Leadership Team
Kiran Savage-Sangwan, MPA, Executive Director
Kiran Savage-Sangwan is the Executive Director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN). CPEHN is a statewide multicultural health advocacy organization, focused on eliminating persistent health inequities and addressing structural racism in health care. Prior to becoming Executive Director in 2019, Kiran served as CPEHN Deputy Director and Health Integration Policy Director. In those roles, she was the chief architect of many CPEHN bills, in particular the groundbreaking bill to prohibit hospital patient dumping that became California law in 2018. Kiran has been instrumental in positioning CPEHN as a leader in the health equity field, expanding CPEHN’s work in public, mental, and oral health, deepening CPEHN’s local advocacy impact, and developing new partnerships and campaigns.
Kiran has a background in immigrant and mental health organizing and advocacy. Immediately prior to joining CPEHN, Kiran worked as the Director of Legislation and Advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) California. There, she led policy initiatives to improve access to behavioral health care and to reduce the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness. Before NAMI California, Kiran worked at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California as an Organizer, primarily focused on immigrants’ rights, and at the New York State Youth Leadership Council, which she co-founded.
Kiran graduated from New York University with a B.A. and a Master of Public Administration. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Community Catalyst and previously chaired the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission.. Kiran frequently testifies before state boards, commissions, and legislative committees, and is often cited by state and local media. She lives in Davis with her spouse and two daughters.
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Email: ksavage [at] cpehn.org
Ronald Coleman Baeza, Managing Policy Director
Ronald E. Coleman Baeza joined CPEHN in February 2021 as the Managing Director of Policy. He leads CPEHN’s legislative, budgetary, and administrative advocacy portfolio and manages our Policy Team.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Ronald was the Director of Policy and Legislative Advocacy at Health Access California representing California’s health care consumers in the State Capitol.
In 2018, Ronald also managed his own advocacy firm and lobbied on behalf of the ACLU of California, the California Low-Income Consumers Coalition (CLICC), and the California Street Vendors Campaign. Before going out on his own, Ronald was the Director of Government Affairs at the California Immigrant Policy Center for 7 years, where he led numerous legislative and budgetary campaigns to improve the lives of California’s immigrants and communities of color. Ronald was also the Legislative and Policy Director at both ACORN and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), where he represented low-to-moderate income families on a wide range of economic justice and consumer protection issues.
Ronald received his Juris Doctorate from Southern University Law Center, and his BA in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. He is originally from New Jersey, and a member of their State Bar.
Email: rcoleman [at] cpehn.org
Rachel Katz, Finance and administration director
Rachel Katz specializes in building the strength and effectiveness of organizations, especially in times of growth. In this role she oversees finance, human resources, technology, office operations, and grants administration.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Rachel has provided nonprofit management at a variety of organizations over the last twenty years including the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Global Student Embassy, The Mosaic Project, and as a founding member of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. She has a BA in Feminist Studies from Stanford University and MS in Biology from Truman State University.
Email: rkatz [at] cpehn.org
Mihae Jung Lozano, MSW, Managing Program Director
Mihae is an impact-focused, multi-disciplinary social worker with 15 + years of experience in program development, policy advocacy, and storytelling. She has taught, supervised, and mentored 100+ culturally diverse interns, staff, and students. She also worked as an Adjunct Faculty at Cal State Northridge in their MSW program for four years.
Her approach to work is human-centered, holistic, and creative. Both personal and professional, she invests her time/resources in work that generates connection, empowerment, and freedom among BIPOC + LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, she launched Anchor Journals—journals that help you explore values, needs, and boundaries and self-produced its accompanying podcast Anchor Chats.
Mihae has a BA in Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara and MSW from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She is a lifelong student of yoga and has received 300 hours of teacher training. At CPEHN, she oversees programs, networks, and mentoring/coaching staff.
Email: mlozano [at] cpehn.org
Aviva prager, Associate Operations Director
Aviva Prager graduated with a B.A. in Politics/Environmental Studies from Whitman College in Washington State. Previously, Aviva worked as the public policy intern at Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE) and as the science education intern at the Breast Cancer Prevention Partnership (formerly Breast Cancer Fund). Aviva’s experience includes researching environmental health disparities, program and administrative support.
Email: aprager [at] cpehn.org
Cary Sanders, mpp, Senior Policy Director
Cary Sanders earned a Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining CPEHN, Cary worked as a policy analyst for the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) promoting pro-immigrant policies that address and respect the needs and contributions of California’s diverse immigrant communities and their families. She has also worked as Assistant Policy Director for SEIU United Health Care Workers-West representing over 150,000 health care workers in California and as Policy Director for Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) in San Jose. Cary is proficient in Spanish after having lived and worked in Guatemala.
Email: csanders [at] cpehn.org
Carolina valle, MSW, senior Policy director
Carolina Valle holds a MSW from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Black Studies & History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. At CPEHN, she is responsible for developing and overseeing the organization’s mental and oral health policy priorities, and managing diverse partnerships.
Carolina has authored numerous reports on community solutions in oral and mental health care, engaged in administrative advocacy with state departments, and led several program initiatives to build the capacity of local leaders to advocate for equitable mental and oral health care. In this role, she developed successful statewide legislation to hold health plans accountable for providing culturally and linguistically relevant mental health care to Medi-Cal consumers.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Carolina worked at Maternal and Child Health Access, where she was the lead advocate for high-risk pregnant and postpartum women looking for county mental health services.
Carolina is a proud Angeleno and currently lives in the Highland Park neighborhood. She is a bandwagon sports fan and enjoys reading memoirs, learning new idioms, and romantic comedies (good or bad).
Weiyu Zhang, mph, Policy Director
As a public health practitioner, Weiyu is committed to leveraging the vision, values, analysis and tools of “public health” to solve social problems. For the last decade, she has mostly worked in non-profit organizations and focused on areas such as policy analyses and advocacy, coalition building, community health education and health care navigation, and community-based crisis intervention, all aiming to build power with Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other communities of color in California. At CPEHN, Weiyu leads the newly formed “public health pod” and tackles issues such as racial equity in governance, equitable local budgeting, and leadership development for grassroots community organizations. She often draws upon her research and analytical skills from previously working as a scientist in biomedical research and biopharmaceutical production in Asia. Weiyu has an MPH from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology and Biotechnology from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Weiyu grew up in Sichuan, China – a region known for pandas and spicy food. As an immigrant and femme of color, she practices public health from a place of continued learning/unlearning, community care, and community self-determination. In her free time, she loves being in nature with her pup Kiwi (a sweet & sassy 14 pound terrier mix born in 2021).
Email: wzhang [at] cpehn.org
Strategy & External Affairs
Ronald Coleman Baeza, Managing policy Director
Ronald E. Coleman Baeza joined CPEHN in February 2021 as the Managing Director of Policy. He leads CPEHN’s legislative, budgetary, and administrative advocacy portfolio and manages our Policy Team.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Ronald was the Director of Policy and Legislative Advocacy at Health Access California representing California’s health care consumers in the State Capitol.
In 2018, Ronald also managed his own advocacy firm and lobbied on behalf of the ACLU of California, the California Low-Income Consumers Coalition (CLICC), and the California Street Vendors Campaign. Before going out on his own, Ronald was the Director of Government Affairs at the California Immigrant Policy Center for 7 years, where he led numerous legislative and budgetary campaigns to improve the lives of California’s immigrants and communities of color. Ronald was also the Legislative and Policy Director at both ACORN and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), where he represented low-to-moderate income families on a wide range of economic justice and consumer protection issues.
Ronald received his Juris Doctorate from Southern University Law Center, and his BA in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. He is originally from New Jersey, and a member of their State Bar.
Email: rcoleman [at] cpehn.org
Andre Barrios, Senior Community Advocacy Manager
Andre Barrios joined CPEHN in 2022 as a Senior Community Advocacy Manager. Prior to CPEHN, Andre worked as the Organizing Manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center, and on several electoral campaigns throughout LA County.
Andre graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and is a first-generation college student born to Guatemalan immigrants. He strives to use his experiences growing up in Los Angeles to help fight for immigrant inclusion in the state of California and for equitable policies.
In his spare time, he likes to DJ and play the drums.
Johan Cardenas, Senior Legislative Associate
Johan Cardenas joined CPEHN in August 2022 as a Legislative Associate. Prior to joining CPEHN, Johan worked for Public Health Advocates (PHA) advocating for reducing distress, removing barriers to access, and increasing the cultural responsiveness of Public Health Services for communities of color.
Johan is a first-generation college graduate from Sacramento State University, where he earned his B.A. in Political Science.
His experience growing up in an unhealthy and unsafe environment allowed him to visualize a world where children could thrive, and he knew he wanted to be part of that change.
As a Legislative Associate, Johan looks forward to advancing policies and legislation that adequately assist in developing better systems and procedures that help improve the lives of underserved communities of color.
During his free time, Johan enjoys playing soccer and discovering new coffee shops.
Mihae Jung Lozano, MSW, Managing Program Director
Mihae is an impact-focused, multi-disciplinary social worker with 15 + years of experience in program development, policy advocacy, and storytelling. She has taught, supervised, and mentored 100+ culturally diverse interns, staff, and students. She also worked as an Adjunct Faculty at Cal State Northridge in their MSW program for four years.
Her approach to work is human-centered, holistic, and creative. Both personal and professional, she invests her time/resources in work that generates connection, empowerment, and freedom among BIPOC + LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, she launched Anchor Journals—journals that help you explore values, needs, and boundaries and self-produced its accompanying podcast Anchor Chats.
Mihae has a BA in Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara and MSW from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She is a lifelong student of yoga and has received 300 hours of teacher training. At CPEHN, she oversees programs, networks, and mentoring/coaching staff.
Email: mlozano [at] cpehn.org
Andrea Rivera, Associate Director of Legislative Affairs
Andrea Rivera joined CPEHN in June 2021 as the Senior Legislative Advocate. Andrea is responsible for the development and management of CPEHN’s state legislative and budgetary agenda. She plays an integral role building relationships with state policymakers, partners, and other allies.
Andrea’s commitment to uplifting the voices of communities of color has led her on a path of social justice advocacy. Prior to joining CPEHN, Andrea was with the California Immigrant Policy Center and advocated for inclusive, pro-immigrant policies that addressed the needs of California’s immigrant communities. Her particular background on issues related to immigrant detention and deportation, provides Andrea with a unique perspective on the intersections between public safety and health system disparities for BIPOC communities. Andrea formerly worked on K-12 education policy before joining CIPC and is also a graduate of the distinguished New Leaders Council Institute.
Andrea is a proud daughter of immigrants and a Bay Area native. Growing up in the Bay Area, Andrea experienced the first-hand realities of displacement and this fueled her desire to pursue a career in public service. Andrea moved to Sacramento in 2016, after receiving a B.A. in Political Science and Chicano/a Studies from San Jose State University. In her spare time, you can typically find Andrea gardening, thrifting, and exploring trails with her partner and their dog, Adobo.
Email: arivera [at] cpehn.org
Health Systems and Prevention
Cary Sanders, mpp, Senior Policy Director
Cary Sanders earned a Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining CPEHN, Cary worked as a policy analyst for the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) promoting pro-immigrant policies that address and respect the needs and contributions of California’s diverse immigrant communities and their families. She has also worked as Assistant Policy Director for SEIU United Health Care Workers-West representing over 150,000 health care workers in California and as Policy Director for Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) in San Jose. Cary is proficient in Spanish after having lived and worked in Guatemala.
Email: csanders [at] cpehn.org
Selene Betancourt, MPP, Policy Coordinator
Selene Betancourt (she/her) is a Policy Coordinator at CPHEN. Before joining CPEHN, she worked as a research assistant at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, analyzing congressional actions on health care reform. As a former fellow with NARAL Pro-Choice California, she worked directly with statewide partners and NARAL volunteers to advocate for legislation that expanded reproductive freedom and reduced barriers to abortion access. She previously interned with Determined Health, where she was responsible for researching how states are addressing social isolation and loneliness for Medicaid and Medicare members.
Selene earned her Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a proud union steward organizing her fellow graduate student workers in the largest higher-education strike in U.S. history. She was also a member of Survivors + Allies, a student research collective that advocates for survivors of sexual violence at the UCs. She directed policy development and led the advocacy team, meeting with state legislators and UC administrators to share Survivors + Allies’ findings and recommendations from their systemwide survey of the UC community.
Selene holds a B.A. in Theater from UC Santa Barbara and uses her theater directing background to weave storytelling into her policy advocacy work. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering as a board member on her local Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, cooking new recipes, and caring for her plants.
Seleny Diaz, Senior Community Advocacy Coordinator
Seleny Diaz joined CPEHN in March 2022 as the Senior Community Advocacy Coordinator. Prior to joining CPEHN, Seleny was a part of several nonprofit organizations in Fresno, more recently advocating for immigrant rights and equitable access to nature. She is an avid supporter of local journalism and serves on the board of San Joaquin Valley Media Alliance.
Seleny holds a bachelor’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences from California State University, Fresno, and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
In her spare time, she supports local animal rescue efforts and enjoys spending time outdoors.
Email: sdiaz [at] cpehn.org
Andrea Mackey, mph, Senior policy manager
Andrea Mackey is a Policy Manager with California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. Her commitment to challenge health disparities and under representation in research is rooted in her experiences as a mixed Filipina Scottish American. She brings over 6 years of community organizing experiences of youth empowerment and youth leadership development having equipped elementary to college Filipinx/a/o Americans and Tongan youth with the knowledge and skills to be lifelong learners and to act as agents of social change. She is was the Project Coordinator with Youth and Allies Against Homelessness, a podcast host with Filipinx/a/o Community Health Association, a Community Health Worker with the International Diabetes Center and a high school educator with Pin@y Education Partnerships. She earned her Masters in Public Health with a focus in Health and Social Behavior at UC Berkeley and B.A. in Neuroscience at Scripps College. Through her experiences as a community organizer and leader in the Filipinx/a/o and Pacific Islander communities, Andrea has become further empowered to promote access and equity for all historically marginalized communities as well as increase Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in healthcare, research, and education.
Email: amackey [at] cpehn.org
Mental and Oral Health
Carolina valle, MSW, Senior Policy director
Carolina Valle holds a MSW from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Black Studies & History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. At CPEHN, she is responsible for developing and overseeing the organization’s mental and oral health policy priorities, and managing diverse partnerships.
Carolina has authored numerous reports on community solutions in oral and mental health care, engaged in administrative advocacy with state departments, and led several program initiatives to build the capacity of local leaders to advocate for equitable mental and oral health care. In this role, she developed successful statewide legislation to hold health plans accountable for providing culturally and linguistically relevant mental health care to Medi-Cal consumers.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Carolina worked at Maternal and Child Health Access, where she was the lead advocate for high-risk pregnant and postpartum women looking for county mental health services.
Carolina is a proud Angeleno and currently lives in the Highland Park neighborhood. She is a bandwagon sports fan and enjoys reading memoirs, learning new idioms, and romantic comedies (good or bad).
Ruqayya Ahmad, mpp, Policy manager
Ruqayya Ahmad is a Policy Manager with CPEHN. As a proud Muslim-American immigrant, her passion for eliminating health disparities stems from her background as a beneficiary of Medi-Cal. Growing up, she witnessed firsthand the challenges within the health care safety net, and understands the significance of reimagining our health care systems to ensure that they work better for marginalized communities. Prior to joining CPEHN, Ruqayya worked at former Senator Kamala Harris’ office helping to resolve constituents’ issues with various federal agencies. She also conducted research on the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, focusing on the importance of addressing systemic racism and other social conditions that inhibit positive health outcomes for BIPOC. Previously, Ruqayya has interned at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health where she was responsible for a data-intensive project contributing to the County’s Vision Zero initiative, as well as the Council on American-Islamic Relations providing direct service to immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers in her community. She earned her Master of Public Policy from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and her B.A. in International Studies from the University of California, Irvine. In her free time, she can be found at the park reading in a hammock, out and about in search of scenic views, or looking for new boba shops to try in her neighborhood.
Email: rahmad [at] cpehn.org
Vincent Chou, senior Community Advocacy Coordinator
Vincent is a proud second-generation Mien American and South Sacramento native who received his Bachelor of Arts in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining CPEHN, Vincent was the Citizenship Project Coordinator at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA, where he led one of the nation’s largest naturalization programs and was a key leader in establishing a local worker’s Union at the organization. He also has extensive experience working for the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance as a Human Services Specialist where he specialized in securing public benefits; such as CalWorks, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal, for low-income families in his community.
Email: vchou [at] cpehn.org
Alej Fernandez Garcia, Community Advocacy Manager
Alej Fernandez Garcia (they/them) is deeply committed to intersectional public health advocacy that unapologetically centers the liberation and self-determination of Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color communities. La Cultura Cura. Alej strongly believes that art and culture are critical components of this people powered movement to envision and create new systems. Raised in South Sacramento, Alej is a proud grandchild of immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico, and Cuba. As a 1st gen college graduate, Alej started at community college and went on to earn a B.A. from California State University, Sacramento in Ethnic Studies and Sociology. Alej has worked across public health state agencies, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and grassroots community collectives. Prior to joining CPEHN, Alej helped create the first community college Pride Center serving LGBTQIA+ scholars in Sacramento. Out in the world, Alej loves serving as a board member for their favorite local queer Lavender Library (LLACE), dancing to cumbias, spending time with their furbabies, and spontaneous adventures.
Email: afernandezgarcia [at] cpehn.org
Holly Tan, Community Advocacy Manager
Holly Tan (she/her) is a Community Advocacy Manager at CPEHN. Growing up, Holly often served as her family’s translator and was the bridge between her family and health and social services. Through these lived experiences, Holly became passionate about public health and health equity for communities of color.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Holly worked at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum and developed culturally and linguistically tailored COVID-19 resources in partnership with community-based organizations serving Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Holly also worked at the California Department of Public Health and supported the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to local health departments and providers in California.
Holly is a proud first-generation college graduate and holds an MPH specializing in Community Health from UCLA and a B.S. in Public Health from the University of California, San Diego. She spends her spare time focused on her latest hobbies (currently it’s crocheting and playing Zelda!), getting dim sum with her grandparents, and listening to kpop.
Email: htan [at] cpehn.org
Public Health
Weiyu Zhang, mph, Policy Director
As a public health practitioner, Weiyu is committed to leveraging the vision, values, analysis and tools of “public health” to solve social problems. For the last decade, she has mostly worked in non-profit organizations and focused on areas such as policy analyses and advocacy, coalition building, community health education and health care navigation, and community-based crisis intervention, all aiming to build power with Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other communities of color in California. At CPEHN, Weiyu leads the newly formed “public health pod” and tackles issues such as racial equity in governance, equitable local budgeting, and leadership development for grassroots community organizations. She often draws upon her research and analytical skills from previously working as a scientist in biomedical research and biopharmaceutical production in Asia. Weiyu has an MPH from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Biology and Biotechnology from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Weiyu grew up in Sichuan, China – a region known for pandas and spicy food. As an immigrant and femme of color, she practices public health from a place of continued learning/unlearning, community care, and community self-determination. In her free time, she loves being in nature with her pup Kiwi (a sweet & sassy 14 pound terrier mix born in 2021).
Email: wzhang [at] cpehn.org
Esther Lee, Policy Coordinator
As an Asian-American immigrant, Esther has firsthand experienced the systematic barriers to accessing quality care. As a result, she developed a passion to address the social determinants of health among people of color and the marginalized population, in an effort to get one step closer to achieving health equity.
She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Community Health Education from CSULB, and her MPH from CSUF, with a concentration on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist.
Esther has over six years of experience working in the public health sector, focusing on health disparities research, health education, community engagement, empowerment, and advocacy. In her previous role as the Program Coordinator at the Office of Population Health and Equity in Orange County, she supported the launch of the Equity in OC Initiative, funded by the CDC. During her role as Advocacy Manager at the American Lung Association, she advocated for smoke-free policies across Orange County, including the Smoke-free Irvine policy and Tobacco Retail Licensing in Buena Park.
Esther is fluent in Korean and has minored in Spanish. In her free time, she enjoys visiting local cafes, taking walks in nature, and cooking homemade meals.
Email: elee [at] cpehn.org
Navneet Virk, Senior Community Advocacy Associate
Navneet Virk received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Gender Studies at UCLA. Previously, she worked with elementary and middle-school aged youth as the Learning Resource Coordinator at A Place Called Home. She is deeply committed to working towards a world where everyone can live full, dignified lives and grounds her analysis in racial, economic, and disability justice. In her free time, Navneet can often be found hanging out with the nearest dog, trying out new recipes, or hermiting away with a good book.
Email: nvirk [at] cpehn.org
Operations
Rachel Katz, Finance and administration director
Rachel Katz specializes in building the strength and effectiveness of organizations, especially in times of growth. In this role she oversees finance, human resources, technology, office operations, and grants administration.
Prior to joining CPEHN, Rachel has provided nonprofit management at a variety of organizations over the last twenty years including the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Global Student Embassy, The Mosaic Project, and as a founding member of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. She has a BA in Feminist Studies from Stanford University and MS in Biology from Truman State University.
Email: rkatz [at] cpehn.org
Cassandra Aguilar, Communications & Events associate
Cassandra Aguilar joined CPEHN in August 2022. Prior to joining CPEHN, she concurrently completed several internships which include being a Strategic Communications and Multimedia Intern for the Fresno State Athletics Department, a Sales Executive Intern for The Collegian at Fresno State, and an Account Coordinator Intern at JP Marketing. Cassandra also served as the Social Media Manager for the Media, Communications and Journalism (MCJ) Department at Fresno State and oversaw its online presence across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Cassandra is a proud first-generation Filipina-American college graduate and received her B.A. in MCJ: Public Relations and Advertising from California State University, Fresno where she rebranded the department’s student-professional networking event, A Taste of the Industry, as part of her senior capstone, and served as the Vice President and Treasurer for the University’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter.
Cassandra has a strong background in the social media, retail, and restaurant industries with over 8 years of experience leading, directing, and training teams of people.
In her spare time, Cassandra enjoys archery, cooking, reading, going to the movies, and spending quality time with her friends and family. You can often find her playing with her dog and two kids outside or planning her family’s next trip to Disneyland.
Kristy Lee, HR & Recruiting Coordinator
Kristy is a first generation Chinese American, born and raised in southern California. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a bachelor’s in English and a minor in International Studies, in which she has developed the culture and sensitivity and analytical skills that propelled her into pursuing human resources as a career.
Previously, she has worked as an HR intern, HR assistant/recruiter, and as an HR coordinator that have honed her skills and expended her knowledge in various sectors of the human resources field. Her expertise includes area of onboarding, offboarding, recruiting, employee relations, compliance, and benefits.
In January 2023, Kristy joined CPEHN as their Human Resources & Recruitment Coordinator. After discovering the job position and reading about CPEHN’s mission and goals, she was instantly attracted to the role as it aligns with her own beliefs and career path.
Email: klee [at] cpehn.org
June O’Leary, Research & Grants Manager
June Fu O’Leary joined CPEHN in March 2023 as the Research and Grants Manager.
She has worked the last 20 years as an independent health policy researcher and educator. Most recently her research focused on improving the delivery and value of healthcare through analysis of large claims datasets to evaluate the utilization of healthcare services after a COVID-19 diagnosis, trends in physician and hospital consolidation, and the transition from prediabetes to diabetes as a function of the social determinants of health. She has given lectures and taught classes in health economics, health policy and critical inquiry for undergraduates at Pomona College, Bowdoin College and USC.
June started in the field of biochemistry and later returned to formal education receiving a M.S. in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and subsequently a Ph.D. from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Aviva prager, Associate Operations Director
Aviva Prager graduated with a B.A. in Politics/Environmental Studies from Whitman College in Washington State. Previously, Aviva worked as the public policy intern at Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy (CHANGE) and as the science education intern at the Breast Cancer Prevention Partnership (formerly Breast Cancer Fund). Aviva’s experience includes researching environmental health disparities, program and administrative support.
Email: aprager [at] cpehn.org