The Penn Mental Health Wellness Series is generously sponsored by the Matthew Y Wang Memorial Fund.
Matthew Y Wang’s memorial fund was established on Nov.19, 2021 in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at The School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. This fund was founded by his family to honor Matthew Yumeng Wang. Matthew Yumeng Wang joined the Penn Bio-Dental Program in 2017. He passed away on May 3, 2021, just 2 weeks prior to his graduation day for his bachelor’s degree. His family and friends were devastated by the loss of Matthew.
The Penn community, the local Chinese community from his hometown, Penn dental class 2024 donated actively to the family to show their love and support. His family received donation for more than $50, 000. Matthew’s family matched the same amount and established this fund to memorized Matthew. This fund is used to improve Penn student mental health wellness by funding education and training workshops. Last academic year, three workshops was supported by this fund. Speakers were Penn’s alumni from all over the country.
The fund is managed by Grace Wu, Senior foreign language lecturer (Senior LFL) of East Asian Language Civilization Department. It is mainly used to enrich the Heritage Language curriculum and emphasize the mental health wellness of Chinese Americans. The mental lectures were led by Dr. Yong Tong Li, a counseling psychiatrist at the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) of the University of Pennsylvania, hoping to strengthen the mental health education for Chinese American students.
Daily Pennsylvanian Article, go to https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/05/matthew-wang-biology-dental-student-died
For donations, go to https://giving.aws.cloud.upenn.edu/fund?program=SAS&fund=605176
For more information, please contact gracewu@sas.upenn.edu
Past Event
Event 7- Mental Health Workshop “De-stress during stressful time -Afternoon of Button making, Chair Yoga & Desserts”
Date: Wednesday, April 26
Time: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Place: College Hall 200
Facilitators:
Event 6-Mental Health Lecture “From Burnout to Helping Out and What I learn about Wellness in Between”
Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023
Time: 12-1 p.m.
Location: College Hall 200
Speakers: Xinshu She, MD, MPH, FAAP
Clinical Associate Professor
Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Xinshu She is a Global Health pediatrician with 15 years of experience working in low-resource communities. She speaks 5 languages and is committed to creating interdisciplinary solutions for all vulnerable children to reach their full potential. She graduated from U Penn in 2006 with a BA in Biochemistry and completed her medical training at Albert Einstein and Harvard. She also holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins University in Epidemiology. She has published on youth mental health epidemiology and prevention, early childhood development, health inequity and malnutrition in global settings. She has presented nationally and internationally on Global Health, mental health, and professional development. She has collaborated with multidisciplinary partners in inner city US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, DR Congo and China. She has mentored more than 100 students and researchers globally. She is a certified mindfulness instructor, Master Professional Coach and Reiki Master.
More information about mental health wellness events, please contact Grace Wu @ gracewu@sas.upenn.edu
Event 5 – Mental Health Workshop “De-stress During the Stressful Time – Let’s Have Tea and Desserts”
Date: 12/12/2022
Time: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Place: Annenberg 110
Speakers: Grace (Seung In) Cho, Aleksandr Kasyanchuk, Julie Nguyen, Helen Rizaldi, Cathy Nam, Anas Ahmed.
6 NP students will teach students a few tricks, like point pressure— to help relieve headaches, promote relaxation… lightly touch on sleep issues and etc.
More information about mental health wellness events, please contact Grace Wu @ gracewu@sas.upenn.edu
Grace (Seung) Cho
Grace (Seung In) Cho is a recent grad of Penn’s ABSN (Accelerated Bachelors of Science of Nursing) in December 2021 and currently pursuing the MSN- PMHNP track (class of 2023). She has worked in human resources for 5+ years prior to becoming a nursing professional. Currently she works per diem as a RN working with people living with eating disorders.
Aleksandr Kasyanchuk
Aleksandr Kasyanchuk RN, BSN moved to Philadelphia from Seattle to pursue the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner track at Penn. His nursing background is in oncology, hospice, and complex pain management.
Julie Nguyen
Julie Nguyen RN, BSN is from Denver, Colorado and is currently a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner student at Penn. Her nursing background includes working with medical/surgical/cardiac patients
Helen Rizaldi
Helen Rizaldi BSN, RN, PMHN-BC is from Delaware. She is currently a PMHNP student at Penn, class of 2023. Her background includes head and neck surgery, cardiothoracic stepdown, psychiatric emergency service, drug and alcohol rehab, and inpatient psychiatry.
Cathy Nam
Cathy Nam, BSN, RN is originally from Maryland and moved to Philadelphia last year for graduate school. She worked as a high-risk labor and delivery nurse for about two years and currently works on inpatient psychiatric units.
Anas Ahmed
Anas Ahmed BSN, RN is a nurse currently working in a cardiac surgery PCU at the new pavilion. He is currently a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner student at Penn. Prior to this, he worked at an acute psychiatric hospital and a medical surgical hospital as a tech in Massachusetts.
Lecture 4 “Game-changing Tricks to Combat Stress in College”–Hear from your alumni, what they wish they knew
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Time: 12-1 p.m.
Location: College Hall 200
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Time: 1:45-2:45 p.m.
Location: DRLB A2
Speakers: Dr. Yong-tong Li, Mr. Ryan Komori, W‘07 and Atthena Breitton, W’08
Dr. Yong-Tong Li, MD
Dr. Yong-Tong Li is a board certified psychiatrist and a fellow of the
American Psychiatric Association. She is a counseling psychiatrist at the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) of the University of Pennsylvania for more than 17 years.
Ryan Komori, W’07
3rd-time founder & Inc 30 Under 30 recipient
Grew prior mobile gaming company to >$100MM revenue with only $10K in funding
Current company, Savor Lining, is pioneering Organizational Mental Fitness https://www.savorlining.com/
Like most Asian Americans, he worked himself to death, but to the point where he suffered from over a decade of unrecognizable depression and psychological trauma. It almost took his life, and he ended up in the ER and spent 8 weeks in UCLA’s neuropsychiatric hospital.
Below is a short video that describes his journey and the story behind Savor Lining:
Atthena Breitton, W’08
Former Investment Banker
Yoga & Meditation Teacher
Healer & Wellness Advocate
Lunch will be provided for attendees.
More information about mental health wellness events, please contact Grace Wu gracewu@sas.upenn.edu
Lecture 1 “Navigating Cross-cultural Conversation in the AAPI Community” (February 10, 2022, 12-1 p.m.)
Lecture 2 “Open Conversation with Alumni on Navigating Cross-Cultural Mental Health” (March 17, 2022, 12-1 p.m.) * Free lunch will be provided.
Lecture 3 “Interactive & Real-Time Exercises with Alumni on Managing Stress and Navigating Cross-Cultural Mental Health” * Free lunch will be provided.
Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022
Time: 12-1 p.m.
Location: FAGN Auditorium
Description:
Join us for an interactive discussion and real-time exercises to gain quick, easy, and effective tricks to bring joy into daily life and to cope with anxiety during finals.
*For in-person attendees, lunch will be provided
Virtual Option:
Meeting ID: 929 0318 4756
Passcode: 127862
