Meet The Staff
HAAP is blessed with very dedicated and hardworking staff members and students. The team consists of two directors, seven community coordinators and many U of M students. The community coordinators recruit participants from their community and also provide interpreting and other assistance to Asian Americans residing in Michigan.
Our Director- Dr. Tsu-Yin Wu
In January 2007, Dr. Tsu-Yin Wu assumed the position of director at the Healthy Asian Americans Project. Although it was her first time taking on an official role at HAAP, Dr. Wu is familiar with the project’s mission and goals. She first became affiliated with HAAP as a University of Michigan graduate student under the mentorship of the late Dr. Mei-yu Yu (Founding Director of HAAP).
In addition to her position as director, Dr. Wu is currently an associate professor of nursing at Eastern Michigan University. She holds a doctorate in health promotion and risk reduction from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in community health in nursing from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the National Yang Ming University in Taiwan. With more than ten years of community and research experience in promoting Asian American health, Dr. Wu’s research encompasses health promotion and health behavior. More specifically, she has conducted studies on factors that influence mammography screening among Chinese American women, gender differences in health risk behaviors and physical activity among middle school students, and cultural effects on breast cancer screening. Her most recent research projects and interests, in conjunction to HAAP’s efforts, focus on promoting breast cancer screening (i.e., breast self-exam, clinical breast exam, and mammography) among Asian American groups including Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian and Korean through the design and implementation of culturally-tailored educational interventions for each group. Email: tywu@umich.edu
Associate Director- Dr. Janilla Lee
Janilla Lee is currently a research faculty at the University of Michigan, School of Nursing. She was a professor at Central Michigan University teaching material engineering for 4 years before joining U of M. She is actually a retired engineering manager from Ford Motor Co. Her automotive expertise is in product design/development and program management, mostly in interior systems. She graduated in chemistry from National Taiwan University and has a Ph.D. in Quantum Mechanics from University of Notre Dame.
She is very active in Asian American communities and the community at large; she leads and participates in many service programs, e.g., soup kitchen, Asian Women health program, Coalition of Chinese American Organizations, Chinese Community Center, Asian Women Leadership, cancer foundation fund raising, and junior diabetes walk etc.
She initiated the study at HAAP for the prevalence of hepatitis B among Asian Americans in Michigan. Her research also includes bone health and other infectious diseases among Asian Americans. She is also a mentor to all HAAP UROP students. Email: janilla@umich.edu
Chinese community coordinator: Judy
Judy is the pillar of all HAAP’s work, also a very active member of the Chinese communities. She graduated with a bachelor degree in music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Following her interest in advocating to bridge the gap for the disadvantaged in the health care, she joined HAAP as a Chinese coordinator in the year of 2004. With her passion in assisting others, she has reached out to numerous Chinese people by recruiting them for various health screening projects that HAAP initiated. Judy has received certification as a lay health advisor (LHA), Personal Action Toward Health (PATH), and a University of Michigan medical interpreter. She is also a mentor to many student assistants. Email: sliu3333@yahoo.com
Office Manager and Chinese community coordinator: Mei Shan
Mei and her family emigrated from Beijing, China ten years ago. Before she joined HAAP, she worked as an accountant. Fluent in Mandarin and English, Mei has been involved in the translation of various documents and providing assistance to Chinese participants, in addition to manage the daily office operations and HAAP’s billing accounts and financial issues. Characterized with a very friendly personality, Mei is easy to approach for help. Her goal is to help underprivileged individuals to gain access to medical care. Email: meishan@umich.edu
Filipino Community coordinator: Tess Tchou
Over 20 years ago, Teresita (Tess Miranda) Tchou, left her position as an instructional associate at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry to move to Detroit with her husband. Now back at U-M as Filipino Community Coordinator for HAAP, she runs into former colleagues as well as new associates as she drops off reports and comes in for staff meetings. Since November, 2005, Tess has actively recruited Filipino participants into HAAP programs such as screenings for breast and cervical cancer, colon cancer, and HBV. She has also conducted HAAP related educational programs for Filipinos, including colon cancer prevention workshops and most recently a workshop series on self-management of chronic diseases. Her work with HAAP satisfyingly complements her personal involvement with various Filipino American organizations and the Philippine American Community Center of Michigan where she teaches adult Tagalog language classes. Email: raytesstchou@sbcglobal.net
Vietnamese Community coordinator: Tina Thnh Lam
Tina Thinh Lam has been with HAAP since 2003. Tina is of Vietnamese descent and was born in Laos. She was educated in French, Vietnamese, and Lao languages before she came to this country. She learned English and graduated from the University of Michigan Dearborn with a Computer Science degree. With her multicultural language and life experiences, she is highly capable in conducting HAAP's outreach to the Southeast Asian, particularly Vietnamese communities. In addition to her health activist role, Tina is a computing specialist and has long-time experience with health programs in business settings. Email: thinhl@umich.edu