Thu Quach, Ph.D., has worked in public health and health care for 25+ years. Her research, service, and advocacy work have been grounded in her own lived experience as a Vietnam refugee and the struggles her family faced in the health care system.  
 
Dr. Quach is the President of Asian Health Services (AHS), a federally qualified health center in Oakland serving 50,000 patients in English and 14 languages. She is involved in research and policy efforts to promote health equity, emphasizing the importance of language justice and data disaggregation. She has conducted ground-breaking research in worker’s health and safety for nail and hair salon workers to inform policy and practice. She has expanded culturally competent mental health services at AHS.  In recent years, Dr. Quach has been leading the organization in addressing racial disparities in COVID-19, including starting up culturally and linguistically competent community testing sites, contact tracing targeting Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), and vaccination efforts. In addition, she has been conducting groundbreaking research on COVID-19 impacts on the AAPI population and launched efforts to collect stories of language and digital barriers faced by the AAPI community during the pandemic. Her recent work has focused on responding to anti-Asian violence and addressing mental health needs for survivors. 
 
Dr. Quach received her Bachelor of Arts at UC Berkeley, her Masters in Public Health at UCLA and her Ph.D. in Epidemiology at UC Berkeley.