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Advisory Board

Tony Kuo, MD, MSHS Director, Office of Senior Health, County of Los Angeles Director, Research & Evaluation, Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Background: Dr. Kuo received his Medical Degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine and his Master's in Health Services from the UCLA School of Public Health. He completed his residency training in Family Medicine at the Kaiser Permanente/UC Irvine Residency Program in Orange County, California. Dr. Kuo currently serves as the Director of the Office of Senior Health and as the Director of Research & Evaluation in the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. He is also Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Aliza Lifshitz, MD Internist Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Background: Dr. Lifshitz is well known in the Spanish-speaking community in her role as Medical Editor of "Primer Impacto" (highest-rated news magazine), as host of a weekly national radio show "El Consultario de la Doctora Aliza" and as a health reporter for Univision TV network. Her website (listed below) is a Spanish-language hub for information on health and wellness. She is also four-time President of the California Hispanic-American Medical Association, and a charter board member of the National Association of Physician Broadcasters.
Chon A. Noriega, MA, PhD Professor and Director UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Background : Dr. Noriega is Professor in the UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media and Director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. He is author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema (Minnesota, 2000) and and co-author of Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement (LACMA/California, 2008) and L.A. Xicano (CSRC/Washington, forthcoming). He has edited nine books dealing with Latino media, performance and visual art and is editor of the book series A Ver: Revisioning Art History, which has five titles in print and ten others in progress. Since 1996, he has been editor of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, the flagship journal for the field since its founding in 1970. For the past fifteen years, Noriega has been active in media policy and professional development, for which Hispanic Business named him as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics. He is co-founder of the 400-member National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP, est. 1999) and served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the largest source of independent project funding within public television. Noriega has served as moderator for the Arts and Entertainment Summit of the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus. His current research establishes quantitative methodologies for the study of hate speech in the media. In addition to his work in media, Noriega has curated numerous arts projects, including the upcoming L.A. Xicano project, which features four interrelated exhibitions at three museums in Fall 2011. Noriega's awards include the Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship. He is a recipient of the Ann C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community Partnership Prize for his community partnership with Self-Help Graphics.
Anne Staveren, MD Program Director, Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Background: Dr. Staveren graduated from Howard University's medical school and completed her residency in Pediatrics at UCLA. She is currently the Program Director of the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Residency and Fellowship program in Allergy and Immunology. She has received awards including Team Excellence for Pediatric Asthma Service and the Walter Lusk Distinguished Physician Award. She has also served as Chair of the Los Angeles Medical Center Asthma Task Force.
Zul Surani, MPH(c) Community Outreach / Partnerships Specialist & Manager Jennifer Diamond Cancer Resource Library USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Background: Mr. Surani has been working since 2000 as the Partnership Program Coordinator in the Southern California Office of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service based at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also co-founder of Saath, an organization serving South Asians who have cancer in areas of support, navigation, prevention and early detection. He has collaborated with UCLA on various research studies ranging from conducting a community needs assessment to research in cancer survivorship. He is the 2010 recipient of the Susan M. Shinagawa LiveStrong Award from the Intercultural Cancer Council and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Winston F. Wong, MD, MS Medical Director, Community Benefit Disparities Improvement and Quality Initiatives Kaiser Permanente Background: Dr. Wong serves as Medical Director, Community Benefit, for Kaiser Permanente Health Plan and the Permanente Federation. In this role, he is responsible for developing and cultivating partnerships with communities and agencies in advancing population management and evidence based medicine, with a particular emphasis on safety net providers and the elimination of health disparities. His background includes leadership roles in community health, government, and health plan delivery. From 1993 - 2003, Dr. Wong was a Commissioned Officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, serving as both the Chief Medical Officer for the Health Resources and Services Administration, Region IX, and its Director of California Operations. He achieved the rank of Captain, and was awarded the Outstanding Service Medal from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A Board Certified Family Practitioner, and bilingual in Cantonese and Toisanese dialects, Dr. Wong continues a small clinical practice at Asian Health Services, a federally qualified health center in Oakland, California, where he served previously as Medical Director. Dr. Wong has served on a number of state and national advisory groups addressing issues in cultural competence, health care access, and improving health care for vulnerable populations. Dr. Wong co-chaired the National Quality Forum's initiative for "Measuring and Reporting Cultural Competency" for health care organizations, and currently serves on the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Health Equity and Disparities, as well as its Roundtable on Health Literacy. He is also Vice Chair of the National Council of Asian and Pacific Islander Physicians, and has served on the California State Task Force on Cultural Competency.