Please join us in welcoming our three new board members, Kaying Hang, Miguel Perez, and Crystal Crawford.
Kaying Hang
Senior Vice President of Programs and Partnerships, Sierra Health
Kaying Hang serves on the executive team for Sierra Health Foundation and The Center as the Senior Vice President of Programs and Partnerships. In this role, Kaying is responsible for strategic program and partnership development, and oversees management of the foundation’s and The Center’s programs and initiatives. She joined the foundation in 2013.
Before coming to Sierra Health Foundation, Kaying served as associate director for Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, where she worked with foundations, affinity groups, public policy groups and immigrant rights organizations. Previously, she served as senior program officer at the Otto Bremer Foundation in Minnesota, and a program officer and senior consultant with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation.
In addition to institutional philanthropy, Kaying worked in state government as the state coordinator of the Refugee Health Program for the Minnesota Department of Health, and as assistant regional coordinator for the Refugee and Immigrant Health Program for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
A native Hmong speaker, Kaying received a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University and a Master’s in Public Health from Boston University. Originally from Minnesota’s Twin Cities, she is the oldest of seven children and comes from a refugee family dedicated to social justice and racial equity. She and her family are proud to call Sacramento home.
Miguel A. Perez, PhD
Professor of Public Health, California State University, Fresno
Dr. Miguel A. Perez is a health educator whose work focuses on cultural competence and international health issues among adolescents. Dr. Perez has received four Fulbright awards, and has taught and conducted research in Colombia, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, South Africa, Peru, Chile, and Mexico.
Dr. Perez has served as the chair of the Department of Public Health at California State University, Fresno as well as Director of the MPH program at the same institution. In 2008, he was appointed by the State Superintendent of Education to the panel that drafted the Health Education Standards for grades K-12 in the State of California.
Dr. Perez has received over 50 awards including the Professional Service Award from the American Association of Health Educators and a Certificate of Recognition for Distinguished Accomplishments from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. In 2015, Dr. Perez received the Corazón “Heart” Award for his work with Latino community health workers from Vision y Compromiso. Dr. Perez holds honorary academic appointments at the Universidad Central del Este in the Dominican Republic and in the School of Medicine at the Universidad Ricardo Palma in Peru.
Dr. Perez earned his bachelor’s degree in research in Mental Health at California State University, Dominguez Hills and his Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in health education at the Pennsylvania State University.
Crystal D. Crawford
Executive Director, Western Center on Law and Poverty
A seasoned leader with more than 20 years of senior management experience in the legal, philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, Crawford has played a pivotal role in advancing the health and economic security of low-income Californians, women of color and communities of color.
Before she was Western Center’s Executive Director, Crawford was a program director at The California Wellness Foundation, where she developed and led the organization’s groundbreaking Women’s Initiatives, a multi-million dollar program that amplifies the voices of women of color and provides philanthropy and policymakers with a vision for how to advance the health and economic security of women of color. She also helmed Cal Wellness’ legacy portfolio, Increasing Diversity in the Health Professions, which has supported community-based organizations, academic institutions and countless people of color pursuing and sustaining health professions careers. Prior to leaving the foundation, she helmed the development of the Leading for Power and Change portfolio which was created to amplify the voices, leadership and power of people of color. Prior to her work with Cal Wellness, Crawford was CEO of the California Black Women’s Health Project, the only statewide organization devoted to improving the health of California’s Black women and girls through policy, advocacy, education and outreach. Prior to her tenure as CEO, she served as Director of Public Policy for CABWHP and Legal Director for the Alliance for Children’s Rights. Before working in the nonprofit, public interest sector, Crawford was a litigation associate at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and a summer associate with major corporate law firms in Los Angeles, Boston and New York. She began her post-collegiate career as a public school teacher in Harlem.
Crawford is active in the leadership of numerous civic and community organizations. She sits on the five-member Los Angeles County Public Health Commission and the Dartmouth Alumni Council. She also serves on the boards of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation and Funders Concerned About AIDS. She previously served on the boards of Dartmouth College’s Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, the Tucker Foundation at Dartmouth College, Health Access California, SisterSong, and on the advisory council for the California Breast Cancer Research Program.
Crawford is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2009 Advocates’ Award from Western Center, the 2012 PowerPAC Award from the Los Angeles African American Women’s Political Action Committee, and the 2015 Outstanding Women of the City Club Award.
Originally from Harlem, New York and Teaneck, New Jersey, Crawford earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Dartmouth College and law degree from the New York University School of Law, where she was an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellow, Chairperson of the Black Allied Law Student Association and served on the editorial staff of the Journal of International Law & Politics. She is admitted to the bar in California, New York and New Jersey.