NEW LATTHIVONGSKORN is an immigrant rights & health justice activist, and an aspiring physician.
He migrated to the United States as a young nine-year-old with his family and has considered himself a Californian ever since. As an undocumented immigrant & first-generation college student, he experienced the difficulties of navigating the higher education system as he walked onto the UC Berkeley campus. It was not until he connected with community organizations that he found a community of like-minded individuals with shared experiences and understood the importance of mentorship. He joined Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC) as a New American Scholar where he began to write and speak about his intersectional identities as a scholar and a situational activist. He served as the one of the first co-chairs of ASPIRE—the nation’s first pan-Asian undocumented immigrant organization—where he became involved in grass-roots community organizing for advancing immigrant rights. He engaged in raising awareness and broadening the immigration dialogue to include Asian and Pacific Islander communities at the state and national levels. He was named one of “25 Leaders in Action” by Asian Americans Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), top “10 Asian-Pacific American Influences” by Buzzfeed.
Having experienced, first-hand, the alienation and confusion that immigrant families face in attempting to navigate health care systems in the U.S., he became interested with the idea of working to improve health for all marginalized communities. His time working with the homeless community of Berkeley through the Suitcase Clinic, and with Oakland’s low-income communities as a Healthy Ambassador of Mentoring in Medicine & Science exposed him to the shared issues across all marginalized communities. He is a graduate of University of California Berkeley with a B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Class of 2012 – GO BEARS! He became the first undocumented medical student at University of California, San Francisco, in the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US). He is currently a Master’s in Public Health candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. New continues on his journey to become a physician who practices medicine through a public health lens, using primary care, research, and policy to shape health for the individual and the community
In 2017, New was selected for Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List for co-founding Pre-Health Dreamers (PHD), a national organization that serves as a community, resource, and advocate for all undocumented students pursuing careers in health and science. PHD continues to shape the national conversation around the need for a more diverse healthcare workforce that is representative of those being served. In 2016, the “Trailerblazer Award” was given to PHD by Health Career Connection.
New has been recognized for his commitment to social justice and service: the 2017 Excellence in Public Health Award by the U.S. Public Health Service, as well as the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for Service and the Thomas N. Burbridge Award. New continues to engage in work at the intersection of immigrant rights, health & medicine, and culture change. He serves on the President’s Advisory Council on Undocumented Students to advise Janet Napolitano on priorities across the UC system. He has formerly served as a Board of Director for Asian Health Services.
