We are extremely excited to welcome 8 new volunteers to the AMPHS team: Amy Handlin, Sloka Iyengar, Sheil Raj, Kaylan Sobel, Amelia Starr, Kathleen Tam, George-Hyuung Winer, and Dennis Zheng. Each of these new volunteers will be contributing to various aspects of the organization, including marketing/outreach, research, interpretation, social work, and legal compliance. Welcome aboard!
AMY HANDLIN | SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY
Amy Handlin, Ph.D., MBA is joining AMPHS as SVP, Strategy. In this role, Amy will be responsible for managing strategies around increasing funding, enhancing organizational visibility, and developing AMPHS’ public image.
Amy is Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and International Business at Monmouth University. A former Senior Fellow at Monmouth’s Center for the Study of Public Issues and current Chair of the University Review Board, she served for six years on the executive committee of the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education. Handlin holds a BA from Harvard, an MBA from Columbia and a PhD from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Elected to the state legislature in 2005, she is a member of the Assembly Committee on Health and Senior Services and the Joint Legislative Task Force on Health Insurance Exchange Implementation.
Handlin is the author of Be Your Own Lobbyist (Praeger 2010), Government Grief (Praeger 2011), and the forthcoming Dirty Deals: An Encyclopedia of Lobbying, Political Influence and Corruption (ABC-Clio 2014), among other books. Crain’s New York Business described Be Your Own Lobbyist as “a must-read for anyone who wants to make his or her voice heard in the halls of political power,” and New York Journal of Books called it “a toolkit for repairing and renovating democracy.” Choice recommended Government Grief as “unique, insightful, and practical.”
Handlin serves AMPHS as Senior Vice President for Strategy, becoming involved in the organization “to be part of an innovative local solution to a nationwide problem – inadequate public health resources, education, and research among underserved populations.” Using her expertise in research, education, advocacy, and public policy, she looks forward to helping develop, refine, and build awareness of AMPHS’s unique model so it can be replicated around the country.
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SLOKA IYENGAR | NEWSLETTER WRITER & EDITOR
Sloka Iyengar, Ph.D. is joining AMPHS as Newsletter Writer & Editor. In this role, Sloka will be writing and editing articles for the organization’s electronic newsletter, interviewing staff and clients, and crafting creative calls to action.
Sloka has been involved in neuroscience research for the last 8 years. She grew up in Ahmedabad, India; after finishing her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, she went to South Carolina to pursue her graduate work in neuroscience. Currently, Sloka is working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Nathan Kline Institute, New York, where she is investigating research in mechanisms of epilepsy. She is involved in designing and conducting experiments, training junior lab members and disseminating her work in the form of papers, posters and talks.
Although Sloka loves the intellectual challenge that basic research offers, she would like to be involved in the community in a more direct way. Her goal is to use the scientific knowledge for societal benefit. Working on scientific projects invariably requires the cultivation of a number of skills such as writing, presentation and organization that she hopes will be transferable to her community service work. Over the years, Sloka has been routinely involved in community service. While in India, she volunteered at the Missionaries of Charities. She also volunteered, and later on, worked at an animal shelter for stray animals called the Animal Help Foundation. In New York, Sloka works to offer healthy brunch alternatives every weekend at a homeless shelter in Harlem and has also established a creative writing group for the clients called ‘Exercise Your Write’.
Sloka is eager to be involved in the hands-on work of providing healthcare to underserved communities. She is interested in learning how a non-profit organization functions and would like to contribute directly to its mission. As she performs a substantial amount of writing for her work, Sloka hopes to effectively utilize those skills in her role as Newsletter Writer and Editor at AMPHS.
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SHEILA RAJ | SOCIAL WORKER
Sheila Raj, MSW is joining AMPHS as the organization’s first in-house Social Worker. In her role, she will not only provide social services such as assistance with health insurance enrollment, prescription, and vision to the community, but will also be working with the clinical team to develop new social services and group counseling.
Sheila is a licensed Social Worker and SIFI instructor. Her experience includes working in residential family and psychiatric settings where she connected many individuals to quality mental health services. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Stony Brook in Political Science and a Masters in Social Work degree from Columbia University. Currently, she is pursuing further education in health care.
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KAYLAN SOBEL | LEGAL ADVISOR
Kaylan Sobel, J.D. is joining AMPHS as a Legal Advisor. In this role, she will work with AMPHS staff to provide legal advice on a number of projects and assist in evaluating AMPHS programs and operations for adherence to laws, guidelines, and professional standards of practice. She will also be counseling the senior leadership team on the legal compliance of new and current programs.
After earning her M.A. in Political Science from New York University, Kaylan Sobel spent five years providing project management and policy research for a statewide non-profit organization. During that time, she completed her Juris Doctorate at Brooklyn Law School, focusing on public interest law, before gaining admission to the New York State Bar Association. Recently, she has accepted a position as Policy Analyst for Health and Education with the Eastern Regional Council of the Council of State Governments. In addition to her academic and professional experience, she has been an active volunteer and leader with organizations throughout New York City, including the Elderlaw and Cancer Advocacy project of the New York City Bar Association. She has joined the Academy of Medical and Public Health Services to bring her experience and knowledge of both health law and non-profit project management to support the mission of AMPHS to expand healthcare access and quality to underserved communities.
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AMELIA STARR | COMMUNITY RESEARCH & OUTREACH ASSOCIATE
Amelia Starr is joining AMPHS as Community Research & Outreach Associate. In this role, Amelia will be directly involved in assisting with AMPHS’ social media, conducting outreach and setting up health events within the Latino community, while also engaging as a volunteer in AMPHS’ humanitarian events.
Amelia graduated from Fordham University in 2012 with a major in French studies and minor in history and biology. With hopes to go into the medical field, Amelia has worked with organizations such as Clinicas Mi Doctor to assist with outreach operations and interactions with the Mexican community in her Texan hometown. She currently works with City MD as a medical scribe and aspires to contribute more to the underprivileged immigrant community in Sunset Park through her work at AMPHS.
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KATHLEEN TAM | COMMUNITY RESEARCH & OUTREACH ASSOCIATE
Kathleen Tam, MPH is joining AMHS as Community Research & Outreach Associate. In this role, Kathleen will be directly involved in mapping the Sunset Park Asian community, conducting outreach and setting up health events, and compiling data for statistical research, while also engaging as a volunteer and translator in AMPHS’ humanitarian events.
Kathleen is a recent graduate from the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, having completed her Masters degree in Public Health with an emphasis on Community Health Education this past May. She has interned with several non-profit organizations in Manhattan in the past, including the Chinese Progressive Association and Charles B. Wang Community Center. She is excited to serve a community in Brooklyn for the first time. Currently she also volunteers at the Greenmarket Youth Education program at GrowNYC and EATS at the Bubble Foundation. As a foreign-born Chinese, her personal history with immigrant health aligns with the goals of AMPHS. Kathleen hopes that AMPHS will help her gain more hands-on experience in health education and public health research to better equip her to work in the field of global health in the future.
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GEORGE-HYUUNG WINER | COMMUNITY RESEARCH & OUTREACH INTERN
George-Hyuung Winer, B.S. is joining AMPHS as Community Research & Outreach Intern in summer 2014 and working as an event volunteer beginning this fall. In this role, George will be assisting with event logistics and client interactions during AMPHS’ health events; in the summer, he will pursue an independent public health research project to help further the AMPHS mission.
George first realized his passion in delivering healthcare to the medically underserved in 2008. Before this, he had followed the path of his father and siblings, working in jobs related to the real estate industry, general contracting, and consulting. In 2012, George graduated from New York Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Life Science and the intention of attending medical school in Fall 2014. He is the first in his family to pursue a medical degree and was inspired to do so due to health problems that riddled his father for the majority of his life. George’s multi-ethnic background–Caucasian and Native Taiwanese–has also exposed him to family members that are geographically isolated from medical care. After losing an indigenous family member due to this issue, it opened his eyes to how medically underserved communities are in need of support. He hopes that by volunteering with AMPHS, he will be able to learn how public health is applied in a clinical setting and assist similarly medically underserved communities in New York.
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DENNIS ZHENG | CHINESE TRANSLATOR
Dennis Zheng, B.A. is joining AMPHS as a Chinese Translator/Interpreter for the Cantonese, Mandarin, and Fujianese dialects. In this role, he will engage as an interpreter in AMPHS’ humanitarian programs, including health screenings, workshops, and other social services. He will also assist in the translation of AMPHS’ outreach and education materials and in conducting outreach among the Asian community.
Currently working as a field translator/interpreter with HealthFirst, he aspires to pursue a profession as a linguist. Prior to joining Healthfirst, Dennis was a paralegal for a real estate law firm. He received his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice, BA, from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2011.
Embracing AMPHS’ mission and vision, Dennis is excited to be part of AMPHS’ team to achieve the noteworthy goals of increasing health care accessibility among underserved communities. He hopes to be able to assist in translating medical resources to benefit and educate the Chinese population and to build strong rapport with the underprivileged and undocumented immigrant population.
AMPHS News 