In September 2022, AcademyHealth Board Member and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Dr. Ninez Ponce spoke with AcademyHealth CEO Dr. Lisa Simpson and AcademyHealth staff during a Lunch and Learn. AcademyHealth today released a recording of the conversation to align with Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month.

Dr. Ponce leads the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the nation’s largest state health survey, which is considered a gold standard for other state-level efforts on meaningful inclusion of Asian Americans to Pacific islanders through oversampling or special samples, and by developing culturally and linguistically appropriate instruments.

Dr. Ponce was also featured at a White House forum for AANHPI month early this month, and participated in the breakout session “Advancing Justice Though Data Equity.” 

In addition to being a Board Member, she is also a member of Academy Health Advisory group on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Health Services Research, whose recommendations were published last August, and continues to guide Academy health priorities and activities for meaningful change. See the recommendations here. With support from Dr. Michelle Ko, she also supported students in distributing and releasing findings from a Workplace Culture Survey on diversity and inclusion in HSR.

“Academy health has been my second home and a really important shelter for my work over the past twenty-thirty years, especially at times when it wasn't valued and Academy health valued it very early on,” Ponce said during the Lunch and Learn session.

Watch the full video to learn more about Dr. Ponce’s career, AcademyHealth’s role as her professional home, and the importance of inclusive and diverse data collection that accounts for subgroups of Asians, and supporting the next generation of data leaders.

Learn more from Dr. Ponce at the 2023 Annual Research Meeting where she’ll be moderating the session “Using Demographic Data to Ensure Equity and Data Quality” on Monday, June 26 at 10:00am PT.

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