When I was 17, doctors discovered a baseball-sized tumor in my chest and gave me less than five years to live. I credit the doctors and nurses from Hershey Medical Center and most importantly affordable good health insurance for saving my life. This is why I dedicated my life to public health. Healthcare should be a fundamental right, and so I proudly support Medicare-For-All. It is not only the right thing to do; as a health scientist, I have studied and know it is cheaper and saves more lives —workers should not have to worry about how they are going to afford healthcare if they are laid-off, seniors should not choose between food on the table and seeing their doctor, and families should not go bankrupt because their child has cancer. 

2. What is your position on immigration reform and securing our borders? Do you support a path to citizenship for Dreamers? What about the other 10 million immigrants?   

Congress’ failure to act on immigration is another example of how Washington is broken. As an immigrant myself, it is wrong that hardworking immigrants have become a scapegoat. My parents came to the U.S. from China to seek a better life. When we arrived, we had nothing but $50 in our pockets and a belief in the American dream. My parents taught me that here in the United States with hard work and passion anything is possible. As a Member of Congress, I will support the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform.

3. How will you address economic inequality? Include in your answer your position on raising the federal minimum wage and the impact of the recent tax legislation passed by Congress.  

The single biggest thing Congress can do is make joining a union and collective bargain easier to do and not harder. In Congress, I will protect the safety net, not destroy it to give billionaire and corporations tax breaks. We must repeal Rollback the Trump tax breaks on the wealthy families and corporations and invest in working families. 

As a person of color and an immigrant, I look forward to bringing my voice to Congress. 

5. What is your vision for gender justice? Please address women’s issues and LGBTQ rights.  

We need to make it easier for workers to unionize and collective bargain. We also need to make it easier to families to balance work and childcare. In Congress, I will support paid parental leave and increased access to quality childcare. I will also fight for equal pay for equal work and to ensure employers implement tough sexual harassment politics. 

As a college professor, I have mentored many LGBTQ students. All Americans deserve the same rights no matter whom they love. I am a strong supporter of worker protections for the LGBTQ community. 

I am a scientist and running for Congress because Washington D.C. is broken -- people don’t even accept fundamental facts. It makes me angry that politicians run our country by denying scientific truths and pushing unproven conspiracy theories. We need more scientists in Congress because we listen, use evidence to improve and save lives, and fight for the truth. The U.S. currently has the technology and science to mitigate climate change, just not the political will. This must change. I will not take money from the fossil fuel industry. 

I attribute my success to the strong community here in Central PA and the dedicated public school teachers who shaped me into who I am, and who pushed me to follow my dreams. The federal government must ensure every child has access to a quality K-12 public education and affordable post-secondary opportunities, especially as many state governments are cutting back funding for education. 

I want to take my skills and my voice to Washington to fight back against the current anti-science/anti-fact agenda.   We know that gun violence is hurting our communities, however Congress blocked scientists from even studying this public health problem for 22 years. As a Member of Congress, I will support the increase in funding for gun violence research at the CDC. 

It is time to bring truth and facts back to our government.  I support commonsense gun violence prevention measures such as comprehensive background checks and banning bump stocks and assault weapons, and increasing funding for anti-bullying programs. We also need to address mental health to reduce gun violence and that is why I support Medicare-for-All so every American has access to quality and affordable mental healthcare. 

Just like I have spent my public health career fighting corrupt drug companies and exposed them when they hurt people with their dangerous products, in Congress I will fight for families and not corporations. For this reason, I will not accept donations from lobbyists during my campaign. 

As a society, we need to treat addiction as a public health issue and not a legal one. I want to solve this tragic opioid crisis affecting our communities. Personally, I have witnessed a close family member struggle with these horrible and addictive drugs--and so we need real solutions now for this healthcare epidemic. 

The biggest challenges in foreign policy are Russian aggression and the Trump Administration shooting from the hip and Twitter diplomacy. In Congress I will use my scientific background to fight against the anti-fact/anti-science agenda as it relates to foreign policy and climate change. Our leaders must make decisions based on facts and not deny reality like the current President.