Thank you for being a part of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute community this AAPI Month! As an Asian American scholar whose research focuses on US-Asia relations and is tightly linked with Vietnamese-American history, the topics of inquiry that surface during AAPI month hold personal and professional significance to me. It is a privilege to be able to introduce the relevant important work of the Institute with you.
I am delighted to announce that WEAI will be cosponsoring an event with the Department of Psychiatry on May 10 to bring awareness to some of these topics. I will speak alongside Dr. Juliette Han, CFO and COO of Cambrian BioPharma and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School; Dr. Warren Y.K. Ng, President of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent (AACAP), Medical Director at New York Presbyterian/CUIMC, and Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia VP&S. Dr. Adrian Jacques Ambrose, Senior Medical Director of CUIMC and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at VP&S, will moderate the discussion, on “Clinical Health Justice: Mental Health Equity and Cultural Intersectionality in the Age of #AsianHate, Transphobia, Racism, and Model Minority.”
On our social media channels throughout May, we will highlight past and present programming that amplifies Asian American experiences of success and strife. We also look forward to shining the spotlight on Asian American members of the WEAI community, as well as student and faculty research on East, Southeast, and Inner Asia.
We remember when not too long ago, headlines were dominated by reports that members of the AAPI community were under attack. During that time we expanded our Asia in Action initiative with relevant events and resources––fighting ignorance toward the Asian American community with knowledge and understanding. But that fight is not yet over. I hope you will join us this month as we explore AAPI stories.
––Lien-Hang Nguyen, Director, Weatherhead East Asian Institute
