About

Sora Park Park Tanjasiri is a faculty member at the UC Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her professional focus includes cancer research, with an emphasis on health disparities and interventional studies. She is involved in various research programs and initiatives aimed at understanding and addressing cancer health disparities, and she contributes to the development of clinical trials and research resources within the institution. Her work supports the mission of advancing cancer control and improving patient outcomes through research, education, and community engagement.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Medicine
• Nursing
• Psychology
• Public relations
• Family medicine
• Gerontology
• Social psychology
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Multilevel Factors Associated with HPV Vaccine Initiation and Completion among Mexican American Young Adult Women from Federally Qualified Health Centers in Orange County, CA

  Behavioral Medicine · 2026-01-02

  articleOpen access

  Latina women experience cancer disparities exacerbated by multilevel factors. An understanding of how multilevel factors influence Latinas' use of prevention services, can inform culturally tailored interventions. Using cross-sectional surveys guided by the NIMHD Health Disparities Research Framework, we sought to identify individual (HPV vaccine hesitancy, HPV knowledge, HPV vaccine conspiracy beliefs), interpersonal (strength of provider communication, mother-daughter communication), and community (negative HPV vaccine messages, number of times offered the HPV vaccine, clinic wait times) factors associated with HPV vaccine initiation and completion among Mexican American young adult women. At the individual level, HPV vaccine hesitancy and HPV vaccine conspiracy beliefs were associated with HPV vaccine initiation and completion. HPV vaccine knowledge was not associated with initiation or completion. At the individual level, strength of provider communication and HPV mother-daughter communication was associated with HPV vaccine initiation. Only HPV mother-daughter communication was associated with HPV vaccine completion. At the community level, longer clinic wait times and number of times the HPV vaccine has been offered was associated with HPV vaccine initiation. Exposure to negative HPV vaccine messages was not associated with HPV vaccine initiation but was associated with HPV vaccine completion. Longer clinic wait times and number of times the HPV vaccine was offered was not associated with completion. Findings suggest multilevel factors that influence HPV vaccine initiation can differ from factors that influence completion, an important factor to consider when designing interventions tailored to meet the needs of this population or when implementing evidence-based strategies for HPV vaccination.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Predictors of HPV and Hep B vaccination beliefs and behaviors among Vietnamese American young adults: Implications for dual vaccine coverage

  Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  = 109) received both. Significant predictors of vaccine intention varied between the two vaccines. Self-efficacy, age, and doctor's recommendation for the HPV vaccine were significantly associated with dual cancer vaccine uptake. Our findings reinforce the utility of the HBM in identifying drivers of vaccine-related behaviors and highlight the critical role of healthcare providers in HPV and dual vaccine uptake.

  PublisherDOI

• Racial/ethnic disparities in time from diagnosis to surgical treatment for type I and type II endometrial carcinomas

  Gynecologic Oncology · 2025-07-15 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “Each one of us did the best we could for the community, while also supporting each other”: community residents’ perspectives on community health worker (CHW) response during the COVID-19 pandemic - a community science worker-led qualitative study

  BMC Public Health · 2025-04-04 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the health and social wellbeing of the United States population, disproportionately affecting low-income, immigrant communities of color. In Orange County, California, community health workers (CHWs) were essential to addressing multilevel community needs among impacted communities. However, little is known about how communities and CHWs responded to meet their needs amid pressing challenges. METHODS: CHWs completed a popular education qualitative methods program under a Community Science Worker (CSW) model to design and facilitate four semi-structured focus groups and three interviews with 32 residents in Orange County, California, to understand their pandemic experiences and interactions with CHWs. Sessions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an adapted flexible coding approach to derive data-driven themes. RESULTS: Residents described how they supported one another, advocated for their communities, and fostered livelihood and resilience. Four main themes detail the community's response: (1) facing a chain of interconnected challenges; (2) connecting with CHWs and accessing the services they facilitated; (3) fostering a community of care, a mutuality often inspired by interactions with CHWs; and (4) reinforcing foundations through a whole-of-community approach, including strengthening social policies. CONCLUSIONS: Engaging community members is crucial for comprehensively understanding the CHW model. Given the enormous ongoing community challenges post-pandemic, these findings call for increased CHW presence, additional support and resources for health and socioeconomic needs, and improved information dissemination to bolster community resilience. Findings center mutual aid, emphasizing the importance of supporting communities in this crucial work. Additionally, engaging with residents who CHWs supported is vital for understanding the full impact of CHW models.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Language justice as an antiracism institutional transformation: Institutional facilitators and barriers for community-engaged cardiometabolic health promotion research

  Journal of Clinical and Translational Science · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  This article describes lessons learned from the incorporation of language justice as an antiracism praxis for an academic Center addressing cardiometabolic inequities. Drawing from a thematic analysis of notes and discussions from the Center's community engagement core, we present lessons learned from three examples of language justice: inclusion of bilingual team members, community mini-grants, and centering community in community-academic meetings. Facilitating strategies included preparing and reviewing materials in advance for interpretation/translation, live simultaneous interpretation for bilingual spaces, and in-language documents. Barriers included: time commitment and expenses, slow organizational shifts to collectively practice language justice, and institutional-level administrative hurdles beyond the community engagement core's influence. Strengthening language justice means integrating language justice institutionally and into all research processes; dedicating time and processes to learn about and practice language justice; equitably funding language justice within research budgets; equitably engaging bilingual, bicultural staff and language justice practitioners; and creating processes for language justice in written and oral research and collaborative activities. Language justice is not optional and necessitates buy-in, leadership, and support of community engagement cores, Center leadership, university administrators, and funders. We discuss implications for systems and policy change to advance language justice in research to promote health equity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• People Versus Product: Conditions for Success for Community Health Workers as Sustainable Members of the Public Health Workforce

  Milbank Quarterly · 2025-07-26 · 1 citations

  article

  Policy Points Community health workers (CHWs) recognize that health care and public health institutions and representatives value their roles, but these institutions are often unaware of the labor required to obtain the expertise that CHWs leverage. Despite a recognition of the value of the CHW role, CHWs feel their roles are not properly compensated or acknowledged, and they face other structural barriers that perpetuate the precarity of the role. As the CHW landscape for compensation and certification changes, these conditions need to be considered to better support and sustain this workforce. CONTEXT: Community health workers (CHWs) are frontline public health workers who support the well-being and capacity building of residents disproportionately affected by health inequities. The purpose of this study is to examine diverse perspectives on the conditions for CHW success as CHWs were engaged in rapidly implemented, highly responsive education, vaccination, and recovery efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large county in Southern California. METHODS: The Community Activation to Transform Local Systems (CATALYST) study leveraged a community-based participatory research approach to conduct a case study of CHW COVID-19 responses in Orange County, California. From 2023 to 2024, we conducted 16 semistructured, in-depth interviews and eight focus group discussions with CHWs (n = 60). Interviews and focus group discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following an adapted flexible coding approach, including inductive and deductive codes. FINDINGS: Findings highlight three key themes: 1) CHWs recognize that institutions value their expertise and capacity to build connections with community members, 2) CHWs' labor to build their expertise often goes unacknowledged, and 3) CHWs face financial and structural constraints that undermine the value ascribed to their contributions. Despite this, CHWs stress the importance of proper recognition and fair compensation to reflect the critical role CHWs serve in advancing community health. CONCLUSIONS: Institutions recognize CHWs' impact; however, CHWs feel that the aspects of their work that build their expertise often go unnoticed and undervalued. To sustain CHWs as integral members of the public health workforce, especially during crises and recovery, institutions need to recognize the full extent of CHW roles and provide adequate financial and structural support essential to preserve the model's viability and impact. Findings from this case study may inform policies and practices for governmental and health care systems that rely upon and contract with CHWs to mitigate health inequities. Such practices include evolving CHW accreditation and reimbursement policies and initiatives.

  PublisherDOI

• COVID-19 vaccine acceptance differences among unvaccinated foreign- and united states-born persons: A cross-sectional study, 2021

  Annals of Epidemiology · 2025-02-06 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  PURPOSE: To investigate the association between nativity and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and its interaction with race/ethnicity, education, and English proficiency. METHODS: Differences in vaccine acceptance among propensity-score matched foreign- and US-born persons using 2021 California Health Interview Survey Data were measured using a survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression model with interaction terms and average predicted probabilities between nativity and: race/ethnicity, education, English proficiency. RESULTS: A total of 4,234,655 survey-weighted persons (8504 unweighted) met inclusion criteria; 2251,279 (53 %) were foreign-born (1,983,376 US-born), and 55 % of all persons were Hispanic/Latino, 22 % were Non-Hispanic White, 17 % were Non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander, 3.6 % were Non-Hispanic Black/African American, and 2.5 % were categorized as 'Other'. Foreign-born status was significantly associated with greater odds of acceptance (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.81 [95 %CI, 1.16-6.83]). Foreign-born Hispanic persons had a significantly greater probability of acceptance compared to their US-born counterparts (average probability difference, +0.11 [95 %CI, +0.023, +0.20]). Foreign-born persons with poor English proficiency had a lower probability of acceptance versus US-born persons (APD, -0.081, [95 %CI, -0.43, 0.27]). CONCLUSIONS: Nativity was significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, and this relationship varied by race/ethnicity and English proficiency. These findings may be used to direct future interventions aimed at improving COVID-19 vaccination rates.

  PublisherDOI

• Assessing multilevel barriers and facilitators to implementing strategies for cancer screening among Asian Americans in federally qualified health centers: a case study of a community–clinic partnership to improve care for safety-net patients

  Translational Behavioral Medicine · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Cancer screening disparities among medically underserved Asian Americans are well documented. Assessing determinants of success in implementing multilevel cancer screening strategies in safety-net settings is critical to improve screening and cancer equity. METHODS: Academic, clinic, and community partners established the Advancing Care Together (ACCT) formal network to implement multilevel strategies that promote cancer screening among low-income Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese adults in Orange County, California. ACCT focused on breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer. From August 2018 to January 2021, meetings, surveys, and interviews were conducted with community and clinic partners before implementing evidence-based strategies (EBS) such as educational workshops and community navigation, aligned with cultural and linguistic factors, to increase cancer screening. We evaluated formative data, collected during meetings and interviews and via patient navigator intake forms, to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing EBS in Asian-serving community clinics. We assembled a code book, aligned with the exploration, preparation, implementation, and sustainment framework to guide data analysis of implementation determinants of cancer screening. RESULTS: During the implementation of cancer screening EBS, ACCT staff and community navigators identified barriers in the inner context (lack of language-concordant providers, staff turnover) and outer context (referral wait times, transportation, and cultural stigma). Academic and community partnerships can support multilevel EBS to increase cancer screening (bridging factors). Additional support for clinic and quality improvement staff may be needed to evaluate cancer screening outcomes, and routine training on evaluating electronic medical records is needed (innovation factors). CONCLUSION: Community-clinic-academic partnerships can increase cancer screening and awareness in Asian American communities, including addressing cultural screening barriers and identifying adaptation needs for educational materials. Additionally, longstanding clinic- and community-level barriers persist in federally qualified health centers serving underrepresented Asian American communities. These barriers in the cancer screening process include high turnover among clinic quality improvement teams and difficulty prioritizing cancer screening throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflecting on the Backstage and Frontstage of Community-Based Participatory Research: Ethics and Collaboration in the CATALYST Study

  International Journal of Qualitative Methods · 2025-09-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is critical for promoting health equity through the incorporation of equitable decision-making and participatory processes into health equity research. Yet, research processes often fail to align with community realities. Drawing on Goffman’s frontstage–backstage framework, this paper examines how a community–academic partnership navigated and negotiated processes to support ethical inclusion of community researchers and participants in a CBPR qualitative study conducted in Orange County, California, focused on the roles of Community Health Workers (CHWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We share how backstage processes of trust-building and negotiation directly informed frontstage strategies to strengthen ethical research practices with community participants. We explore considerations for key components of qualitative research processes that have consequences for participatory research approaches: (a) partnership formation (b) inclusive consent processes, (c) inclusive recruitment processes, (d) facilitating direct community participation in qualitative research methods, and (e) full integration of community members as researchers across all stages through, for example, allocating resources to support equitable decision-making processes that center community expertise. Barriers including bureaucratic processes (e.g., complex consent requirements, language accessibility, cumbersome processes, and budget constraints) and power imbalances in research roles are discussed. Strategies to address these challenges include relationship-centered and community-focused ethical review processes to improve the potential for informed consent and authentic participation, and structural support for sustained participation of community researchers throughout the research process, which often extends beyond the lifecycle of the research grant. Recommendations are provided to enhance future research practices to prioritize equity, accessibility, and community leadership, such as integrating community members into IRB oversight processes, discussing risks of research participation that may extend beyond the methods or substance of the project, and reducing academic barriers to supporting community researchers.

  PublisherDOI

• Developing Strategic and Collaborative Community–Academic Partnerships to Improve Community Health, From Moving Upstream to Getting at the Root

  American Journal of Public Health · 2025-06-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Community partners have experienced inequity and lack of transparency in funding practices. Funding for community partners is a critical component of community-engaged research, as it influences community trust and opportunities. We compared contextual and site-specific factors at 2 centers (in New York City; Los Angeles and Orange Counties, CA) with different community-funding approaches, which influence institutional capacity to partner with and support community-based organizations. We describe community participatory and engaged research activities in two centers in a National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities–funded national consortium, describing each center’s process for funding community-based organizations. We present lessons learned from ongoing collaborative efforts between community-based organizations, community action boards, and research institutions. We discuss successes and opportunities for growth in our efforts to support community-based organization partners, resources to help sustain their health equity programs, the importance of long-term institutional investment to sustain this type of support, and the potential for institutional-level changes that increase trustworthiness and sustainable outcomes. We advocate for systemic changes in institutional focus and resource investment to better respond to community needs. ( Am J Public Health. 2025;115(S2):S152–S163. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308092 )

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant U01CA114591

  NIH · $3.3M · 2012

• NIH Grant R21HD055192

  NIH · $350k · 2010

• CSUF and UCI-CFCCC Partnership for Cancer Health Disparities Research (1 of 2)

  NIH · $739k · 2012–2017

• Community Outreach Program

  NIH · $3.1M · 2017

• A Pap Test Intervention to Enhance Decision Making among Pacific Islander Women

  NIH · $2.6M · 2010–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Kathryn L. Braun

  University of Hawaii System

  31 shared

• Paula H. Palmer

  22 shared

• James R. Hébert

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  21 shared

• Heather M. Brandt

  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

  21 shared

• Mary Anne Foo

  21 shared

• JoAnn U. Tsark

  20 shared

• Kathryn Coe

  19 shared

• Michelle Wong

  18 shared

Education

• DrPH, Community Health Sciences

  University of California Los Angeles

  1996

• MPH, Behavioral Health Science

  University of California Los Angeles

  1989

• BA, Biochemistry

  University of California Berkeley

  1986

Awards & honors

• Chao Lectureship in Cancer Research