9th Annual Breaking Barriers Awards

Tickets: 
Early bird rate, purchase by April 20th: $65/ticket or $225/package of four tickets

Regular rate, purchase April 20th-May 1st: $75/ticket

After May 1st: $85/ticket

The event sold out within a week last year...Don't delay, get your tickets today!
All tickets include two-hour open bar and passed hors d'oeuvres
Silent Auction

All event proceeds will benefit the Asian American Leadership Council's Silk Fund.

Sponsorships are also available: Download sponsorship information (PDF) or the in-kind donation form (PDF) to contribute a silent auction item or contact Rhiannon Rossi at (312) 577-2825 or rrossi@cfw.org.

The annual awards honor Asian and Asian American women leaders in the metropolitan Chicago area who have made an outstanding and lasting impact in their fields. Honorees will have had an impact on health and wellness in numerous ways, including but not limited to providers, advocates, policymakers, researchers, scientists and community educators. The awards will be presented by Chicago Foundation for Women's Asian American Leadership Council. All event proceeds will benefit the council's Silk Fund. 

 

Interested in sponsorship, getting involved or donating an item for the silent auction? Contact Rhiannon Rossi at (312) 577-2825 or rrossi@cfw.org. 
Sunda is wheelchair accessible.  If you have any accessibility questions please contact Rhiannon Rossi at rrossi@cfw.org or (312) 577-2825

 

Arshiya Baig, M.D., M.P.H. is a primary care physician and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago where she cares for adults in the outpatient clinic and the hospital. Dr. Baig also conducts research to improve the health of Latinos with diabetes. She has partnered with churches and community members in South Lawndale to provide an innovative church-based diabetes program called “Picture Good Health” to local residents. Dr. Baig was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Bogotá, CO in 2008. Dr. Baig is a member of the National Research Committee for the Society of General Internal Medicine and has been a consultant to the Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality and an invited reviewer at National Institutes of Health. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and given talks on Latino health disparities, community-based research, and domestic violence in the U.S. and abroad.

   

Trupti Gokani, M.D. is a board-certified neurologist who is the founder and director of the North Shore Headache Clinic in Highland Park, Ill. She has evolved her traditional headache practice into an integrative model encouraging chronic pain patients to utilize non-pharmacological approaches for treatment of conditions ranging from headaches and neck pain, to insomnia and mood disorders. Her current approach utilizes functional healing of the various body systems utilizing supplements, herbs, ayurvedic medicine, along with Yoga, PT, chiropractic treatments, acupuncture, massage, nutrition and holistic psychology to transcend her patients to a higher level of well-being. Traditional treatments such as pharmacotherapy, along with injectables may easily be combined with the above modalities if needed. She is a national speaker for various pharmaceutical industries and enjoys educating patients and other practitioners on the topics of her expertise. She is a member of the National Headache Society, the American Council for Headache Education (Professional Member) and the Institute of Functional Medicine.

  

 Ruchi S. Gupta holds a joint appointment to Northwestern University’s Institute for Healthcare Studies where she is the director of the Center for Maternal and Child Health and the Smith Child Health Research Program at Children’s Memorial Hospital. She is also on the board of directors of the Chicago Asthma Consortium and the Steering Committee of the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities. Dr. Gupta received her medical degree from the University of Louisville, where she was awarded the Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School Scholarship. She completed her residency at the University of Seattle and was honored with the Fitzhugh Mullen Resident Leadership Award and the American Medical Association’s National Leadership Award.  Following residency, Dr. Gupta entered the National Research Service Award (NRSA) T32 Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston and received an M.P.H from the Harvard School of Public Health. She then continued as a NRSA fellow at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where she is currently on faculty. Dr. Gupta’s research interests include childhood asthma and food allergy. 

Grace Hou is the president of the Woods Fund of Chicago.  She was appointed in February 2012 to lead this grant-making foundation whose goal is to increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities and to include them in decisions impacting them. Prior to this appointment, from 2003 to 2012, Grace Hou served as the assistant secretary at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), one of Illinois’ largest agencies, with more than 13,000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $5 billion. She was responsible for the oversight of the agency’s program areas:  Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Division of Human Capital Development, Division of Mental Health, Division of Development Disabilities, Division of Community Health and Prevention, and the Division of Rehabilitation Services.  During her time at IDHS, she was a key player in the creation and implementation of the state’s Immigrant Integration New American’s Executive Order.  Prior to her time with the state, Grace was the executive director of Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA).

Prerna Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H., FACP career has been punctuated by ambition, achievement and recognition, with her most prized accomplishment to date being one of 5 finalists for Surgeon General of the United States. An immigrant from India and former medical director, she is a triple board-certified physician and Emmy award-winning medical journalist. Dr. Khanna currently serves as the medical contributor to Fox Chicago News and associate clinical professor at the University of Illinois and is the only medical doctor inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University.  In the past 14 years, she has provided emergency medical relief after four hurricanes, a tsunami, a terrorist attack, an airplane crash, a civil war, an extreme sports race, a NASA expedition and an earthquake. A founding member of the Department of Homeland Security, she specializes in print, online and television reporting from disasters where she provides care. 

Joy Messinger is a passionate community activist whose personal and professional life has been guided by a commitment to reproductive and social justice. She began her career working with people impacted by HIV/AIDS, first as a case manager for HIV-positive gay men and then with a support and peer education program for youth with HIV-positive family members. Joy recently became the manager of sexual health education at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, a statewide organization that works in partnership with youth to promote a positive approach to adolescent sexual health and parenting. Joy is also the reproductive justice coordinator with the Chicago Chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, leading a community-based inquiry to discover the meaning and importance of reproductive justice for API communities and their allies. When not working, Joy volunteers as a birth doula and writes on- and off-line about adoption, bisexuality, and the challenges and triumphs faced through both identities. 

Abha Pandya joined Asian Human Services (AHS) as executive director in 1994, and was named CEO in 2004. Abha is a visible advocate for Asian and other immigrant and refugee communities in Chicago, especially in the areas of equitable distribution of resources, and access to linguistically and culturally-appropriate services. Abha's achievements at AHS include the creation of Asian Human Services Passages Charter School, Chicago’s first charter school focusing specifically on the learning needs of immigrant and refugee children. Her efforts over a three-year period resulted in the establishment of Illinois’ first federally-funded clinic for the Asian community. The AHS Family Health Center provides culturally sensitive primary and preventative care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, maternal care, and family planning. Before joining AHS, Abha held policy planning , writing, and advocacy positions in the US, as well as her native India.  She holds an an master of science in journalism from Boston University, master of arts in history with distinction from the University of Delhi, and a bachelor or arts in history with Distinction from the University of Bombay.