Mission Statement: To assist the Chair and support all APAOC members and activities to fulfill the mission of APAOC; and to develop vision and goals for the following year.

Goals for 2023:

• Support APAOC Chair to implement his vision and achieve his specific goals for APAOC’s 2023 operational year.
• Provide leadership and support for APAOC activities and initiatives in collaboration with the Executive Committee, VMs, and subcommittees.
• Increase level of engagement with current and prospective APAOC members.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationship with both internal and external groups such as other CMAGs, PACE, and various AANHPI organizations.

Contacts:

• Chair-Elect: CDR Sophia Park, Sophia.Park@hhs.fda.gov 
• Alternate: LT Jing Tassone, Jing.Tassone@nih.gov  

Biography:

CDR Sophia Park is the 2023 APAOC Chair-Elect.  Prior to her current term, she served as Corresponding Secretary for the 2022 operational year, and also served as alternate voting member to CDR Trang Tran during her tenure as Chair-Elect and Chair.  CDR Park was active in various subcommittees as a general member, from Recruitment & Retention Subcommittee to Social Media Workgroup.  Currently, CDR Park is stationed in Silver Spring, MD, and serves as a Program Coordinator in the Division of User Fee Management, Office of Management, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she reviews requests for waivers, exemptions, and refunds of prescription drug user fees assessed under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.  These various waivers or reduction in user fees are granted for certain orphan drug products, drugs that protect the public health, and innovative drug products where the fee would present a significant barrier due to limited resources.

Prior to FDA, CDR Park spent 5 years as a clinical pharmacist at the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Service Unit, Indian Health Service, in New Mexico.  She received her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy in 2010.  CDR Park is now a board-certified pharmacist with over 12 years of clinical pharmacy and regulatory expertise.  She commissioned as an officer in May of 2012 and have deployed in support of hurricane Harvey/Irma/Florence responses in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.  CDR Park also holds leadership positions in the USPHS Music Ensemble and the Women’s Leadership Support Group.