Kaitlyn Wong '23 is studying Public Health and Health & Human Biology with interests in the intersection of public health, medicine, and education. She is a Connect For Health Advocate at the Lifespan Community Health Institute for underserved patients in the Providence community. As a patient health advocate, Kaitlyn works with patients and their families to address their all encompassing priority social needs such as in SNAP applications and rent assistance resources. Through this experience she has been inspired to reach further within the underserved Providence community towards underserved Asian Americans through the Center for Southeast Asians (CSEA). CSEA is a local non-profit with the mission of promoting the prosperity, heritage, and leadership of Southeast Asians and extended community in Rhode Island through wide ranging services including community, social, education, and interpreting services. As an Asian American woman, she feels that it is both a privilege and responsibility to highlight, advance, and give back to the underserved Asian American Rhode Island community. Her project will be in collaboration with Professor Sarah Skeels and Channavy Chhay, the executive director of CSEA.

Project:

The creation of an updated, trustworthy health brief of the highest priority health issues for Asian Americans in Rhode Island. The primary aim will be to reduce the impermissible, disproportionate effects of health issues within subgroups of the Asian American community by accounting for the most recent issues including the effect of the pandemic on the AAPI community, housing issues, mental health and wellbeing. To accomplish this, this project will research and provide insight to develop individualized, effective intervention strategies through addressing varying factors in main health issues, provider related, patient related, and resource related circumstances specific within Asian American ethnic subgroups. Through accounting for varying factors in main health outcomes and circumstances specific within Asian American ethnic subgroups, I hope to create sustainable change in Asian American health within the Rhode Island community and beyond.