April Joy
Damian

Spreading knowledges through words and practice

28, San Francisco, California

April Joy G. Damian graduated High Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies, concentration in Public Health and Health Disparities/Inequalities. Under the guidance of the Departments of Ethnic Studies and Public Health at UC Berkeley, she completed her honors thesis concerning heart disease among U.S.-born Filipinos and Filipino immigrants, earning her highest honors in her department. In 2003, she was selected and funded by Institute of International Education and Osher Travel Abroad Program to study at Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, where she focused on the history of Spanish-Latin American Relations. She spent the summer following her sophomore year at Yale University School of Medicine where she completed coursework in Genetics, Physiology, and Writing and Communications Skills.

April Joy attended UC Berkeley as an Incentive Awards Program Scholar, the university’s largest award to first-generation college students who have demonstrated leadership potential, high academics, and a commitment to serve others. She was also named a 2005 Truman Scholar, a national award to recognize outstanding future leaders in public service.

While a student at UC Berkeley, she founded the South of Market (SoMa) Scholars Mentorship Program, a one-on-one mentorship program matching college students with low-income adolescents of color. She also actively addressed public health issues in Northern California, serving as a La Clinica de la Raza Health Education Intern through the UC Berkeley Health and Medicine Apprentice Program. Here, she collaborated with non-profit healthcare professionals to promote health education and prevention in low-income, Latino communities. April Joy later worked with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to evaluate California’s effectiveness in curbing tobacco sales to minors.

Upon graduation, April Joy served as a Program Analyst for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran Health Administration in Washington, D.C. Outside of work, she volunteered as an instructor for both a Science and Health, and English as a Second Language course. While in Washington, D.C., she also organized and facilitated a workshop on an interfaith approach to addressing immigration at the National Immigrant Solidarity Network Conference, and was a member of the Middle East Institute where she began Elementary Modern Standard Arabic language studies.

April Joy was recently named a 2008 Young People For (YP4) Fellow for her commitment to working for social justice in the fields of medicine and public health. Through YP4, she will spend this year in San Francisco implementing an educational initiative addressing heart disease and diabetes among Filipinos in the Bay Area. April Joy will also be applying for a joint MD/MPH program in June 2008.