APMA News - September/October 2024 - 13

The aim of this initiative is to engage an underserved
population and develop culturally sensitive
material to engage them in future research
studies. Our initial survey of the Chinese-speaking
population in San Francisco Chinatown identified
potential factors, such as generation and education,
that were related to variation in preferred
learning materials. This finding suggested the need
to create diverse multimedia learning materials
for a particular population or community in order
to increase awareness of any health conditions. If
precision medicine is essential to treat diseases,
precision prevention should be just as critical to
prevent diseases.
What unique or innovative methods
does the program employ?
The unique framework of this initiative stems from
my core belief that each ethnic group and community
is distinct, although society often simply
puts each racial group in generalized buckets. For
example, the Asian population [includes] a wide
range of Asian countries that have very different
cultural backgrounds and beliefs. And within the
" Chinese " population, there are also very different
languages, customs, and ways of viewing
topics like health and wellness. Therefore, the
" Chinese " population in San Francisco Chinatown
can be very different from the " Chinese " population
in San Jose, CA, or Rowland Heights, CA.
Nonetheless, we as health-care providers and
researchers have treated the " Asian " and " Chinese "
population as one population.
In this project, I am fortunate to partner with
the Foundation to Advance Vascular Cures, a
patient-centered non-profit, to work on a twoyear
project to improve research engagement in
the Chinese-speaking community, supported by
a funding award through the Eugene Washington
PCORI Engagement Award Program, an initiative of
the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
(PCORI). We are consciously and intentionally
building a framework for community outreach,
engagement, and empowerment that promotes
active listening and learning, so that we can better
understand the actual needs and experiences of
diverse, unique Chinese-speaking patient populations
in California. We are paying special attention
to partnering with the Chinese-speaking community
so that we can address their needs and priorities
with them, rather than " for " them. We will have a
patient leadership team and patient partners on
View the project's home page.
www.vascularcures.org/chinese-speakingvascular-patient-engagement
our
steering committee and advisory board. The
project itself is being led by a patient with lived
experience of vascular disease. Thus, the project
is patient-centered and more responsive to the
community with which it is working.
How is the initiative impacting you as
a podiatric physician, and what would
you like APMA members to take away
from this article?
As a podiatric physician and surgeon, [I believe that]
a conversation with patients on treatments is as
important as prevention. While treatments are typically
more structured and supported by evidence,
prevention is often less specific for any particular
population. For example, the common material to
educate the public about any disease is a pamphlet,
which is often not very effective. This initiative
intends to provide a framework to survey a target
population followed by development of specific
learning modalities-materials and channels that the
surveyed population prefers. Therefore, when we
deliver messages and knowledge on disease prevention
in the future, we will have culturally sensitive
education materials to be delivered through the
channels preferred by the target population.
While respecting patient privacy, can
you illustrate the positive impact the
initiative is having on real lives?
The initiative launched this year, and already we
are seeing communities across California come
together in support of the much-needed work that
can empower Chinese-speaking patients to engage
in research. We are working with health centers
in highly dense Chinese-speaking communities,
students and volunteers, and patients themselves
who have expressed how important this project is to
them, their families, and their communities.
Continued on page 14
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