Congratulations to our 2018 APIQWTC scholarship awardees, Caroline and Lori Lee!
Caroline is pursuing a B.A. in Human Biology with a concentration in community health policy at Stanford University. On campus, she has worked to increase the accessibility of mental health resources, both as a trained peer counselor and as co-director of the Mental Health & Wellness Coalition; off campus, she works with St. James’ Infirmary, a free health clinic for sex workers in SF, to provide queer and trans-inclusive healthcare to underserved communities in the city. As a queer child of immigrants, Caroline has seen firsthand how the American healthcare system has failed and continues to fail marginalized communities, especially queer and trans communities of color; at the same time, however, she also has always recognized the knowledge and power these communities have (and have always had) to care for their own and be spaces of transformative healing in the face of systemic injustice. In the future, she hopes to pursue a degree in medicine in order to put herself in a position where she can provide compassionate and culturally-competent care to her communities, speak and act out against systemic queerphobia/trans-antagonism and racism within the medical institution, and fight to ensure these communities have the resources and power they need for lasting, sustainable healing.
Lori Lee is a 3rd generation Chinese-American Lesbian is pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology at the American School of Professional Psychology in Alameda. Lori Lee decided to make the scary leap of quitting gainful employment to return to school after many years working as a child protective social worker in San Francisco, serving communities of color, queer, disenfranchised, disabled and marginalized people including issues of child abuse, domestic violence, mental health issues, substance abuse, and low socioeconomic status. Lori Lee believes that life is too short and feels it’s important to do things to bring joy to your life. Lori Lee believes that no matter how old you are it is never too late to go back to school and wants people to know that no matter your age it is important to take care of your mental health. Since belonging to the APIQWTC community for many many years (yes over 20!) Lori Lee is grateful for the scholarship and all the years of support, fun and lifelong friendships.
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