are watching comedies and traveling. She often practices yoga and meditation to relax her mind and body. Born in raised in Burma (Myanmar), she enjoys various Asian authentic food. She is also very proud to be a true Bruin!

Margaret Hwang is a second year medical student at the USC Keck School of Medicine who is originally from Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004 with a degree in history. Her interest in minority issues began when she attended an ethnically diverse high school in a predominantly Latino area and learned about many inequities that minorities face that too often go unnoticed. She thinks the Minority Health Conference is a great opportunity to put a focus on the issues and for individuals to have an open dialogue about them. Currently, her interests have evolved to include international health and will be going to Ecuador this summer to study community medicine. In her free time, she likes to paint, go running and she is also sort of a bookworm. One (perhaps) interesting fact about her is that she is known for having a vast mental store of random bits of trivia and conjuring them up at various points in time in a conversation. And, oddly enough, she knows a great deal about plants

Kim-Tan Nguyen is a second year medical student at Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Physiological Sciences in 2003. She is currently the Co-President for Asian Pacific American Medical Student Assoc (APAMSA) and a mentorship coordinator for the Latino Medical Student Assoc (LMSA). Her goal for the conference is to educate, motivate and mobilize the community towards eliminating disparities in healthcare among different racial, ethnic and socio-economic groups. In her spare time she could be found playing women’s football with team IRON, playing basketball, or walking her boyfriend’s English bulldog (Cholito).

Sharel Ongchin graduated from Rice University in 2004 with a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Originally from the beautiful garden state of New Jersey, Sharel is now a second year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. She is excited to be working on the Minority Health Conference with a wonderful group of people, and believes that is it important to be aware of the existing disparities in our healthcare system and learn how to work towards improving it. In her spare time, Sharel enjoys making crafts, dancing around her room to 80s music, eating, and spending time with friends.

Sharon Shiraga is a second year medical school student at UCLA.  She also completed her bachelor's degree with honors at UCLA, and majored in biochemistry and minored in mathematics.  Being an immigrant herself, Hsiao-wei has always been active in promoting minority awareness in the Asian and LBGT communities.  She is the co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association at UCLA chapter.  This is her first year being on the boards of the MHC.

Alejandro Casillas is a second year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. He followed an untraditional path in his education, but it was this very path and his background that gave him inspiration for involvement in minority health issues. As an immigrant who grew up in the ethnic enclave of a city that is a designated Physician Shortage Area, with neighboring rural areas, he has seen firsthand the cultural barriers to healthcare. The purpose of his participation in the MHC is that he now wishes to obtain the knowledge and keys to implement change. His education includes attending Empire College, where he trained to become a California Certified Medical Assistant. He then worked as an ER Technician at the local hospital trauma center, while continuing his education at Santa Rosa Junior College. There, he obtained his Associates Degree and then transferred to UCLA. Due to his continued interest in Emergency Medicine, Alejandro continued his involvement at the UCLA Emergency Medical Center. Alejandro graduated from UCLA, double majoring in Physiological Science and Biology. Due to his interest in gaining a better understanding of the growing elderly population that physicians will be faced with, he also obtained a minor in gerontology. After graduating, Alejandro took some time off and got married. Ready to return to school, he then participated in the challenging UCSF post-baccalaureate program. Alejandro is currently the newly elected LMSA Co-Chair, and SNMA Historian. Some of his activities with these organizations have included involvement in Educacion Primero and Tom Bradley Elementary School programs.

Ersne Eromois a second year medical student in the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program.  She was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and immigrated to the United States in 1990.  Since then, Ersne attended Crenshaw High School and received her B.S. in Biology from UCLA in 2003.  As a medical student, Ersne is dedicated to the goals of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and serves as the 2005-2006 Drew/UCLA Chapter Co-President.  She is grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the 2005 Minority Health Conference Planning Committee and believes that the issues addressed by this conference will help current and future health care providers give competent and compassionate care to ALL.
 

Joel Ramirez is currently a second-year medical student at UCLA.  He was born in
Lindsay, California, attended Fresno College, and graduated from UCLA in
2004 with a major in Physiological Sciences.  Aside from participating in the Minority Health Conference, Joel is also a Co-Chair for both the Latino Medical Student Association and Family Medicine Interest Group. He hopes to complete a residency program in Family Medicine and return to the Central Valley to practice.
 

Did I say Hard Working Group?