Congratulations to Dr. Raynald Samoa, MD for receiving the 2022 RWJF-APIC Award!
Dr. Raynald Samoa, MD, Assistant Professor for the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism for City of Hope Medical Center is this year’s winner of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award (RWJF) for Health Equity presented by the Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health (APIC). The RWJF Award is given each year to a leader who has made outstanding contributions toward achieving health equity and has implemented system-level changes in their community.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Raynald Samoa immediately stepped up and took responsibility to serve as the Clinical Lead for the Pacific Islander (PI) COVID-19 Response Team with the mission to serve and protect the PI communities to achieve health equity. Dr. Samoa leads a consortium of researchers, physicians, public health experts, elected officials, and community advocates to respond to the pandemic to protect PI communities. The team developed a comprehensive strategy based on initiatives used by other countries that were successful in beating back the pandemic, including urging local health departments to report disaggregated data which resulted in more available testing in neighborhoods known to have a higher concentration of PI residents. The consortium aims to increase the amount of available data specific to the PI population, develop and train more health care providers for the community, and provide reliable COVID-19 information, resources, and support. The group identified significant disproportionate rates of COVID-19 affecting PIs that were not publicly reported at the time. Other activities included implementing culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions to slow the spread of virus, increasing testing and tracing, and providing support for quarantine.
As a result of Dr. Samoa’s tireless advocacy, including testimony before Congress, he elevated those concerns to the highest level when he was named a member of President Joseph Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. According to the White House, the goal of the commission is to “advise the President on ways the public, private, and non-profit sectors can work together to advance equity and opportunity for every Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community”.
Judges
Janine Hill, PhD, MPH, CPCC, ACC is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, and the President of Soar Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm focused on enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion and organizational development of the social good sector. For over 20 years, she has worked in and with nonprofits, philanthropic and higher education institutions, of varying sizes and budgets. In her six-year tenure as the executive director of EverThrive Illinois, a maternal and child health nonprofit organization, the organization more than doubled its revenues, underwent a rebranding initiative, and strengthened private/public partnerships. Janine graduated in May 2022 with her PhD in Community Health Sciences at UIC SPH. Her dissertation focuses on stress measurement in middle/high income women. Janine also is a Co-Active Training Institute – trained coach, and has a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Nonprofit Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (NU). She currently teaches “Maternal and Child Health Policy and Advocacy” in the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health at UIC SPH. In addition, Janine serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the McGaw YMCA in Evanston. When she is not working, she is hanging with her daughter, reading, or running some race in the Chicagoland area.
Joyce R. Javier MD, MPH, MS, FAAP is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and an Attending Physician at AltaMed General Pediatrics. She completed pediatrics residency training and a general academic pediatrics fellowship at Stanford University. She is a general pediatrician and physician scientist whose research over the past 17 years has focused on addressing health disparities among minority immigrant populations. Her most recent studies focus on recruitment of Filipino families in randomized controlled trials and using community partnered participatory research to decrease mental health stigma and prevent adolescent depression and suicide among Filipino youth by partnering with parents and community stakeholders to implement and evaluate evidence-based parenting interventions. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health NCATS KL2 and NICHD K23 awards, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the SC CTSI, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program. She currently serves as an Executive Committee Member on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on Community Pediatrics, Co-chair of the Society for Pediatric Research Advocacy Committee, and a member of Pediatric Policy Council. In 2018, she received the AAP Local Hero Award and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World by the Filipina Women’s Network. Website:filipinofamilyhealth.com | Facebook@filipinofamilyhealthLA | Twitter:@JoyceJavierMD | Instagram: @filipinofamilyhealth
John Yuen is a MD/PhD student at Stony Brook University. He is in the Genetics PhD program, where his research currently focuses on RNA-based therapeutics for pancreatic cancer. Since 2020, John has been the Health Affairs Vice President of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA), where he aims to address health disparities in AANHPI population by empowering and educating healthcare students on impactful community outreach. He oversees a team of National Directors, involved in health-related initiatives like bone marrow, Hepatitis B/C, cancer prevention, and mental health.