SAPHA Spotlight Series - March 2026

SEASON 2 | EPISODE 1

South Asian Public Health Association Spotlight Series

Season 2: Our Stories, Our Impact

The South Asian Public Health Association Spotlight Series returns with a new season dedicated to celebrating the South Asian leaders, pioneers, and changemakers who have helped shape the landscape of American public health.

Season 2 highlights the scientific breakthroughs, community-led initiatives, and public health innovations driven by South Asians across the country. Through conversations with researchers, clinicians, public health practitioners, and advocates, we explore the studies that transformed our understanding of chronic disease in South Asian communities, the programs founded to meet community needs, and the journeys that led leaders into public health, research, and advocacy. This season celebrates the impact South Asians have made, and continue to make, on the nation’s health, while also highlighting the ongoing work needed to advance equity, prevention, and community-centered care.

Episode 1

Featuring Alka Kanaya, MD

We are honored to launch Season 2 with Dr. Alka Kanaya, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and founding investigator of the MASALA Study. In this episode, Dr. Kanaya discusses her journey into public health research and the creation of the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) Study, the first and only longitudinal cohort study dedicated to understanding cardiometabolic disease risk among South Asians in the United States. Through this conversation, we explore what the MASALA study has revealed about heart disease risk in South Asian communities, the biological and social factors shaping that risk, and how the study’s findings have influenced national screening guidelines and clinical care.

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Learn more about Dr. Kanaya below:

Dr. Alka Kanaya is Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics and a practicing general internist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She received her MD in 1995 and completed internal medicine residency and fellowship training at UCSF in 2001.

Dr. Kanaya’s research focuses on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease epidemiology and prevention, particularly to better understand Asian American health disparities. She is the founding investigator of the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) Study, a community-based prospective cohort designed to identify sociocultural, behavioral, and biologic risk factors that contribute to the high rates of diabetes and heart disease among South Asians.

Findings from the MASALA study have influenced national screening guidelines from the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology, helping improve how clinicians identify and address cardiometabolic risk in South Asian patients.

Additional Resources:

In our podcast, Dr. Kanaya discussed in detail the MASALA study as well as the Brown Heart documentary. You can also find a link to the MASALA study on SAPHA's Research Hub.

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