NAPCA Welcomes New Staff Members to the Team

Seattle | Los Angeles | Chicago | Washington, April 10, 2023 — The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) is pleased to announce and welcome new members to the team.  

Soo-Young Chin, Ph.D.

Dr. Chin is the new Chief Research Officer for NAPCA.  

Soo-Young Chin is a Bay Area strategies and systems innovator with a 

passion for identifying “what’s next” in technology to improve people’s lives

Her core strength is research design, knowing how to match methods to an inquiry by pulling from a variety of practices. Clients have included Meta Intel, IDEO, Kaiser Permanente, HVMA, as well as California-based health centers such as the Korean Health, Information, Education and Research Center, Westside Family Clinic, and Asian Community Mental Health Services.

Soo-Young did her fieldwork in South Korea for her doctorate in cultural gerontology from UCSF. She was on faculty at the University of Southern California and San Jose State University. From 2008 to 2010 she served as Lead Partner of Practical Ethnographics at Ascension Health’s internal innovation group. Her work focuses on improving systems, experiences and products through an understanding of the lives of real people.

Yoon Cho

Yoon Cho is the new Senior Director of Research for NAPCA. 

Yoon Cho is a ethnographer specializing in educational, health and tech projects. From 2008 – 2010, she served as research consultant to the Transformational Development group (TD), an internal innovation center at Ascension Health. In that capacity, she set up the visual component of TD’s Ethnography Lab, conducted ethnographic research on health navigation, health and wellness strategies for the underserved populations, and explored of new platforms for healthcare delivery.

Yoon’s extensive experience in visual ethnography and field research has also guided her work on several documentary films. Yoon received her training in visual anthropology and social anthropology from the University of Southern California.

In 2010, Yoon and partners created Ethnoworks, Inc., a boutique research shop, to provide more responsive and tailored services for clients, including Meta, Intel, SAP, and AARP.

Marion Grahek

Marion Grahek is the new Senior Manager of Research for NAPCA. 

Marion Grahek is a systems thinker and digital generalist with a passion for understanding why rational people make irrational decisions. She graduated from Minerva University with a degree in Natural Sciences Earth Systems and broader studies in Social Economy. She was a member of the Founding Class at Minerva, a cohort with 28 students from 14 countries with an acceptance rate of 2.5%. Minerva’s core curriculum was taught online, with students rotating to a new city each semester: San Francisco, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Seoul, Hyderabad and London.

Marion is Ethnoworks’ research coordinator and brings to us her four years of digital learning with insight for geographically dispersed collaboration which we all navigate in our pandemic fueled evolving hybrid working world. She has strong contacts with her international classmates and globally dispersed alumni network. She has also worked with organizations she made contact with during school, as well as entities in Washington D.C.,  New York City, and Los Angeles.

Jina Kang

Jina Kang is the Senior Manager for Membership at NAPCA.

Before joining NAPCA, Jina was directly representing Korean communities and private companies via lobbying members of Congress, Congressional staff, and the Executive Branch. She worked closely with elected/government officials on a variety of issues that are critical to Asian American community. Jina has experience working with nonprofit, government, and private sectors understanding the different needs of various industries.

She enjoys running, hiking, yoga, gardening, pottery, reading, and more!

Jina holds an M.A. in Asian Studies, International Affairs from the George Washington University and a B.A. in Political Science and Government from the University of Texas at Austin.

Caroline Boncan

Caroline is the new Account Specialist for NAPCA.

Caroline comes to NAPCA with experience as a Finance & Admin Manager for a language service provider. Prior to that she was a Project Manager also in the language service provider industry. Outside of work, Caroline enjoys everything the PNW has to offer as well as traveling when able. Her dog Skye is named after one of her favorite destinations in Scotland.

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