New York University School of Medicine
Institute of Community Health & Research
Center for the Study of Asian American Health
550 First Ave., SLH
New York
NYUSA
10016
Biographical Sketch: Simona C. Kwon, DrPH, MPH is a Research Scientist at the New York University School of Medicine, Center for the Study of Asian American Health and the Program Manager for the B Free National Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Hepatitis B Disparities (B Free CEED). Working collaboratively with a coalition of local, national, and community-based organizations, the goal of this Center is the elimination of hepatitis B health disparities among Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPI) through the development, evaluation and dissemination of multi-level, evidence-based best practices and activities. Prior to her move back to New York City, Dr. Kwon completed the 2-year W.K. Kellogg Community Scholars Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health Behavior & Society During her post-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Kwon was engaged in several community-based participatory research projects with ethnic minority populations in Baltimore, MD. These projects included working with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to develop intervention strategies to address the underserved health needs of the Korean immigrant population in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and assessing the environmental as well as the socio-cultural factors influencing tobacco use among non-college attending, urban African American young adults living in Baltimore. She earned her Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology at Yale University and her doctorate in the Division of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. While at the Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Kwon oversaw the creation of a collaborative network with local community leaders and community-based organizations to design outreach, interventions and research projects to address the cancer health needs of the Korean and South Asian immigrant populations in New York City.