Junior Wan-Chi So spent Chinese New Year 2002 at the ceremonial street festival in San Francisco’s Chinatown. But she wasn’t there just for the party. She was raising awareness about hepatitis B.
Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States are 100 times more likely to have the chronic form of the liver disease than Caucasians, says Samuel So, an associate professor of surgery. He estimates that one in 10 Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have the virus, and one in four of those will die from liver cancer or liver failure. “Many Asian-Americans are foreign-born and came from countries where chronic hepatitis B is endemic,” he explains. And because most were infected at birth or during early childhood, it is important to screen and treat them young.
In 1996, Samuel So founded Stanford’s Asian Liver Center, which has three components: research, treatment, and educational outreach and advocacy. Public communications are largely managed by about a dozen undergraduate interns, who facilitate free community screenings and conduct a part-grassroots, part-media awareness campaign. Their jade awareness ribbons are twisted into the shape of the Chinese character for “person” or “people.”
Incorporating traditional cultural values “such as a deep respect for family and heritage is important in our campaign,” says Wan-Chi So. “When you see a whole family of grandparents, parents and grandkids strolling down the street, you don’t just thrust a brochure in their hands. You first give candies to the grandkids, wish the grandparents good health, and then you ask the parents if their kids have been vaccinated against hep B and if they have had regular screenings for hep B.”
—VAUHINI VARA, ’04, and MELISANDE MIDDLETON, ’02
