Melissa Wong

Chair, Board of Directors

Melissa Wong is an attorney at Holland & Knight, LLP and is a member of the firm's national Healthcare & Life Sciences Team and Corporate M&A group. She advises clients in various sectors on healthcare regulatory matters, on fraud, abuse and compliance matters, and on corporate transactional matters. She is looking forward to the opportunity to work on health access and disparity issues in the Asian-American community, particularly in the areas of mental health and organ transplantation.

Melissa is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in International Relations, and an honors graduate from the University of Connecticut School of Law. Prior to her legal career, Melissa was a Senior Manager of Strategy and Business Development with American Express. She developed and drove new sales and account expansion opportunities for the top global clients in the corporate portfolio. Melissa also has extensive experience in marketing and risk management consulting.

Melissa originally hails from New Jersey and has lived in Philadelphia, New York City, and Hartford before settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Elisa Choi

Chair Emeritus, Board of Directors

Dr. Choi has been an active member of the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community for many years, and is the longest-serving member of the Board of Directors of MAP for Health. She has formerly served as Secretary/Clerk and Chair for MAP for Health’s Board of Directors, and currently is the Board Chair Emeritus.

Dr. Choi holds numerous Board leadership positions in other non-profit organizations which support the API community of the state in various ways, including serving as the current Vice-Chairperson of the Asian American Commission of the Commonwealth of MA. As a State-appointed Commissioner, she also serves as the Co-Chair of the Asian American Commission’s Healthcare subcommittee, and plays a prominent role in the planning and programming of healthcare-related events and activities for the Commission.

Dr. Choi is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and practices both as an Internist and as an Infectious Disease, HIV, and Hepatitis infection specialist. She has published articles, written book chapters, and lectured regionally and nationally on various Infectious Disease, HIV, and healthcare-related topics. Dr. Choi has a particular interest in providing culturally competent care of health issues affecting Asian-Pacific Islander and minority populations.

Deborah Lee

Board Secretary/Clerk

Deborah Lee is a Program Manager at the Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Debbie spends time leading programs towards successful completion and manages projects in the HealthTech industry. She brings years of grant writing and grant management support to MAP. A former teacher and proposal developer, she aims to help expand MAP’s mission and outreach towards narrowing health disparities in the API community in Massachusetts.

Originally from Los Angeles, California, Debbie grew up in the immigrant community and took an interest in helping Asian families assimilate to the American culture after having shared in struggles of her own as a first-generation Korean American. She has provided English/Korean translational services to Boston-area schools, and has worked with Asian American youth in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Debbie is also an active Board Member of Circus Up, an organization using circus arts to overcome social barriers. She holds a M.Ed. from Boston College and a B.A. in Philosophy from Boston University. 

Albert M. Chan

Board Member

Albert M. Chan is an actor and filmmaker who previously served on the steering committee of the Queer Asian Pacific-Islander Alliance (QAPA), the oldest Asian queer organization in the United States, founded in 1979.

Albert’s film The Commitment, based on his experiences as a gay Asian man adopting a baby, has screened at over 50 film festivals on six continents and won multiple awards. Albert was awarded a Puffin Foundation grant for Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future, which stars Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Tina Chen and is based on his family's immigration from Asia to North America. His latest film, Welcome to the World, deals with themes of loneliness, grief, and mental health in a queer API context, and has screened at over 50 film festivals on six continents.

Albert was named a 2022 Humanitas New Voice Fellow for screenwriting that “explores the human condition in nuanced, meaningful way”. He is currently developing unique, smart, and emotionally engaging drama features rooted in science.

As an actor, Albert’s film and TV roles include New Amsterdam, Gotham, Julia, 30 Rock, Law & Order SVU, Girls, Patriots Day, Love Life, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and he has acted opposite Helen Hunt, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Justin Long, Larry David, Cybill Shepherd, and David Hyde Pierce.

Albert holds a Ph.D. from MIT in Electrical Engineering. Since 2004, he has worked at Vanu, Inc. where he works on wireless communication systems.