ANA Election 2023

Thank you for your consideration of my candidacy for ANA President-Elect! I am a pediatric neuropsychologist, Cardiac Neurodevelopment Program director, and Neuropsychology Training Program leader at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Since ANA’s inception, I have contributed significantly to the organization’s “early career” phase. I helped build ANA’s internal structure by founding the Student Committee, inaugurating the Executive Board’s Student Representative and Member-at-Large positions, participating on the Advisory Committee, advising the OPT Task Force, and shepherding many ANA initiatives. I also helped build external relationships by representing ANA in many positions of leadership, including the Cultural Neuropsychology Council (delegate), Minnesota Update Conference (commissioner), New2Neuropsychology (advisor), Clinical Neuropsychology Trainee Forum (co-founder), and KnowNeuropsychology (co-founder). It would be an honor and privilege to continue serving in my professional home and leading alongside the field’s most exceptional colleagues.

If elected, I would be serving ANA as it transitions to its “mid career” phase. Thus, the focus of my service would be strengthening foundations and initiating expansions to secure our longevity. In the context of updating our strategic plan, I aim to: 1) enrich our community by strengthening and expanding resources for our membership’s clinical, scholarly, education, and advocacy endeavors; 2) invest in our pipeline by strengthening and expanding programming related to professional development, board certification, and leadership development for trainees/early career professionals; 3) elevate competence in neuropsychological services provided to Asians by strengthening and expanding accessibility of resources and education to both internal membership and interorganizational relationships; and 4) build international relationships by strengthening and expanding opportunities for clinical and research collaboration. As a pediatric neuropsychologist, which tends to be underrepresented in organizational leadership, I also aim to advocate for increased emphasis of these goals on the pediatric subspecialty as it relates to our membership support, resource development, external collaborations, and community advocacy. 

I am grateful to be considered for President-Elect. As of our membership, I come from humble beginnings as a first-generation Korean-American. I was the first in my family to graduate college and then to go on to earn my doctorate with specialization in Neuropsychology and Health Psychology from The Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. I am currently in private practice serving neurodiverse individuals with intersecting marginalized identities. I am a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Hofstra School of Medicine in the department of psychiatry and consult for the medical residency program.

I started my journey with ANA back in 2019, when I ran into a former supervisor and now dear friend at INS who was setting up for their first ever in-person meeting. Since then, I joined ANA’s Education Committee and assisted with the development of the Mentorship Program. In early 2023, I was fortunate to step into the role of Chair. ANA has shaped my personal and professional outlook and goals, along with providing me with the sense of community that I didn’t realize.

As President, I promise to uphold the values and mission of ANA, to forge the path towards inclusivity in the field, further establish us as the model for competency of the neuropsychological care and research of AANHPI individuals, and maintenance of relationships across professional neuropsychological groups. Broadening our mentorship reach to those earlier in the pipeline will be one of my major initiatives. I am passionate to continue in the path of our past leadership in shaping current and future professionals. My leadership history in EDI in academic and medical
settings, lived and clinical experience as a bilingual neuropsychologist, and history with ANA have endowed me with the unique set of skills needed to further our mission in our growing community, both nationally and internationally.