Dr. Dean Coffey is a licensed clinical psychologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) with a faculty appointment as an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Southern California through the Keck School of Medicine of USC. As an Incredible Years Certified Agency Mentor, Dr. Coffey provides training and group supervision for parent group leaders.
Dr. Avril (Apple) Sepulveda is a board-certified pediatric occupational therapist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Apple recognizes the value of mental health in fostering families through advocacy and program development. She is also on the Board of Directors for 2020 Mom, a national nonprofit that bridges the gaps in maternal mental health through collaboration, education, and advocacy.
Jed David is an Occupational Therapist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellow. Jed was born in Cebu, Philippines and was raised in the Los Angeles area. His hope is that the next generation of Filipino community members will continue to be connected to their Filipino roots and have a sense of kapwa.
Dr. Horacio G. Lopez is a board certified pediatrician practicing in the community of Historic Filipinotown. He completed his degree in medicine at the FEU-UNR Foundation in Manila, Philippines and has been practicing in Los Angeles for over 20 years. Dr. Lopez is a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and is involved in decreasing mental health disparities in Filipino families in Los Angeles.
Dr. Karen Camero
MEET OUR CURRENT INTERNS!
Jasmine Celine Cuevas Raymundo, MPH, PTA, CBIS, Research Extern
Jasmine is a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant, Certified Brain Injury Specialist, and a current research extern at FFHI. She received her bachelor’s degree in human biology from the University of Southern California in 2016 and then went on to receive a degree to become a Physical Therapist Assistant. She decided to shift careers in 2022, as she saw the negative impact of health inequities and disparities in her patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles who belonged to underserved populations and wanted to make a difference on a wider scale. She attained her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Southern California, and recently graduated earlier this year in May, 2024. Her goal is to work with organizations whose aims are to improve health outcomes in minority communities. She stated that she is very excited to work with FFHI as the work that FFHI does is extremely important in the Filipino community. FFHI helps cultivate strong family dynamics amongst Filipino communities which will ultimately benefit the health of future generations of Filipinos.
Katelyn Edelwina Yap Legaspi, MD, Research Intern
Katelyn is a research intern here at FFHI. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences (cum laude) from Ateneo de Manila University in 2017. She went on to receive her
Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in 2022. Currently she is a Junior faculty at San Beda University College of Medicine and mentor at TopNotch Medical Board Prep. She aspires to be a pediatrician. She loves being involved in FFHI because of the impact it has. The efforts of the group have increased performance and improved relationships in the lives of the parents and children we interact with. It is a wonderful thing to be a part of.
Kat Alcantara, Research Intern
Katrina Monica Alcantara is a research intern at the Filipino Family Health Initiative (FFHI). Holding a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from St. George's University (2024) and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the University of the Philippines Manila (2014), Katrina previously worked in the public health field from 2015 to 2020. She aspires to become a pediatrician, motivated by FFHI's mission to improve the lives of Filipino children, with a special emphasis on mental health and parenting support. Through her work, Katrina aims to cultivate a supportive environment that empowers families to thrive.
Kyra Aligaen, Research Intern
Kyra Ashley Aligaen (she/her) is a student at the University of Southern California enrolled in the Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy's Bachelor to Doctorate Program, with a minor in International Health, Development, and Social Justice. She will begin her entry-level OTD coursework in Fall 2024. With her studies, she hopes to serve diverse communities across the world with limited access to fundamental rehabilitation due to poor healthcare infrastructure and inequities. As the daughter of Filipino immigrants and a proud Filipina-American, Kyra is eager to find ways to best serve and give back to her community through her career. Kyra is a Research Intern for Filipino Family Health Initiative, and is largely responsible for designing culturally sensitive outreach materials that address youth mental health awareness and take into consideration traditional Filipino values. Kyra joined the FFHI team to promote wellness amongst Filipino youth and their families and to start often-stigmatized conversations of mental health. She is proud to champion Pinoy culture through this work and is inspired by FFHI's mission to help and uplift fellow Filipinos.
Dylan Mesina, Research Intern
Dylan is currently a research intern at FFHI, graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California (2024) with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and a minor in Musical Studies (Classical Alto Saxophone Performance), hoping to practice transactional law in IP, medical malpractice, or public interest in the near future. Although the intersectionality of human cognition and music pedagogy do not ostensibly pertain to his career trajectory, he believes that the core principles and infrastructure that lied under his education are essential to navigating the health and legal atmosphere. Raised in Burbank, California with his younger sister by his two Filipino immigrant parents, he understood from a young age the struggles behind climbing the proverbial social ladder and achieving the “American Dream.” Belonging to multiple marginalized groups, Dylan has always prioritized community impact, especially in his diasporic one having experienced the nuances of intergenerational trauma himself. This gave him his passion to become a more globalized and involved citizen and subsequently landed him here with Dr. Javier in an effort to promote and advocate for early mental health interventions among Filipino youth both in LA and the PH.
Erika San Antonio, MD, Research Intern
Erika San Antonio was born and raised in New York as a first-generation Filipino American. She entered the CUNY School of Medicine BS/MD program out of high school and moved to LA for pediatric residency at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She is now a second-year resident and undecided in terms of future career plans. She became involved with FFHI after Dr. Javier was assigned as her clinic coach. She found it so inspiring to have a Filipina mentor and it was a gateway to helping the Filipino community and their health. She is so grateful to have found this community and hopes to continue to keep growing with these amazing, incredible people.
OUR ALUMNI INTERNS
Paul Leo Cunanan
Paul graduated from UC Berkeley in 2020 with a B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology and a minor in Early Development and Learning Science.
Warren Aguiling
Warren was the head Research Assistant at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, assisting Team Kapwa in their work on Filipino American youth mental health. He hopes to pursue a clinical psychology career to address health disparities in the Filipino community. Graduating from UCI in 2021 with a BA in Psychological Sciences and Criminology, Law, and Society, Warren plans to investigate the cultural bias in the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions and psychological measures.
Jessica Castro, Research Intern
Jessica graduated from UCLA in 2021 with a B.S in Biology and Society. She is currently working as a Clinical Research Assistant at CHLA and is hoping to pursue public health and social work to address the health disparities (specifically mental health disparities) among the Filipino American community.
“Growing up as a Filipina American, sharing emotions or even saying ‘sorry’ was something uncommon in my household. When I faced mental health issues, it was difficult to find support within my family because mental health was a topic that faced a lot of ignorance and stigma within the Filipino community. When I went to college, I realized that the stigma surrounding mental health in the Filipino community has been an ongoing cycle for generations and is well rooted in our colonial history, Asian culture, and other influences. After learning about the mission of FFHI, I felt inspired by their mison and I wanted to join FFHI to help break the cycle of silence and stigma around mental health and advocate for the mental and social well-being of Filipino families.”
Sharmaine Cerezo (she/they/siya),
Sharmaine Cerezo (she/they/siya pronouns) is a 1.5 generation Pilipina-American who grew up in Koreatown Los Angeles. Her parents are from Binmaley, Pangasinan and Cubao, Quezon City. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019 with a Dual Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Anthropology. She currently works as a Behavior Interventionist supporting families with autism. Sharmaine started interning for Dr. Joyce Javier in 2021 to learn how to cultivate a culture of mental health and bridge mental health gaps in the Pilipinx community and other communities of color. She aspires to be a therapist, or, in her words, a "professional friend," and do the heart work in communities with limited access to mental health services.
Sharmaine enjoys watching competitive cooking shows, playing video games, setting for her teammates in volleyball, and scoring high on Magic Sing!
Annette Faria
Emily Lee
Emily is a senior at the University of Southern California majoring in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She joined FFHI in 2020.
Sam Macam
Claudette Morales
Hello, my name is Claudette Sargento Maloles and I’m currently a junior at the University of Southern California majoring in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. After Dr. Dean Coffey’s presentation in my HP 200 class (Intro to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention) with Professor Rita Burke, I was thoroughly emotional and inspired to take on the initiative this lab is providing, especially for Filipino families. As being a Filipina myself, growing up in a household where mental health was not taken seriously, I loved the idea of volunteering and being a part of something that could make a change to the culture that is presented in our Filipino community. There are many things in the Filipino culture that lack education towards mental health and improving the welfare of our children at an earlier age in life. I loved the fact that this initiative was creating a better relationship between younger and older generations of Filipinos, so that many of these children will be more comfortable with themselves and their family in the future, rather than keeping their emotions to themselves. I also loved the implementation of the Filipino culture when teaching many of the people in the focus groups, as you all can still implement the values of Filipino traditions so the people within the focus group can be comfortable with implementing many of the things they are learning.
Coycoy Martinez Puyat
Justin Shin
