Media Collection Dr. Doris Chang Doris F. Chang, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. She is the Co-PI of the CARA project, along with Dr. Sumie Okazaki. Dr. Chang's research seeks to improve the well-being of racial and ethnic minorities by a) clarifying how race, ethnicity, language and culture affect mental health services; b) identifying strategies for improving interracial processes and outcomes; and c) developing inclusive, culturally-grounded interventions for clinical and educational contexts that integrate mindfulness and other contemplative traditions.

Media Collection Judy Ah-Yune Judy Ah-Yune, LMSW, is Director of CPC’s Manhattan Community Services; overseeing services in the areas of child abuse neglect and foster care prevention, childcare, HIV/AIDS, special needs, and walk-in entitlement services such as SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, Medicare, housing and pandemic relief. Prior to her current role, Judy supervised CPC's General Preventive Program. She worked closely with the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) child welfare system to prevent child abuse neglect and foster care placement. Judy advocated, provided direct support to immigrant families and children from zero to eighteen years. Judy has worked with disabled adults in residential settings, as well as the domestic violence population. She regularly supervises and mentors MSW graduate students who would like to enter the social work field. Her dedication to the health and wellbeing of our community’s families is a reflection of her character and the quality of the services her team provides to the community.

Media Collection Gourab Das Nayan Topic: Challenges in Enhancing Adherence of Safety Protocols for COVID-19 Delta Variant among South Asian Immigrant Seniors Gourab completed Master of Public Health (MPH) from St. John’s University, New York in 2018 and passed Certified Health Education Specialist Certification in 2019. As an ardent enthusiast of public health, he has been conducting and collaborating efforts to promote public health awareness both in person and online in English and Bengali.

Media Collection Daniel Wei Daniel holds a master degree in social work (MSW) from Florida State University. He is licensed (LCSW) in California and currently provides mental health counseling to the underserved minorities at Asian Health Services in Oakland, CA. He had extensive training in existentialism, humanistic and relationship focused approaches Via the Haven Institute in a group setting before his MSW program. He is passionate about working with children and adolescents as well as providing parenting support. He is trained with many well established teachers in various theories and modalities, such as attachment theory, trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EDMR), mindfulness, Gestalt, Virginia Satire Family Therapy, Internal Family System and Somatic Experiencing.

Media Collection Ms. Sanjana Inala Ms. Sanjana Inala works at Mount Sinai Hospital as a clinical research coordinator in pulmonary medicine with a primary focus in sleep medicine. She earned her MPH in epidemiology from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and her BS in biology from The College of New Jersey. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Sanjana worked at a non-profit organization, India Home, to provide culturally sensitive services for South Asian immigrant older adults. She is very active in her community, advocating for asylum seekers at the Mount Sinai Human Rights Clinic and volunteering as a mentor for MedStart, a medical enrichment program for underprivileged students. Her previous research works include studying squamous cell carcinoma of the anus in women, effects of different coping styles in patients with traumatic brain injury, cardiovascular disease in the Bangladeshi American community, and sleep apnea as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Although her research interests are broad, Sanjana's primary focus is in health disparities and preventative services among vulnerable populations.

Media Collection Yan (Jay) Zhou "Alive Human Being with passionate, Not character setting of a cliche." ​ I am Yan(Jay) Zhou, please feel free to call me either Yan or Jay! I consider myself very positive and passionate! I am currently a senior year student at Saint Anthony's high school! In retrospect, this is my 7th academic year in the states. A fun fact about myself is that although I grew up in China and speakers Chinese, I was born in Africa because some of my family members are there. ​ I have faith in travel because it allows me to stay active and be positive! The best part about travel is that you can feel a strong sense of local culture and therefore sees cultural differences. When the two different cultured perspectives encounter and collide with each other, something new and exciting is formed. In this sense, PEARL is definitely considered as a creation of the culture collision. ​ Moreover, I would be delighted to be actively involved in social works that are related to kids as they are the future of the generation and symbolizes hope and improvements. Over years, I did a few supporting education programs in Guang Xi, China, and Accra, Ghana to share different perspectives to inspire kids to develop their critical thinking skills. With the knowledge they gained from different views, they would be better off in the future as they can use the knowledge to preserve their thought and defend their bottom line. In this way, they are offered the ability to pursue their meaning of life.

Media Collection Bin Qiang Co-founder of Hogwarts Capital Graduated from the State University of New York MBA, double master's degree in finance and economics ​ Bin is a CFA International Chartered Financial Analyst candidate. During his career, he grows from a $100 trader to a $100 million trader in one year, generating dozens of times the return on investment for the firm, shareholders, and individuals. ​ Since co-founding Hogwarts Capital, he has developed Hogwarts' unique market analysis model and established strong relationships with leading financial institutions. In the San Francisco Project, Hogwarts was able to securitize 90% of the assets invested that year, enabling the investors to quickly repatriate their capital.

Media Collection Yiting Shen, MS, MPA, MBA Ms. Yiting is the Global Head of External Network Management for Treasury & Trade Solutions (TTS) at Citigroup (120 countries, ~300 banks). Currently, she is the President of Asian Columbia Alumni Association, the President of Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) New York Alumni Network. She is on the Board of the Columbia Engineering School Alumni Association, and the HKS Alumni Association. Yiting holds an MS and a BS from Columbia, an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Media Collection Aakriti Prasai Aakriti Prasai is a second-year doctoral student in counseling psychology, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and a research assistant for the CARA project. Aakriti’s research seeks to understand the experiences of those with immigrant and minoritized identities and protective strategies for wellbeing. As a clinician and researcher, she is especially interested in the role of community spaces and school settings in facilitating wellness for minoritized families.

Media Collection Qianrun Mao Qianrun(Quinn) Mao, a master's student studying Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy at NYU Wagner, specialized in Social Innovation, Impact, and Investment. By joining P.E.A.R.L Institute, I will devote myself to fulfilling the organization's mission, striving to strengthen social innovation, promoting community engagement, advancing social justice, and fostering a cultural-tolerant environment in the US.

Media Collection Mary Cheng Mary Cheng is Director of CPC’s Childhood Development Services. She began her journey at CPC as a student at the School-Age Child Care Center at PS 130 in Chinatown, Manhattan. Seeing education as her calling, Mary went on to obtain her Bachelor's in Elementary Education from City College of New York and her Master's in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College. Mary returned to CPC as a Teacher at Chung Pak Early Childhood Center. After seven years of teaching at Chung Pak Early Childhood Center, Mary became the Education Director of CPC's Little Star of Broome Street Early Childhood Center and is now currently CPC's Director of Childhood Development Services. She oversees CPC’s six early childhood centers, as well as 11 School-age programs. Mary continues to inspire directors, front line staff and parents to be caring, and active participants in their children's lives. Growing up in the community and understanding the challenges children of immigrants face firsthand; Mary tirelessly works to ensure that all families feel empowered to access necessary resources to improve their quality of life. She embodies CPC's mission to promote the social economic empowerment of Chinese American and immigrant and low-income communities. She is Vice President of CSA’s Asian American Association (A3). Mary was honored in 2017 as Day Care Council of New York’s Unsung Hero.

Media Collection Yuhwa Eva Lu, PhD, LCSW Dr. Yuhwa Eva Lu is the founding boarding president of the PEARL Institute. She is recently retired from NYU, Silver School of Social Work. Her scholarship and research interests are primarily in human diversity and social work practice, particularly in the areas of assessment and evaluation of clinical and cultural competency. She had pioneered the use of Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) in the SW classrooms; and standardized the Social Work-OSCE methodology. She was also interested in the areas of clinical process and outcome research, such as clinicians’ personal styles and clinical decisions, the impact of cultural factors on clinical practice, and developed various outcome studies with diverse children, adult, and elderly populations. Most recently, Dr. Lu had focused interest on advocating for the holistic, Self-Healing and Integrative Care (SHIC) prevention and intervention services model, which integrates traditional Chinese Medicine, culturally congruent mindfulness practice and spiritual-awareness amongst AAPI clients and beyond.