The BalikBAHAY Project Team
We are a group of Filipino and Filipinx Americans, Los Angelenos, community volunteers, advocates, students, academics, medical professionals, and neighbors who desire to support the community how we can during these unprecedented times. From the generous support from our donors, we hope to keep the spirit of hope in our community during these unprecedented times.
About Our Founders
Antonio Moya, MD-MPH
Antonio Moya, MD MPH is a Board Certified Neurologist and LA County DHS Scholar working at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. He completed his neurology residency at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Prior to residency, he graduated from the UCSF School of Medicine as a PRIME-US Scholar and also completed his MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health with a focus on Global Health in Asia.
He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in the Philippines before medical school, specifically working on establishing telemedicine stroke care in this archipelago nation of more than 7,000 islands. Antonio has primarily focused on the Filipino and Asian Pacific Islander global community, having served as one of the medical directors of the UCSF Student-Run Clinic Mabuhay Center and Director of the UCSF Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association. Antonio has partnered in Los Angeles with the Filipino American Service Group Inc. (FASGI), having been awarded multiple community and national grants to leverage media tools to improve health behaviors related to stroke and other non-communicable diseases.
Melanie Sabado-Liwag, PhD-MPH
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), and the Academic Director of the Master of Public Health (MPH) program. She received her Ph.D. in health promotion sciences at the School of Community & Global Health at Claremont Graduate University and MPH at California State University, Fullerton. Prior to Cal State LA, Dr. Sabado-Liwag received postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. Her research in minority health and health disparities aims to understand psychosocial, environmental, and biological determinants related to adverse health and social outcomes across the life course. Dr. Sabado-Liwag uses mixed-methods to examine health behaviors, chronic disease, and mental health. Other research efforts include working alongside marginalized communities and people of color to develop evidence-based, culturally-tailored projects and interventions through community-based participatory research methods and mobile health (mhealth) strategies. Inquiries about community engagement, research, or the MPH program, please email Dr. Sabado-Liwag at msabado@calstatela.edu
The Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI) is a 501(c) (3) neighborhood-based direct service provider incorporated in 1981. We provide a variety of services for the residents of Los Angeles through programs that include mental health outreach and education, naturalization application assistance, immigration referral, culinary arts, arts incubation, business promotion, WWII memorabilia museum, and other community and social services. For over three decades, FASGI has helped thousands of individuals through its various programs.
FASGI’s mission is to promote the cultural, social and economic advancement of individuals, families and the community by:
- Providing high-quality human, economic and community services to improve quality of life for all;
- Identifying the community’s needs and mobilizing efforts to address these needs; and
- Strengthening and enhancing the integration and empowerment of the Filipino American people within the greater society.