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Past Thalassemia Outreach Program Interns and Participants
...and What They're Doing Now

• Christine Dinh	• Sushrita Neogi
• Kiran Salman	• Pang Vang

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Christine Dinh hails from a Vietnamese family in San Jose. After graduating UC Berkeley and interning with the thalassemia program for three years, she is now pursuing a degree in medicine at University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, with the goal of becoming a pediatrician. Her primary activity as an intern was facilitating a class about thalassemia at UC Berkeley. In her spare time, Christine enjoys arranging choral pieces. Updated June 2015

My name is Sushrita Neogi. I started working at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Thalassemia Outreach Department with Laurice Levine in August 2011. Since then I have watched the program flourish to even greater heights than before, with the initiation of the Thal at Cal Decal class at UC Berkeley, with our growing presence on social media, and with forming so many new partnerships as well as maintaining established ones. I am so proud and honored to have been part of the team that works tirelessly to bring awareness about Thalassemia. I graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology is 2012 and am currently a second year medical student at St. George’s University. In my breaks from school, I enjoy traveling to different countries and learning about new cultures and traditions. Updated October 2014

Kiran Salman was a UC Berkeley major in molecular environmental biology and psychology. She is extremely interested in becoming a pediatrician and wants to travel the world in favor of stopping world poverty. She has high interest in health-care advancement and helping children receive better health-care and a higher standard of living. This is why she believed her time at BCHO was extremely valuable. By taking a class on campus, Kiran has learned about thalassemia—something she never knew about in her prior experiences. She has a better understanding of the treatment techniques and wants to educate the general public. She was very excited to learn more about thal and work with a team whose members were as passionate as her! She was a second-year intern when the program was discontinued. Updated July 2016

My name is Pang Vang, and I am proud to be a part of an amazing cohort of interns who worked really hard towards one ultimate goal: bringing awareness and education to the community about Thalassemia. Like many others, I didn’t know what Thalassemia was until I stumbled upon it in my public health seminar at UC Berkeley. After learning that this genetic disease affects a large number of the Southeast Asian population, I decided to conduct a research project to find out more. I surveyed over 50 students with Southeast Asian heritage on campus, and found out that no one had ever heard of Thalassemia. In the wake of this alarming result, I felt the need to do more and that was when I found the Comprehensive Thalassemia Center at the Children’s Hospital, Oakland. In this internship, I had the opportunity to co-facilitate a De-Cal and work with my co-interns on putting together a Thalassemia Benefit Concert. In addition, we were able to coordinate multiple blood drives, spoke about Thalassemia at different health fairs, and put on events with Thalassemia patients from the hospital. This internship solidified my passion to raise awareness and work with patients who have rare and chronic diseases. I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2013 with a B.A. in Integrative Biology. Currently, I am a Health Equity Fellow with the Greenlining Institute and the California Endowment working on statewide policy and health advocacy. I am considering Medical School after my fellowship where I can apply both my scientific knowledge and advocacy work. Updated February 2015

Updated 11/17/2016

Northern California Comprehensive Thalassemia Center

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland

747 52nd Street, Oakland CA 94609   •   Phone: (510) 428-3347   •   Fax: (510) 450-5647
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