Bernard Do, M S1

I had the privilege of representing the UW chapter of APAMSA at this years Region VII
conference at the Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. APAMSA is a national organization
that is dedicated to spreading knowledge about the health disparities in the Asian Pacific
American (APA) communities in America. APAMSA specifically addresses issues of academic
education, bone marrow registration, community outreach initiatives, health advocacy,
hepatitis B screening, international medical missions, pre-medical programs and Asian health.
At this years Region VII conference we had the opportunity to hear from six speakers that
brought new insight into their experience as an APA physician and how they treat patients of
the APA community. I have highlighted three speakers that resonated with me the most during
the conference
The key not speaker was Dr. Hui, the director of the Center for East-West Medicine at UCLA.
He spoke about his journey of trying to incorporate Eastern medicine into his daily practice of
Western medicine. He addressed some of the stigmas that surround complementary and
alternative medicine (CAM) and spoke about how he has been able to combat long standing as
well as acute illnesses with Eastern medicine. In his experience Dr. Hui has seen that Eastern
medicine plays a significant role of promoting wellness before disease states reach a terminal
point. Although I have a limited understanding of Eastern medicine I appreciate its value in
medicine of being able to supplement and aid patient recovery. As our world continues to
become more globalized and connected I think that it is imperative that we understand how to
have conversations about CAM and the role they play in patients lives.
Another speaker that had a lasting impression on me was Dr. Lihua Liu, an Assistant Professor
of Clinical Preventive Medicine at Keck School of Medicine. She spoke specifically about APA
immigrant health and how it has been neglected throughout our country. Her research
investigated how health states progress depending on how long ago immigrants migrated to
America. The general trend of the research showed immigrants coming to America in good
health followed by a drastic dip in patient health the longer they were here. She addressed
issues of stress and diet but the most significant aspect that struck a cord with me was a lack of
community and belonging in a foreign country. The social isolation that is inherent in moving
to a foreign country was taking a tremendous toll on the immigrant population. Dr. Liu, ended
her talk by showing a short documentary clip of a Korean immigrant families journey of
navigating healthcare. This clip was especially poignant to me as it reminded me so much of
my own family and the struggles we had faced in healthcare. The language and cultural barriers
that inhibit immigrants from accessing proper medical care became all the more apparent as a
result of this clip. Dr. Lius talk reemphasized for me the importance of maintaining cultural
sensitivity especially in the immigrant populations.
The last speaker to wrap the conference up was my personal favorite. Dr. Mike Lee, a family
medicine physician from Kaiser Permanente Orange County who spoke about the importance

of wellness in medicine and building resilience in medical school. Dr. Lee started his talk by
defining burnout and the signs to look for both in medical school and physicians. However the
most poignant aspect of his talk was his narrative of his personal journey. I felt privileged to
hear him speak about his personal struggle and how he overcame them. From his presentation
his last quote resonated deeply with me: First do no harm, that includes not only to patients,
but also to one self. Through Dr. Lees talk it became apparent to me how much we can
neglect our personal well being as we pursue a career in medicine. And how in turn it
ultimately impacts our ability to care for patients. I hope to able to look for the signs of burnout
not only in myself but in my classmate to ensure that we as whole can have a healthy journey to
our common goal of a career in medicine.
My experience as a whole at this conference was excellent. I had the opportunity to meet other
like-minded APA students who had a passion for serving our respective communities. I had the
chance to listen to APA physician speakers provide insight on aspects of medicine they believe
to be significant. And most importantly I had a chance to grow not only as a student but as a
person who represents the APA community.

Anh Le, M S1
The conference was held on April 25, 2015 at the University of Southern California Keck School
of Medicine. The whole day was scheduled with 6 prominent physician/community leaders in
the California area to speak about various topics influencing APA communities. There were 3
significant talks that stood out to me.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Ka-Kit Hui, professor, director, and founder of ULCA Center for
East-West Medicine. He emphasized the need for a Global Health initiative to raise awareness
about health issues in Asian countries and the importance of combining Eastern and Western
medicine to maximize health outcomes. This integrative model directly impacts the U.S.
because traditional Chinese medicine has trickled its way into America via integrative,
complementary, and alternative medicine (ICAM). Dr. Hui cited reasons that people use CAM
include: conventional medicine is too expensive, conventional medical professional suggested
it, thought conventional medicine would not help, and finally most of all, thought CAM
combined with conventional medicine would help. From his own personal experience, Dr. Hui
said most of his patients are individuals who have tried everything possible recommended by
Western medicine and thus, have exhausted conventional treatments. His patients also include
those who seek individualize care for wellness and prevention of chronic conditions.
The take home point: current Western medicine strategies alone are too expensive, too
invasive, and not effective enough to address all of the health care issues facing the U.S.
population. Western medicine is most effective when it comes to disease detection, acute
diseases, and vital system stabilization. On the other hand, Chinese medicine strengths are
prevention of disease and dealing with multiple/chronic health complaints. Therefore, neither is
sufficient by itself to see ALL aspects of spectrum of health. These are the major reasons Dr.
Hui founded the UCLA Center of East-West Medicine. The center has physicians who have
learned how to harness the strengths of both modern and complementary medicine as well as
opportunities to train future health care providers as well. From my own experience, I think an
integrative approach is especially important when treating APA populations. These patients
tend to utilize Eastern practices on their own, such as using herbs, supplements, etc (often
without the physicians knowledge) and thus, its important to know possible interactions or
strategies to complement these practices.
Another speaker at the event was Dr. Lihua Liu, director of the Immigrant Health Initiative at
USC. Dr. Liu brought up some interesting research regarding declining health outcomes and
disparities when immigrants come to the U.S. She stated in general, when immigrants arrive
they tend to be healthier than U.S. native residents - the health immigrant effect. However,
this advantage seems to dissipate with time, and in many cases, their health status falls below
native residents. These health outcomes include a rise in obesity and chronic conditions. The
reasons for this are not known, and researchers have offered several explanations. Many
studies have emphasized the role of negative acculturation: the American life style includes
poor diet habits (fast food, fried food, etc), risky behaviors such as smoking and drinking, and a

loss of social/community support. Another explanation revolves around the fact that
immigrants have less access to health care due to a variety of reasons including cultural,
language, and economic barriers. Personally, I tend to lean towards the second explanation,
especially because risky behaviors are not uncommon in other cultures.
Dr. Liu also showed us a mini-film about a Korean immigrant, who was the oldest son in the
family, and thus was expected to take care of his parents in addition to his own family. The
video exemplified the typical stress and anxiety immigrants face in the U.S. as they try to adapt
to American culture and take care of their families at the same time. The stress alone and lack
of community support can play a significant factor in health outcomes. Regardless of the
reasons, its important to realize that immigrants make up a large portion of the U.S.
population. In order to be competent and effective health care providers, more
resources/research needs to be available to address this issue of immigrants actually become
unhealthier as they move here.
Tanya Thampipop, director of Public Relations at the Southeast Asian American Future Leaders
Initiative, spoke about the underlying issues regarding Asians Americans being the model
minority. This model minority notion includes the idea that Asian Americans have typically
done well (compared to other minority groups) in regards to educational and socioeconomic
status. Although this is true in some respect, it is not the whole story. The problem with
statistics showing educational/economic data about Asian Americans is the tendency to group
different sub-groups of Asian cultures together. It is a simple to say that not all Asian
Americans are the same, yet in research and data, we tend to be grouped as one category.
Closer inspection reveals that Southeast Asians have disparities that resemble (or are even
worse in some cases) than that of Hispanics and African-Americans. For example, Southeast
Asians have the highest high school dropout rates in the country. After Tanya presented some
general data, we broke out into small groups and discussed how the model minority image
impacts health care. My small group talked about how Asian American health issues are often
overlooked. There are not that many resources available for medical students, doctors or even
members of APA communities to learn about this. At UWSOM for example, there is a health
selective for Hispanics, African-Americans, Native Americans, but not Asian Americans.
Overall, I had a great time at the conference networking with fellow APA medical students and
health care professionals. It is surprisingly difficult to connect with APA physicians back in
Seattle and it was inspiring to see that there are many of them that are doing amazing work in
their respective communities.