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Scientifc Advisory Board Members
Dr. Bernstein’s research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of cancer with an emphasis on breast cancer, esophageal adenocarcinoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She is conducting case-control studies of these cancers and is a leader in the California Teachers Study, a cohort study designed to learn more about breast and other cancers affecting women. Dr. Bernstein’s breast cancer research program has ongoing studies on etiology and pathogenesis, secondary outcomes following breast cancer treatment, factors affecting breast cancer prognosis and quality of life issues for the breast cancer survivor. One of her major interests has been to examine the effects of physical activity on breast cancer risk, and more recently, on prognosis, as well as to identify other lifestyle factors that are amenable to behavioral intervention. As Scientific Director of the Cancer Surveillance Program, the population-based cancer registry for Los Angeles County, she studies the patterns of cancer incidence among demographically defined subgroups of the county population in order to monitor trends and identify potentially important etiologic leads. Contact Information: USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Director, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research Professor, UCLA School of Public Health Principal Investigator, California Health Interview Survey UCLA Center for Health Policy Research E. Richard Brown is the Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and Professor in the Department of Health Services in the UCLA School of Public Health. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which he founded in 1994, has developed into a leading national health policy research center and the premier source of health-related information and analysis on California’s population. The Center conducts research on a wide range of health issues and provides extensive public service to policy makers, advocates and the media. The Center is supported by grants and contracts that total more than $8 million a year.
Assistant Professor of Research Department of Preventive Medicine, USC/Keck School of Medicine Dr. Myles Cockburn is Assistant Professor of Research at the Department of Preventive Medicine, USC/Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Cockburn has a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. His main interests are the epidemiology of melanoma, prostate cancer and stomach cancer, with current projects investigating the relative contribution of environment and genes in these cancers. He leads projects on trends in cancer incidence, mortality and survival using county-specific and statewide data, focusing on differences between racial/ethnic groups and populations of varying socioeconomic status. Dr Cockburn has a grant application under review to assess methods for ensuring that appropriate cancer data are collected for Pacific Island populations in Los Angeles County, and to produce data relevant to cancer control in Pacific Island populations. Contact Information: University of Southern California Department of Preventive Medicine 1441 Eastlake Avenue MC 9175, Room 3421 Los Angeles, CA 90089-9175 Telephone: (323) 865-0322 Email: cockburn@usc.edu Wendy Cozen, D.O., MPH (2005-2007) Dr. Cozen's areas of interest include the epidemiology of hematologic neoplasms, particularly Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma. She is currently conducting several case-control studies examining various aspects of T-cell function, including cytokine secretion and cytokine genotypes, as susceptibility factors for Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma in twins and in general population studies. She also has research in the area of asthma and allergy in twins. In addition, Dr. Cozen is the medical epidemiologist for the USC Cancer Surveillance Program and has expertise in the areas of cancer surveillance, nosology and cancer cluster analysis. Contact Information: University of Southern California (USC) 1441 Eastlake Ave Dennis Deapen, Dr.PH (2005 - present) Director, Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program/Professor Keck School of Medicine
Dr. Dennis Deapen is Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and director of the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program (CSP), the large and arguably most research-productive population-based cancer registry in the world. With the large and diverse population, this registry provides a wealth of opportunity for analytic and descriptive cancer epidemiology. Dr. Deapen has a DrPH in epidemiology from UCLA School of Public Health. Prior to coming to the CSP in 1988, he administered a large registry and research program of cancer in twins. He conducts independent epidemiological research, including a 12 year long study of quality of life following prostate cancer, the 133,000 member California Teachers Study, also in its 12th year and a large, 25-year cohort study of cancer risk in women undergoing augmentation mammoplasty. He is the former chairman of the California Association of Regional Cancer Registries and president of the National Association of Central Cancer Registry (NAACCR). Dr. Deapen has a keen interest in methodology-related issues in cancer research. Contact Information: Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program, USC, Keck School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine 1540 Alcazar, CHP-204 Los Angeles, CA 90033 Telephone: (323) 442-1574 Email: Deapen@usc.edu
Executive Director Mary Anne is the executive director and founder of the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, a non profit community based organization serving the Asian and Pacific Islander communities regarding health, policy, youth, education and community and economic development needs. She received her Masters in Public Health from UCLA School of Public Health and has been working for almost twenty years on Asian and Pacific Islander community issues for local, state and national organizations. Mary Anne currently serves on numerous boards and advisory committees and has been a national trainer for API tobacco control, cancer prevention, cultural competency and women’s health care issues. She is the principal investigator and co-PI on several health research projects including a breast and cervical cancer prevention program for Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians, a cancer prevention and control program for Pacific Islanders, an older adult cardiovascular and diabetes program for Asians and Pacific Islanders, and a Southeast Asian children’s health research project. In 2004, Mary Anne received the Unsung Heroine Award from Congressman Ed Royce, a national award sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors Foundation and PBS’s To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. In 2003, Mary Anne received the “Woman of the Year” award by Assembly member Lou Correa, who also had previously awarded her the Community Leader Award in 2001. She also received the “Wellness and Health” Leadership Award from the Asian Business Association of Orange County in 2003. And in 1999, the Orange County Human Relations Commission awarded Mary Anne with their Civil Rights Award. Contact Information: Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA) 12900 Garden Grove Blvd., Suite 214A Garden Grove , CA 92843 Telephone: (714)636-9095 ext. 200 Fax: (714)636-8828 Email: Mafoo@ocapica.org Website: www.ocapica.org
Dr. Michael I. Goran is associate director and professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine (Research) in the Keck School of Medicine. Goran's research focuses on the etiology and prevention of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in children. Contact Information: University of Southern California (USC) Phone: (323)442-3027
Research Interests: Health access systems development Clinical Interests: Diagnostic Ultrasonography and Family Practice / Family Medicine Ricardo Guillermo Hahn is professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Hahn earned an undergraduate degree and a Master’s degree in Preventive Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle before attending medical school there. He completed a residency in Family Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a fellowship in Emergency Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a board-certified family physician in practice at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining the faculty at USC in 1995, Dr. Hahn held faculty positions at UCSF, University of Michigan, Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Dr. Hahn is a teacher, administrator, consultant, researcher and author. He serves on the editorial board of five scientific journals and is a member of numerous professional societies. Dr. Hahn’s research interests include the development and use of technical tools specific to the practice of Family Medicine, principles of rural practice, systems of access to health care, population based disease prevention, and postgraduate training models in Family Medicine. Contact information: University of Southern California (USC) 1510 San Pablo St., Suite 104
Sidney R. Garfield Professor of Preventive Medicine & Psychology C. Anderson Johnson, Ph.D., is the Sidney R. Garfield professor of Preventive Medicine and Psychology, and director of the Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research (IPR) at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He is principal investigator of the Pacific Rim Transdisciplinary Tobacco & Alcohol Use Research Center (PR TTAURC) (funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) and PI and director of the China Seven Cities Study (NCI, Garfield Endowment). He is co-PI of the USC Transdisciplinary Drug Abuse Prevention Research Center (funded by NIDA). Dr. Johnson is a visiting professor of public health at Peking University and a member of the advisory committee for the Community-Based Hypertension Prevention and Control Program, a national study of health behavior related to hypertension, at Peking University. Dr. Johnson has 28 years of experience in scientific and administrative leadership of large-scale domestic and international community-based research projects. Other programs for which he has served as principal investigator in the past five years include the Independent Evaluation of California Tobacco Control Prevention & Education (California Department of Health Services); a program project grant, Lowering Smoking and ETS Exposure in California Pacific Rim Youth (California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program); and the initial USC Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (NCI/NIDA), 1999-2004. Dr. Johnson’s numerous peer-reviewed publications in prevention science have focused on community-based approaches to tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse prevention, most recently across a range of cultural, environmental, and international contexts. His current work focuses on dispositional and contextual characteristics as they work in combination (culture by environment and gene by environment interactions) to affect tobacco and alcohol use trajectories and prevention at different points in the trajectories. Contact Information: University of Southern California (USC) Phone: (626)457-4065
Professor Director, Minority Training Program in Cancer Control Research Associate Director, UCLA Center for Research, Education, and Strategic Communitication for Minority Health Disparities Regional PI for the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training Dr. Kagawa-Singer has a masters degree in Nursing and a masters and doctorate in Anthropology all from UCLA. Her clinical work and research has been in oncology, and on the etiology and elimination of disparities in physical and mental health care outcomes for communities of color: primarily with the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. She serves on multiple local, state, and national committees addressing impact of ethnicity on health care and health outcomes, and has published and lectured extensively on cross-cultural issues in health, cancer, pain, grief and bereavement, end of life decision-making, and quality of life. Her current cancer studies include intervention studies to promote mammography in Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander women, quality of life, spirituality, and doctor/patient communication with Hispanic, African American, and Asian American women post-breast and cervical cancer. She also focuses her efforts on the impact of culture on health outcomes, and developing measures of cultural competency. Contact Information: UCLA School of Public Health and Asian American Studies Center Community Health Sciences 650 Charles Young Drive, South 41-240 CHS PO Box 951772 Los Angeles , CA 90095-1772 Phone: (310)794-6604 Email: mkagawa@ucla.edu
Associate Professor Dr. McEligot’s primary research interests include: (1) examining the association between dietary intake and disease risk and cancer prevention; (2) investigating behavior change and the influence of lifestyle factors such as smoking, being overweight or increasing fruit and vegetable intakes on circulating biomarkers, such as carotenoids, plasma homocysteine and folate concentrations; and (3) examining gene-diet interactions such as dietary fat intake and hormone metabolizing genes, and it’s influence on cancer risk. Her previous research experience, as part of the Cancer Prevention and Control group at UCSD, included studies on the relationship between behavior change and biomarkers, such as carotenoids, folate and homocysteine in women diagnosed with breast cancer. The study population included women enrolled in a Feasibility Study, the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study. The WHEL Feasibility Study examined whether women diagnosed with breast cancer were capable of increasing vegetable, fruit and fiber consumption, while reducing percent energy from fat. The research suggested that women previously diagnosed with breast cancer are capable of changing and maintaining a rigorous dietary pattern, which may eventually improve their prognosis. In addition, plasma carotenoid concentrations are reasonable biomarkers of long-term fruit and vegetable intake, and are useful in assessing adherence to a major dietary change. More recent research interests include examining dietary variables and nutritional status of women diagnosed with breast cancer enrolled in a population-based cancer family registry. In addition to diet, she has examined the use of complementary and alternative medicine, as well as dietary intakes in women positive and in women negative for a family history of breast or ovarian cancer (FHBOC). The results suggest that characteristics of CAM use differ between women with a positive family history and women with a negative FHBOC. In addition, Dr. McEligot has assessed whether weight, alcohol use and smoking history is related to breast cancer prognosis and survival. Preliminary data suggests that alcohol use and smoking status are associated with prognostic factors such as ER and PR status. Assessing dietary and lifestyle variables associated with risk and survival has implications for extending years of life after cancer diagnosis and possibly preventing cancer.
Contact Information: California State University Fullerton Department of Health Science Email: amceligot@fullerton.edu
Assistant Professor Juliet McMullin is an Assistant Professor of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. She received her Ph.D. in 1999 from UCI. Dr. McMullin specializes in medical anthropology. The central focus of her research is in health disparities among Pacific Islanders and Latinos. She has worked with Native Hawaiians and their concept of health and it’s importance for preventive care. This research found that understandings of health are intimately connected with land, family and Hawaiian ancestors. As such, practicing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle includes the ability to integrate these aspects of health and well-being, which extends far beyond seeking biomedical care or eating a proper diet. She has also conducted research with physicians, Latinas and Pacific Islanders on their health practices, and understandings of cancer prevention and survivorship. One of her previous projects was with a Tongan community based organization in the San Francisco Bay area, focusing on Tongan understandings of cancer and cancer screening practices. The primary goal of the project was to train interested community members in the research process; design, collection, analysis, and writing reports of the data. The data gathered from the project will serve as the baseline for developing appropriate interventions to increase use of cancer screening services in the Tongan community. One of Dr. McMullin’s recent activities, is the co-leadership of School of American Research Advanced Seminar which examined anthropologist’s efforts at understanding the cancer experience and strengthening advocacy efforts within the communities that the researcher’s work with. Contact Information: University of California, Riverside Department of Anthropology Watkins Hall 1344 Phone: (951)827-2758
Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine Paula Healani Palmer, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of preventive medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine, and associate director of research administration at the USC Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research. She is also a co-investigator of the USC Pacific Rim Transdisciplinary Tobacco & Alcohol Use Research Center, co-PI of a study investigating substance use and HIV risk behavior among China’s floating population, co-PI of a National Cancer Institute-funded community network to reduce cancer health disparities among Pacific Islanders in Southern California, and lead investigator of a school-based smoking prevention study in Hawaii that investigates the impact of culture on smoking beliefs and practices. In addition, Dr. Palmer is co-principal investigator and director of administration for the China Seven Cities Study. She is also a co-PI of a study investigating psychological effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. She is currently the chair of the Program Development Committee for the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health. She teaches an undergraduate course in maternal and child health; and graduate courses in international public health and public health in China. Contact Information: University of Southern California (USC) Phone: (626)457-4027
Associate Professor Director, Center for Cancer Disparities Research Dr. Sora Park Tanjasiri is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Science at California State University, Fullerton. Her work focuses on the community health needs of diverse populations, particularly Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Dr. Tanjasiri’s scholarship involves participatory action research principles and techniques, and health issues of interest include tobacco prevention, cancer early detection and cancer control. She is the Principal Investigator of WINCART: Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training, which is a five year, NCI funded U01 collaborative with 8 community-based non profit organizations and 4 other universities. Dr. Tanjasiri is also the Co-PI on a two year NIH funded R03 study to increase cervical cancer screening among Thais, a three year study to map pro- and anti-tobacco influences in Cambodian and Chamorro communities, a four year project to decrease breast, cervical, colon, prostate and liver cancers among Chinese and Koreans, and a five year CDC-funded effort to increase breast and cervical cancer screening among Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander women. In addition to her professional work, Dr. Tanjasiri has also served as an advisor to numerous non-profit organizations and coalitions, including the Board of Directors of the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, the Advisory Committee of the Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment and Leadership (a national Asian American and Pacific Islander tobacco control network), and the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Asian American/Pacific Islander National Advisory Committee. Dr. Tanjasiri received her masters and doctoral degrees in Community Health Sciences from the UCLA School of Public Health. Contact Information: Associate Professor CSUF Department of Health Science P.O. Box 6870 Fullerton , CA 92834-6870 Phone: (714) 278-4592 Fax :( 714) 278-5317 Email: stanjasiri@fullerton.edu
Professor Preventive Medicine (Division of Epidemiology) Dr. Pike's main research interest is the chemoprevention of female cancers by a hormonal contraceptive approach. He also has major interests in the effects of hormone replacement therapy on breast and endometrial cancer, and in the diet on female cancer risk. Contact Information: Phone: (323)865-0405
Dr. Jean L. Richardson is professor of preventive medicine in the Keck School of Medicine. Her current projects include 1) an intervention study to increase safer sexual behavior and adherence to therapy among persons with HIV disease, 2) an intervention study to reduce household allergen exposure for children with asthma, and 3) an investigation of the psychological and behavioral factors in HIV infection among women. Her prior studies have included an intervention study to increase screening of twins of cancer patients for cancer and an intervention study to increase compliance with cancer chemotherapy. She has also conducted a longitudinal study of the effects of after-school care on the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances. Dr. Richardson has served on committees of the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Defense. She received her B.S. in microbiology at USC and her M.P.H. and DrPH. from UCLA. Contact Information: University of Southern California (USC) Phone: (323)865-0385
Community Advocate
SUSAN MATSUKO SHINAGAWA is a two-time primary, one-time recurrent breast cancer survivor who will celebrate her 15 th anniversary as a cancer “Thriver” in October of this year. In 1991, Susan discovered a prominent lump in her right breast during routine self examination. Despite a negative mammogram, ultrasound revealed the lump to be a solid mass, and she was immediately referred to a surgical oncologist. After reviewing the radiographs, taking a family history and performing a clinical breast exam, the surgeon denied Susan a breast biopsy, explaining that she was “too young to have breast cancer”, had “no family history of cancer”, and because, “Asian women don’t get breast cancer”. Realizing that doctors refused to acknowledge something she intuitively knew was happening inside her body, Susan sought a second opinion and underwent an excisional biopsy, which revealed infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the right breast. At 34 years of age, Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer. In August 1992, following a modified radical mastectomy with axillary node dissection and eight cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy, Susan simultaneously returned to her job as executive administrator of an academic medical program and embarked upon her new role as cancer advocate. Four years later (and just six months after she married Rob Norberg in April 1996), Susan’s life was again turned upside down when she was suddenly stricken with a myriad of adverse clinical symptoms, including severe headaches, chronic nausea and vomiting, unilateral (left-sided) weakness, and excruciating pain in her lumbar spine. An aggressive diagnostic work-up culminated in January 1997 with a diagnosis of and initiation of treatment for recurrent disease presenting in her cerebrospinal fluid. Another four years later, in January of 2001, Susan was diagnosed with a new primary breast cancer in her remaining breast, for which she underwent a second mastectomy. Over the past 15 years, Susan has challenged internal norms and exposed external stereotypes contributing to the unequal burden of cancer in minority and medically underserved communities to become the nation’s leading Asian American cancer advocate/activist with a primary focus on cancer control and healthcare equity for communities of color and poverty across the U.S. and its associated territories. In 1999, Susan added quality pain management to her advocacy activities, once again, with a primary focus on minority and poor communities. Susan has received appointments to numerous cancer and health related advisory councils and program committees at the local, state and federal levels, frequently serving in a leadership role. Recently, she accepted appointments to the American Pain Foundation’s Pain Community Advisory Council, advising the APF Board from the pain patient/advocate perspective, and the California Breast Cancer Research Program’s Special Research Initiatives Steering Committee, to develop strategies and create research efforts to significantly impact understanding and progress on the environment, disparities and breast cancer in California. In 2005, Susan concluded five years of service as the national community director for AANCART (Asian American Network on Cancer Awareness, Research & Training), a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Special Populations Network, focusing on improving cancer outcomes in U.S. Asian communities. She now serves as Vice Chair of the Governance Committee for the Asian & Pacific Islander Cancer Education Materials (APICEM) web portal, an online search engine providing easy, one-stop access to available cancer education materials to healthcare providers who treat limited English proficient and non-English speaking Asian or Pacific Islander patients. Launched in March of this year, the APICEM web portal is jointly sponsored by AANCART and the American Cancer Society, and is accessible through their respective websites (aancart.org/apicem and www.cancer.org/apicem). Medically disabled with intractable lumbar pain resulting from her 1997 recurrent cancer diagnosis, Susan continues her volunteer advocacy activities from her home in San Diego (County), California, where she lives with her husband, Rob Norberg, stepdaughter, Claire, and their three dogs. Rob’s eldest daughter, Galadriel (“Gladie”), and her husband, Ian Jaffe, have two sons, Joel Ryan (age 6) and Cooper Aaron (age 4), blessing Rob and Susan with the gift of grandparenthood. Contact Information: Email: SMSadvocacy.aapi@gmail.com
WINCART Policy Coordinator Alek A. Sripipatana serves as the policy coordinator for the Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training project (WINCART). He is charged with the responsibility of translating WINCART’s study findings into policy, keeping WINCART participants informed of local- and national- level policies relevant to the project, and building community partners’ capacity to articulate their cancer-related issues into policy. Contact Information: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research Research Associate, W.K. Kellogg Fellow, Health Policy Research 10960 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1550 Los Angeles , CA 90024 Phone: (310)794-225 Email: tahitian@ucla.edu
Associate Professor Dr. Thomas W. Valente is the director of the Master of Public Health program and an associate professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine in the Keck School of Medicine.
Dr. Valente conducts research and teaches health communication, program evaluation, and network analysis. His main research interest is understanding health-related behavior through mathematical and network models using empirical studies and computer simulations. Contact Information: University of Southern California (USC) MPH Program Director Health Promotion Track Director Health Science Alhambra Room 5133 Phone: 626-457-6678 Email: tvalente@usc.edu
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Leslie Bernstein, PhD (2005-2007) 
Myles Cockburn, Ph.D. (2005 - present) 
Mary Anne Foo, MPH (2005 - present) 
Michael Goran, Ph.D
Ricardo G. Hahn, MD
C. Anderson Johnson, Ph.D. (2005 - present) 
Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, PhD, MA, MN, RN (2005 - present) 
Archana McEligot, Ph.D. (2005 - present) 
Juliet M. McMullin, Ph.D (2005 - 2007)
Paula H. Palmer, Ph.D. (2005 - present) 
Sora Park Tanjasiri, DrPH, MPH (2005 - present) 
Malcolm Pike, Ph.D. (2005 - present) 
Jean L. Richardson, Ph.D. (2005 - present) 
Susan Matsuko Shinagawa (2006 - present) 
Alek Sripipatana, MPH (2005 - present) 
Thomas Valente, Ph.D. (2005 - present)