Category: Volunteering

August 2023 – Present

I co-direct the Asian American Advocacy Project (APIDA) at Vanderbilt, working with a small team to organize three conferences each year focused on Asian American history, professional development, and youth leadership. We partner with two local and national APIDA organizations to expand outreach and bring speakers and programming to students who often do not see their experience reflected in campus events.

My father is from East Germany and my mother from China. I grew up between three cultures and have spent most of my life noticing how are not built for all people. APIDA is part of why I came to dentistry the way I did — patients who feel like they are navigating a room not built for them are the ones I care about most.

May 2025 – present

I volunteer with Dr. Eileen Seitz (retired) and Giving Smiles, helping deliver free or subsidized dental care through a mobile clinic and a small office for longer procedures. The mobile unit operates across Middle Tennessee — state licensing rules keep it from crossing into Kentucky. Running a mobile dental practice is harder than it looks: the equipment, the compliance, the logistics of setting up and breaking down at every site. Dr. Seitz has built something rare, and working alongside her has changed how I think about what access to care actually requires.