Meet the Speakers

State Senator Tina Maharath

Keynote Speaker

State Senator Tina Maharath is currently serving her first term in the Ohio Senate. She represents the 3rd District, which includes the eastern suburbs of Franklin County and parts of Columbus. She is the first Asian-American woman elected to the Ohio Senate. A native of Whitehall, Tina was inspired by her parents, who were refugees from the Southeast Asian nation of Laos. Tina has helped organize many events including Columbus’ annual Asian Festival, served on the Lao Volunteer Donation Association’s advisory board and helped organize AAPI Legislative Day. She volunteers for various organizations including Ohio Asian American Health Coalition, CRIS, Community Shelter Board and Asian American Community Services. 

Peter Lee, MD, PhD, MPH, MS., Lt Col (USAF)

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Peter Lee is a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon at The Ohio State University with appointments in Surgery and Biomedical Engineering. He received his MD/PhD, MPH, and MS degrees from Brown, Harvard, the International Space University, respectively, and completed residency/fellowship training at Tufts, UCLA, and Stanford. He currently has multiple grants from the NIH and NASA and has flown numerous microgravity and spaceflight projects. In addition to being on the national leadership of multiple professional organizations, he is also a Lt. Col in the U.S. Air Force where he serves both as a General Surgeon and a Flight Surgeon for the Air National Guard.

Scott Graham, Ph.D., Lt Col (USAF Retired)

Dr. Graham has nearly three decades of experience teaching leadership at the graduate and undergraduate level. He led the development of graduate and undergraduate leadership programs at a large university. Currently, he is Clinical Professor of Leadership at The Ohio State University School of Medicine where he teaches leadership to health care professional students. He also founded, directs and teaches in the OSU Leadership Academy for Peak Performance. 

Ron Jacob, MD

Dr. Jacob was born and raised in New York. He attended New Hyde Park Memorial HS and graduated from Binghamton University with a BS in Cognitive Neuroscience (formerly Psychobiology) and a minor in Africana Studies. He completed his medical degree from Spartan Health Sciences University School of Medicine. He began working with a center for Be The Match in 2007 and rose to the position of Executive Director. In 2014 he donated his peripheral blood stem cells for a patient with lymphoma. In 2019, he accepted a new role directly with Be The Match as the Account Manager for New York and New Jersey. Dr. Jacob is no stranger to APAMSA. He has been a speaker at the Regional Conference 1&2 in 2015 & 2019. He has also spoken at multiple APAMSA chapter meetings throughout NY, NJ & PA. He lives in Long Island, NY with his wife and daughter. He is an avid fan of the NY Mets, Giants and Knicks!

Ana Sucaldito, MPH

Ana Sucaldito, MPH is passionate about mitigating the mental health disparities affecting Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and her research focuses on generational and gender disparities impacting the AAPI diaspora. She advocates for culturally competent and humble mental health services with local community organizations, like the Ohio Asian American Health Coalition and Asian Festival Health Committee. Ana also serves as an advisor for a multicultural social justice group at OSU, her alma mater, where she received her MPH. She is so excited to present at APAMSA’s Annual Region V Conference and can’t wait to learn and grow with everyone.

Leslie Kim, MD, MPH

Dr. Kim is a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon.  She is currently an assistant professor and division director of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio.  She graduated from Northwestern University Honors Program in Medical Education with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Master of Public Health, and Medical Degree. After completing a residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at The Ohio State, she underwent advanced fellowship training in Facial Plastic Surgery at Johns Hopkins. Her practice focuses exclusively on aesthetic and reconstructive surgeries of the face and neck.​

John Christopher Trinidad, MD, MPH, FAAD

Dr. Trinidad is a board-certified dermatologist and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Dermatology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He is co-director of the inpatient dermatology consultation service. He has special interests in infectious diseases, sexually transmitted infections, skin cancer screening, skin of color, acne, psoriasis, and eczema. He has academic interests in medical education, public health, and health policy. Dr. Trinidad also staffs the general and surgical dermatology clinic for Franklin Medical Center, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. He is active in both state and national societies and has been elected to the Ohio Dermatological Association Board of Trustees to serve a three-year term from 2017 – 2020. He has been appointed to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Committee Diversity Taskforce. He is an active member of the AAD Expert Resource Group on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender/Sexual and Gender Minority (LGBT/SGM) Health.

Zihai Li, MD, PhD

Dr. Li serves as The Klotz Chair in Cancer Research, Professor of Internal Medicine, and Founding Director of the OSUCCC – James Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO). He is a renowned medical oncologist and cancer immunologist who has made seminal contributions to understanding the fundamental roles of heat shock proteins in protein folding, immune regulation and cancer immunotherapy. His research, supported continuously for nearly two decades by the National Institutes of Health, is focused on developing better immuno-therapeutics against cancer by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment, including regulatory T cells, thrombocytes and unfolded protein response. Dr. Li is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

Karen Jiobu

Community Leadership Panelist

Karen Jiobu was the Lead Regional Coordinator for the Health through Action Community Partnerships (HTA) in Columbus, Ohio from 2008-2012.  As Lead coordinator, she worked with coordinators in Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati to address Hepatitis B in high-risk communities. Since that time, she worked with the local OSU APAMSA to set up a Hepatitis B Free clinic and provided local screenings. This work was published in the Journal of Investigative Medicine in October of 2013. In 2013, Karen was recognized as “Hep B Champion” by CDC and Hep B United.  Presently, Karen serves as Interim executive Director of this community based organization, Asian American Community Services.    

Bounthanh La Phommasathit

Community Leadership Panelist

Bounthanh La Phommasathit is an entrepreneur who oversees family businesses’ budget over $6 Million annually. While working with family businesses, she volunteers her time to implement non-profit organization, Lao Mutual Assistance Association that incubated inside her family businesses office in conjunction with other non-profit organizations to assist in development of stronger ethnic coalitions and statewide networks on “Building Strong Communities'' through community capacity building for sustainability of the community based organizations.

She was a former employee of Franklin County Job & Family Services, Columbus Public Health, and State of Ohio. She was a bombing survivor and refugee from Laos where the U.S. military dropped millions of cluster bombs and munitions during the cold war. After spending nearly a decade developing the family businesses, her goal is gain sustainability of program activities to address community health and socioeconomic concerns for the Asian American Pacific Islanders, especially Southeast Asian communities.

Bounthanh holds a master’s degree in science & Human Services Management at Franklin University and a bachelor’s degree in social work from Capital University. She serves as Secretary for Ohio Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council, Asian Festival Corporation, and Wat Buddha Samakidham

Steven Sun, MD

Resident Panelist

Dr. Sun is originally from Ann Arbor, MI, and obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He then attended medical school at the University of Michigan Medical School, and following graduation, he was matched to a residency in general surgery at The Ohio State University. He has since completed three clinical years of surgical residency before deciding to take dedicated research time. He joined the Carson Lab in 2019 as a postdoctoral research fellow under the T32 ARTIST grant. His current research focus is in immune-oncology and methods to improve immunotherapy.

Becky Zhao, MD

Resident Panelist

Dr. Zhao is currently a pediatric Chief Resident at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She was born and raised in New York City, received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a minor in Biology and Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. She completed medical school at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, NY and matched for pediatric residency at Nationwide Children’s. Upon finishing her chief year, she will be practicing as a general pediatrician. Her hobbies include arts & crafts and illustration.