Progress of our AYA@USC Program has been achieved through the guidance and efforts of members from our Executive Committee, Steering Committee and Clinical Care Model, Research, and Education and Outreach Working Groups.
This committee structure includes representation from both inside and outside of USC and its rich diversity of health related disciplines that includes both adult and pediatric medical and surgical oncology, social work, preventive medicine and epidemiology, hospital and cancer center administrative support, student health, physical therapy, fertility services, and more. The role of each individual is to provide insight and guidance from their specialty, so that the AYA@USC is truly an interdisciplinary and comprehensive Program.
David R. Freyer, DO, MS
Co-Medical Director
Dr. David Freyer is Director of the Survivorship and Supportive Care Program in the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Freyer oversees clinical cancer survivorship and supportive care services and research, including hematology/oncology-related behavioral health, neuropsychology and health education.
James Hu, MD, FACP
Co-Medical Director
Dr. James Hu is the Medical Director of the Sarcoma Program of University of Southern California, and is considered one of the nation’s experts in the disease. Dr. Hu has more than 20 years of clinical experience in medical oncology and brings this acumen to the bedside. Dr. Hu has the breadth of clinical experience as well as the academic discipline to provide each patient with an individualized treatment program. He has collaborated with other national experts to bring clinical trials to USC.
Jan Huynh, LCSW, MSW
Social Worker
Ms. Huynh has a natural ability to talk to young adults therapeutically and genuinely enjoys helping people. In her current role, she provides psycho-social and emotional support to our young adult patients throughout all stages of their treatment process, from initial diagnosis to end-of-life. She utilizes her clinical skills along with her deep compassion and empathy to counsel patients through their cancer-related distress.
Aura Kuperberg, LCSW, PhD
Project Administrator
Aura Kuperberg, PhD brings passion, insight and wisdom to AYA@USC group-based programs addressing the psychosocial needs of adolescents and young adults with cancer. It was early in her career, while doing her social work internship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) in 1979, when she first dreamed of establishing support programs for these vulnerable young people. She earned a PhD and a dual masters’ degree from USC.
Shu Li, MA
Program Administrator
Ms. Shu Li is Program Administrator of the AYA@USC program. She has over 17 years of experiences in healthcare, including program management, professional education & patient education, curriculum design, marketing and community outreach. Her areas of interest within AYA cancers directly correlate to her professional role in enhancing AYA cancer network and awareness, development of best practices, guidelines and protocols, education and training, strategic partnership, psychosocial support, community outreach, specific research projects and improved access to clinical care.
Elaine Vieira, MSN, RN
Nurse Navigator
Elaine received her Master’s Degree in Nursing from California State University Dominguez Hills and worked many years as Oncology Nurse at a solid tumor unit at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. Later she joined Novartis Oncology as a Nurse Educator for the Breast Cancer Team, helping the team understand doctors’ clinical needs and their perspective regarding Novartis products. Elaine accumulated extensive experience and knowledge about research, protocol and guidelines for new drug development after working closely with researchers who have been passionate and dedicated to conquer the diseases.
AYA@USC Interns
Sarah Selke
Website/Marketing Intern
Jiahe Zhang
Research Intern
Fengxue Zhou, MS, Gerontology, USC
Graphic Designer and Webmaster
Web Development Volunteers from USC Computer Science 401 Capstone Class (Fall 2019)
Alex Gednov, Cindy Clarissa, Farrell Hohman, Kayla Sison, Veda Murthy