Our Team

Board of Directors

Dr. Teri Tan, PhD, MBA
Executive Director, Founder

Dr. Teri Tan is a spontaneous communicator with a penchant for creative problem solving. The Greek-born Australian-American is a medical administrator & management specialist with over twenty years of experience setting up medical clinics, administering medical mission trips, and consulting in business and HR matters and fundraising. Before founding SHE, Teri was a foundational member of the Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America (CHPAA), where she served as head mission administrator for eight of her nine mission trips. She also served as Logistics Director for the Cambodia surgery missions with Aloha Medical Missions (AMM) based in Hawaii. Her administrative expertise combined with her love of multiculturalism, education, and philanthropy led her to found Sustainable Health Empowerment (SHE) in 2014, for which she has led all five annual missions to Cambodia and SHE’s ongoing telehealth missions during COVID. She and her team are currently working on missions in Greece and are expanding the local initiatives with health education, telehealth, and responses to COVID-19 in the US. Alongside medical philanthropy, Teri is passionately committed to education; she is a former educator and consultant at both the state & federal levels in Australia with a teaching major in Early Childhood Development and Psychology, a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, and an Executive MBA from Loyola Marymount University. In her spare time, she loves traveling and learning how country infrastructures work, and noting psycho-social challenges faced by the people. She appreciates her family’s immigrant sacrifices and her poor beginning. She loves helping those truly in need, believing that human health is an honorable and great global connector. Teri is passionate about patient advocacy and disability services and is committed to building a resource directory to be used by all Cambodians to increase access to quality healthcare across the country.

Dr. Hanh Nguyen-Clark, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Clean Water for Cambodia Project

Dr. Hanh Nguyen-Clark came to the United States as a Vietnamese refugee in 1975. After working as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse and clinical specialist, she went back to earn her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine. She is currently the President of Landmark Anesthesia Medical Group, which practices at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, CA. She is also the Chief of Staff Elect at SFMC. As the Chief Medical Director of SHE, Dr. Clark is a valuable asset to the team as she is firmly committed to promoting sustainability through health education in collaboration between the USA team and the volunteered Cambodian medical and pharmacy students. A natural educator, Dr. Clark enjoys coaching and mentoring both college and medical students. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge, energizing others, also creating and connecting with others to help them achieving their lifelong goals and passion and making a difference in global health. After her first trip to Cambodia in 2018, she has been working at finding sustainable solutions and has donated extensively to bring clean, uncontaminated water to the underserved people she met during her missions. Her expertise, hard work & generosity go above and beyond expectation.

Dr. Lilliana Stojic, DDS
Director, Dentistry

Dr. Lilliana, as she is affectionately called, has attended all five missions to Cambodia and has been an inspiration to many students. She has been practicing general, cosmetic, and pediatric dentistry in Sacramento, California, for over 26 years. Her true passion is helping others. She has also embarked on other medical mission trips to Cambodia, Peru and Brazil. In her spare time, Dr. Liliana is a true outdoor enthusiast -- she enjoys competing in triathlons, hiking, kayaking, cycling, practicing martial arts, and - of course - going to the beach. Her commitment to leading the dental team during the missions is immeasurable. She leads a large team of Cambodian dentists, and senior year dental students, and this team has participated in all the SHE missions. Dr. Lilliana is excited to add Greece to her list.

Lynne Porter, M.A., LVN
Director, Heart2Heart Well-Woman Exam Project

Before Lynne became a nurse, she was a passionate teacher at the university, community college, and high school levels. The last twenty years of her thirty-year teaching career were spent developing and administering educational programs. As the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for North Orange County Regional Occupational Program, Lynne worked to establish training programs and secure grants for five medical academies and dental assistant training programs. After retiring from a career in education, Lynne obtained a nursing license (LVN) with the intent of volunteering. She holds an MA in English and in Educational Administration, and a teaching credential in English, Science, and Social Science and concurrently continues to teach at UCLA Extension in their Instructor Development program. In 2018, Lynne initiated the Heart2Heart Women’s Health Initiative, one of the first of its kind, where women who are disadvantaged economically or socially, or isolated geographically, can have access to a well-woman exam. It is named Heart2Heart because we are forging caring connections between a donor and recipient(s) to ensure that no woman gets left behind. Among her friends and family, Lynne raised the inital seed money for this project and continues to build strong relationships with donors for this life-saving project.

Patricia Lee, CB
Treasurer

Patricia Lee is an Accounting Manager with over thirty years of experience working with multiple industries to implement accounting systems, handle payroll and bookkeeping, and carry out financial and management reporting. A certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Patricia is a graduate of Central Washington University, Member of the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB), and currently serves in the Tax and Accounting Services department of  Windes, a Southern California accounting and business consulting firm that advises in private business and nonprofit needs. Patricia lends her valuable expertise and warm heart to Sustainable Health Empowerment as a trusted Board Member.

Advisory Board

Michael Dukakis

Michael Dukakis, former Governor of Massachusetts, is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School.  He served for two years in the United States Army, sixteen months of which he spent with the support group to the United Nations delegation to the Military Armistice Commission in Munsan, Korea. Dukakis began his political career as an elected Town Meeting Member in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, where he was born.  In 1974, he became Governor of Massachusetts, and is generally credited with digging Massachusetts out of one of its worst financial and economic crises in history. Though defeated in 1978, Dukakis was reelected to an unprecedented third four-year term in 1986 by one of the largest margins in history. In 1986, his colleagues in the National Governors’ Association voted him the most effective governor in the nation.

Dukakis won the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States in 1988 but was defeated by George Bush. After leaving office in January 1991, Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, spent three months at the University of Hawaii, where Dukakis was a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of Public Health. While at the University of Hawaii, he taught courses in political leadership and health policy and led a series of public forums on the reform of the nation’s health care system. Hawaii’s first-in-the-nation universal health insurance system, and the lessons that can be learned from it, continue to inform debates about the future of health care in America.

Since 1991, Dukakis has been a Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University and visiting professor at the School of Public Affairs at UCLA, with research focused on national health care policy reform. He and the late former U.S. Senator Paul Simon co-authored the book “How to Get Into Politics – and Why” --designed to encourage young people to think seriously about politics and public service as a career.

Mr. Dukakis's unquenchable passion for education, health care, philanthropy, (and Greek desserts) make him a perfect member of Sustainable Health Empowerment's Advisory Board.

Kitty Dukakis

Kitty Dukakis is an author, philanthropist, mental health activist, and former First Lady of Massachusetts. Following her appointment by President Jimmy Carter to the President's Commission on the Holocaust, she became a founding member of the Holocaust Memorial Council, served on the board of the Refugee Policy Center and organized a Task Force on Cambodian Children, which helped hundreds of orphaned Cambodian children gain admittence to the United States and other countries. In 2017, she was honored with Yale Department of Psychiatry's Research Advocacy Award for her extensive work on issues related to mental health, women's rights, human rights, and the arts.  Fun fact: Dukakis's father was a violinist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Dr. Duongvannak J. B. Keo, D.M.D., P.A.

Dr. Keo is a practicing dentist in Merritt Island, Florida with over 24 years of experience. His areas of specialty include Temporomandibular and TMD related disorders, Craniofacial Pain, Sleep Dental Medicine, Implant Dentistry, Orthodontics Dental Orthopedic, and general dentistry. As a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide, helping others in need is of utmost importance to Dr. Keo, and he frequently volunteers at Space Coast and Sustainable Health Empowerment to provide dental services to underserved community members. Aside from dentistry, Dr. Keo is an eclectic adventurer who enjoys Kenpo Karate, soccer, table tennis, cycling, shooting billiards, photography, playing music in his band, and trying new ethnic foods. We are very grateful for his generous philanthropy to SHE. He is always there to assist in SHE’s projects including the COVID-19 Response.

E. Mike Vasilomanolakis, M.D.

Dr. Vasilomanolakis is a past president and current secretary of the Hellenic-American Medical and Dental Society of Southern California. He is an Interventional Cardiologist in Long Beach. Dr. Vasilomanolakis trained at the University of Illinois Medical School with residency training in Internal Medicine at Rush Presbyterian-St Lukes Medical Center. His cardiology training was at the University of California Irvine. He is currently Chief of Staff and Director of Cardiology at the Community Hospital of Long Beach. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Western University of Health Sciences. Dr. “Mike” is a serial recipient of the “SuperDocs” designation in the Los Angeles Magazine and is a Grammy Winning Executive Music Producer.

Dr. Jim F. Dimitriou

Dr. James F. Dimitriou is a noted educator, grant recipient and former Director for the “Journey to Greece,” Travel Study Program. He has taken over 2400 students to Greece in over 25 years. As a Past AHEPA Supreme President, Dimitriou served in a variety of educational programs over many years. He has served as National AHEPA Education Chairman and Chairman of the Cyprus & Hellenic Affairs Committee. Currently, he is on the Board for Hellenext, the Next Generation Initiative and the American Hellenic Council.  Dimitriou was named “Archon Notarios,” of the Order of Saint Andrew of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2004. 

 Dr. Dimitriou is a noted scholar on Greek American studies. He served as an adjunct professor of global studies at USC. As the faculty advisor to the national award winning Model United Nations, he was chosen by the "UN 50 Project” at the anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. He is a noted scholar and author in Greek American studies, including the film, "The Greeks of Los Angeles." His research includes a Title IX, ESEA grant. He served on the LA Bicentennial Commission; author/contributor to the ADL, project, "A World of Difference;" the LA County Leadership Commission; Multicultural Advisory Council, and contributor to the archives of the Ellis Island and the “Shades of LA” project for the Los Angeles Library.

Dimitriou is the 2015 Honoree of the Constantinople Society; He is a co-founder of the Greek Heritage Society; he is the former President of AHI, LA Chapter; former Executive Director of the Axios Foundation for Worthiness; founding Board Member of the Save Cyprus Council & current board member of the American Hellenic Council); veteran of several years on the St. Katherine's parish council; & long time President of the Marmarinon Society. 

Dr. Naomi Granvold, MD

Dr. Naomi Granvold is a psychiatrist who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and women’s mental health while also providing general care. When meeting a patient, Dr. Granvold’s aim is to establish a trusting, empathetic connection that enables the person to safely reveal their stories and their pain. This empathetic heart has led her to participate in six medical missions to Cambodia (with SHE and CHPAA), four medical missions to Guatemala (with Flying Doctors), and volunteer as a psychiatric examiner for asylum seekers in the US. Dr. Granvold believes there is no “us vs. them;” rather, all of “us” want and deserve personal safety, housing, health, food, and education. Thus, she teaches self-care and mind-body principles to her mission patients, to help them continue to find relief from anxiety, depression, trauma, and other mental health issues once she’s gone. In her spare time, Dr. Granvold enjoys galloping her horse on the beach, kayaking, hiking, traveling, and spending time with her treasured daughters.

Chad Phuong

Chad Phuong is one of SHE’s most passionate volunteers, not only serving on the board but also using his unique skills to contribute toward positive change. Chad has catered each one of SHE’s pre-mission fundraisers and provided food for over 400 participants at the Long Beach Health Fair free of charge. Chad has been the operating room manager at a prominent fertility surgical center in Southern California. He is a Cambodian-American chef who uses food as a means of celebrating cultural history, cultivating community, and spreading joy. Chad’s love of cooking stems from his early days in Battambang, Cambodia, where he observed his grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and learned how to forage, fish, hunt, and cook daily. Today, Chad is a local legend, having founded both Cambodian Cajun Crawfish and Cambodian Cuisine. Currently, he is reaching for his goal to own the first authentic Cambodian food truck in Southern California, and maybe in all of the U.S.A. His connections in the medical field are very impressive. Chad is one of SHE’s most generous donors of his time, resources, and culinary skills. He is looking forward to continuing to collaborate with SHE on future fundraisers.

Tony Lai

Tony Lai is a survivor of the Killing Fields, the founder of Computer Now LLC and Khmer TV, Inc., and the author of An Orphan of the Killing Fields. Tony was 12 years old when his country was plunged into violence and genocide by the Pol Pot regime. Forced to work menial jobs, beaten, and even buried alive, he somehow managed to survive. In 1983, Tony left Cambodia for New Zealand, settling in the USA five years later while in his mid-20s. Tony’s resilience and determination to make a life for himself led him from minimum wage jobs--in restaurants, manufacturing, sweatshops, and donut shops—to enrolling in computer and networking classes. A fast learner, he soon set up his own computer company and then moved on to broadcasting, establishing, Khmer TV, the first of its kind in the U.S. Through Khmer TV, Tony provides a critical media resource for the Cambodian community in the greater Los Angeles Area, particularly Long Beach--which has the highest concentration of Cambodians in the world—and the global Cambodian community through the online broadcast, www.khmertv.com. Khmer TV’s mission is to bring together and empower the Cambodian-American community by serving as a unifying platform for Cambodian-Americans. Tony seeks to build partnerships with community organizations, leaders, government agencies, local businesses, entertainers, and all citizens in order to better connect with and inform the larger Cambodian-American community. SHE is delighted to have Tony on our team, leading the technical and broadcasting side of our upcoming signature health education project.

Nancy Song

Nancy Song was born and raised in Long Beach, CA. Her parents immigrated to Long Beach in the 1980s after surviving the Cambodian genocide. In her current role as Community Impact Director for the American Heart Association, she leads collective impact efforts that focus on policy, systems, and environmental change strategies to improve hypertension control and advance health equity for AANHPI communities. As an advocate for underserved populations, Nancy has over eight years of public health experience working in private, nonprofit, and government settings. Her areas of expertise include health education and promotion, motivational interviewing, patient advocacy, community outreach and engagement, and program planning and implementation. She attended Cal State Los Angeles and received her bachelor’s degree in Community Health. Nancy is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Arizona.

SHE Cambodia Staff

Huiying Lay
Director, SHE Cambodia

Huiying Lay has been appointed as the Director of SHE Cambodia in January 2021. Among her roles, she is currently leading the telehealth missions in Cambodia and is excited to be a part of the SHE staff. She is dedicated to continuing work to provide health care and education services to rural families that have less access to quality healthcare. With her decade-long experience in handling both domestic and international tours, she has become a reliable and independent leader in a premier travel agency in Cambodia. Huiying collaboratively organizes SHE logistics on mission trips with the Executive Director and is a stellar volunteer for SHE, having volunteered at every one of SHE’s missions. Huiying is passionate about SHE’s direction and vision for Cambodia. We are honored to have her on our team.

Dr. Leng Kanarin
Director of Heart2Heart, Women’s Health Initiative

Dr. Leng Kanarin graduated from the medical school of International University in Cambodia. She currently serves as a medical consultant in obstetrics and gynecology at NokorTep’s Women Hospital (NTWH). While still a medical student, Kanarin served as a volunteer with surgical missions in Cambodia each January from 2016-2020. Because of her commitment to improving women’s health, Kanarin was recruited to assist with the implementation of Heart2Heart, SHE’s Well Women’s Health Initiative, when it began three years ago. She ably assumed leadership of the first telehealth collaborative 2020 mission in Pursat in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boromey Mong

Boromey Mong has been instrumental in setting up SHE’s five missions at the Okhna Mong Reththy Clinic in Keo Pos, Sihanoukville. She is a freelance photographer and co-founder of a clothing startup with a passion for humanitarian work. Born and raised in Cambodia, she graduated from the International School of Phnom Penh in 2015, and has recently graduated with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Hult International Business School in San Francisco, where she served as Vice President of Hult's Social Impact Club. Boromey's vast NGO volunteering experience includes working with Tabitha House Building, International Medical Relief, leading a Big Brother Big Sister project in collaboration with the Indochina Starfish Foundation, co-founding The Moon Project, and serving with SHE for all past five mission trips to Cambodia.

Administration & Logistics

Melanie Nguyen
Director, Marketing & Communications

Melanie Nguyen is SHE's Director of Marketing and Communications. As a former educator and Development Manager, Melanie has worked in the nonprofit sector for over seven years. Melanie brings with her expertise in fund development, donor relations, digital marketing, grant writing, and event fundraising. She is deeply committed to heal and empower her local community through quality service and collaboration. Melanie is also studying to pursue to a career in medicine and hopes to continue her passions for service, healing, and collaboration as a future physician.

Chrysanthe Tan
Director, Content and Community

Chrysanthe is a composer, violinist, and singer-songwriter who serves as a content writer, editor, social media manager, and member of the SHE Advisory Board. She has performed all over the world as a violinist and artist, and her compositions have been performed in places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, US Embassy in Phnom Penh, and Rockefeller Center. She also serves as a host and co-creator of a forthcoming new media initiative with Classical KUSC. Aside from music, Chrysanthe is a published writer who graduated with a BA in Creative Writing from Stanford University, an MFA in Writing from California Institute of the Arts, and served as a Communications and Copy Editor for Black Clock Magazine for 6 years. A proud member of the autistic community, Chrysanthe is a vocal advocate for disability and mental health issues.

Activity Coordinators & Volunteers

Christopher Clark, Student Developer

Christopher Clark is a student representative and web assistant for SHE. He has participated in four missions to Cambodia including two SHE missions and will attend SHE’s mission trip to Greece in 2021. Chris develops the intake forms for the missions, plans background logistics such as organizing and managing the storage of supplies during trips, and created an electronic health record on a secured off-grid wireless network server. He works year-round on various SHE projects and collaborates with Melanie Nguyen, the Director of Marketing and Communications, to update the website and fundraising campaign sites regularly in order to communicate SHE’s needs, goals, and actions to SHE’s community of supporters.

Melinda Som, MSN, RN
Heart2Heart Manager and Field Volunteer

Melinda Som is a registered nurse (RN) who led the on-site execution of SHE Mission 4 and Mission 5’s Heart2Heart project, an initiative to provide Well-Woman Exams and health education. She graduated from CSULB with a Bachelor of Science in Health Science (emphasis in Community Health) and has a Master of Science in Nursing at Western University. She currently works at the Long Beach Memorial Hospital in Long Beach, CA. In her spare time, Melinda enjoys being with loved ones, playing video games, and dancing to Korean pop music — a trait that’s earned her the nickname of “K-Pop” among the SHE team. She continues to work with Lynne Porter, the Director of Heart2Heart, in pursuit of improving the health of women in Cambodia and in our local US communities.

Shawn Piseth Ros Logistics Coordinator

Shawn Piseth Ros is a real estate agent with Keller Williams in Southern California and joined SHE in 2018 having served on two missions. He found his niche in coordinating the logistics of distributing reading glasses to thousands of Cambodians. He is the Logistics Coordinator working with a team of Khmer and US medical students and others in this endeavor. He is a great asset to our team. Originally from Kampong Cham, Cambodia, Shawn is passionate about service in his homeland and locally in Long Beach. In the last five years, he started a scholarship program for high school students in Cambodia, volunteers with orphanages, and assists in fundraising to mentor Cambodian youth.

Seyha Chea
Senior Field Volunteer

Seyha Chea was born in Cambodia and came to the US as a child of refugees. He joined the SHE team in 2018 and became a very valuable participant and mission trip volunteer. Though his passion for medicine began at an early age, it was after repeated experience volunteering in healthcare capacities over the years that Seyha finally decided to pursue his ultimate goal of becoming a physician and serving his community.

Tricia Khun
Student Intern

Tricia Khun is a MPH graduate degree candidate in the Master’s of Public Health program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is currently an intern for Sustainable Health Empowerment (SHE),  working with the Executive Director and board in coordinating the logistics for Hawaii’s health fair to be conducted in the Fall, 2022. She also plans to contribute toward a resource book of services for the underserved in Cambodia, under the direction of the SHE board. Among her many talents, Tricia has created a short film on Cambodian identity and healing as part of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at her alma mater, UH Manoa where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Cell Biology. Tricia is dedicated to learning about her Cambodian identity, roots, and heritage while also helping to increase healthcare access, education, and participation for underserved communities, especially for those in her local community. In her free time, Tricia enjoys traveling, journaling, dancing, and leisure reading.

MESH - Medical Experiences through Service in Healthcare

MESH is a UCLA student group that strives to make an impact in all aspects of healthcare: clinical care, public health, and global outreach. The organization, which acts as a bridge between understaffed free health clinics and UCLA students interested in volunteering for their community, is dedicated to supporting non-profit health organizations both locally and globally. By encouraging student involvement in health-related service activities within the local community, MESH promotes awareness of low-income communities and their healthcare needs to empower its members with the professional and leadership experience needed to make a difference in their communities. MESH's service, community, and health-oriented mission makes them a natural partner for SHE, where they have comprised the core volunteer team since 2014. 

Want to join our team?

Please drop us a line or fill out our Volunteer Interest Form!