Staff & Consultants

Peng Her, CEO

Peng Her has over 15 years of community development experience working with elected officials, residents, and service providers to remove barriers that keep residents and children from succeeding. He founded Pauv Pheej Consulting, a cultural brokerage firm that provides cultural training, facilitation, interpretation, and translation to governmental agencies, educational institutions, law firms, and nonprofits. Peng helped established the Hmong American Studies Program at the UW Madison and the Hmong American Community Certificate at Edgewood College. Prior to joining The Hmong Institute, he was the former Associate Director for the Center for Resilient Cities.

Peng serves on many board and committees. He currently sits on the Access Community Health Center’s Board of Directors, Morgridge Center for Public Service Advisory Board, and UW-Madison Chancellor’s Community Advisor Committee, and is chair of Badger Rock Middle School, a public charter school in Madison.  Peng formerly served on the City of Madison’s Economic Development Committee as the Mayor’s designee, working with the Common Council, Commissions and city staff to facilitate the development of a healthy community in which businesses can locate, innovate, grow, and prosper and former member of the Dane County Human Services Board. Peng is a founding member of Wisconsin Hmong Chamber of Commerce helping to establish a $250,000 Revolving Loan Fund to invest in Hmong entrepreneurs. Peng was the 2015 recipient of the City-County Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award. In addition to his community work, Peng is a proud father of three and can be found spending time in the outdoors camping, fishing, canoeing, or hiking in the woods. He can also be found in the kitchen cooking for friends and family members.

Kajua Lor, Pharm.D., BCACP

Kajua Lor, PharmD, BCACP was the first Hmong pharmacist to obtain a pharmacy academia position in the nation. She joined the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy on August 1, 2016 as an Associate Professor. Previously, Dr. Lor was an Associate Professor at Touro University California College of Pharmacy in Vallejo, CA and Interim Director of Pharmacy at OLE Health a safety net clinic in Napa, CA. She is a board certified ambulatory care pharmacist. Dr. Lor is a Native Hmong speaker with proficiency in Spanish.

The American Pharmacist Association noted her unique consultation skills and she was selected as the One-to-One Patient Counseling Recognition Awardee. Dr. Lor earned her Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy and completed a one-year post-graduate clinical pharmacy residency training at Westside Community Health Services with the University of Minnesota Ambulatory Care Residency Program. She has several peer-reviewed publications and  is co- author of “Getting in: a practical guide to pharmacy admission”

Dr. Lor’s public health research interests include medication adherence, comprehensive medication management and herbal medicines. She was selected as a Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE) Scholar in 2012 and completed extensive research training at Columbia University. She has more than 6.5 years of teaching experience and 4 years of leading a Resident Research Seminar.

MayHoua Moua, MS

Kevin Thao, M.D., MPH

Kevin Koobmoov Thao MD, MPH is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is currently an associate professor at the UW Department of Family Medicine and faculty clinician with the UW Aspirus Wausau Family Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Thao practices full spectrum family medicine including obstetrics in the Wausau community.  His research interests stem from his community involvement activities during medical school.

From an early point in medical school Dr. Thao has been actively involved in health promotion projects in the Madison and Wausau Hmong communities. He has worked in areas of health literacy and community health research. His current project is the Survey of the Health of the Wausau Area Hmong Population (SHWAHP).  This study aims to gather health information from Hmong households to guide community based health programs.

Mai Ger Thao, M.ED

Ms. Ger (Maiv Ntxawm) Thao holds a MA degree in Education: Curriculum & Instruction, BA in Liberal Studies, and Multiple Subject Credential from the California State University, Chico. She is a pursuing a PhD in Education: Curriculum & Instruction Specialization at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. A speaker of both English & Hmong, she has been teaching for eight years as an elementary school teacher & as an ELA Intervention Specialist. Her research focuses on children’s literature and curriculum by underrepresented & marginalized groups, particularly literature by Hmong authors and the teaching of Hmong language and culture. She had been coordinating the Hmong Language & Culture Enrichment summer program in Madison, WI for the past 3 summers. Her passion is helping Hmong students maintain & appreciate their Hmong identity. Upon completion of her degree, she intends to take a leadership role in teacher education to support Bilingual education & curriculum development to promote Asian languages and cultures.

Nengher Vang, PhD

An Assistant Professor of Transnational American History in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he teaches the Vietnam War, US foreign relations and empire, Hmong American historical and contemporary issues, and other courses in American and world history. He is an affiliated faculty in the Race and Ethnic Studies program, co-creator of the Asian American/Asian Studies Minor, and co-advisor to the Oral History Wisconsin Farm Project on the UW-Whitewater campus. He serves on the editorial review board of the Hmong Studies Journal and has published articles on Hmong American politics, social movements, and culture/religion in Hmong Studies Journal, Social Movement Studies, and other academic journals.

Xa Xiong, B.A., D.C. , M.D.

Medicine Board Certified and practicing as a Family Physician where he provides

medical services to all ages.

Dr. Xiong is the founder of the Dr. Xa Xiong Foundation: A Quest for Education—to

inspire and empower people to achieve the highest vision in the context of life.

The acronym of iLIFE is used to represent individual health, Leadership, Income,

Family and Education. He is a renowned keynote speaker for various occasions

ranging from community events, medical and mental health conferences and

school graduation celebrations. He received immense appreciation and

recognition awards from the Hmong community for exemplifying an optimum role

model and improving the lives of others. In 2007, Dr. Xiong was listed as one of the

five most accomplished Hmong Americans in the book The Hmong: Coming to

America by Kaarin Alisa. In 2011, Dr. Xiong received the “JOURNEY OF HOPE

AWARD” by Secretary Eloise Anderson from the Department of Children and

Families, “for outstanding achievement by a refugee during resettlement and

integration into American society”.

Dr. Xiong is one of the co-authors of a chapter book, Ethnicity and the Dementias

—Working with Hmong American Families, which provides cultural information for

health care providers working with Hmong clients experiencing dementia and is

the author of “The Impossible Dream: Memoirs of a Refugee Boy”. He has over two

decades of experience in bridging cultural barriers within the health care system

and is passionate in helping ensure people get the health care they need. Among

other accolades, Dr. Xiong was honored as the 2016 Wisconsin Family Physician of

the Year by the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians and the 2017 Outstanding

Alumnus of the Year Award by Concordia University Irvine.

Shoua Chang Yang

Dia Cha, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

A Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies at St. Cloud State University (SCSU), St. Cloud, Minnesota, and a Research Associate with the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Denver Science Museum in Colorado.  She received many national academic and social group awards for the high caliber of her research and teaching, her service to the community, and her tireless work as a champion of gender and ethnic equality.

In November, 2007, the Hmong American New Year Planning Committee in Minnesota recognized her enormous contributions to the community as an educator in their annual banquet, held in St. Paul, Minnesota.  In April, 2007, Hmong National Development, Inc., recognized the positive impact of her contributions to the betterment of the Hmong people by giving her the Teacher of the Year Award at their yearly conference, held that year in Detroit, Michigan.  She was selected St. Cloud State University’s Professor of the Year in both 2002 and 2004; and was chosen by the Hmong Women’s Action Team, of St. Paul, Minnesota, as the 2002 recipient of their National Hmong Women’s “Courage to Make a Difference” Award.  In 1994, she was named for both the Outstanding Woman Award of Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado and the TRIO Achievers Award of the National Council of Educational Opportunity Associations, Chicago, Illinois.

She had twice been called upon to share her expertise with Congress: first, in 1994, before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific’s Hearing on Indochinese Refugee Issues; and again in 2001, for the Congressional Summit on the Status of Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian Americans in Higher Education.

With a great deal of original research to her credit, she has been widely published; two of her best known books are Hmong American Concepts of Health, Healing, and Conventional Medicine (2003), and Dia’s Story Cloth: The Hmong People’s Journey to Freedom (1996).

A Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies at St. Cloud State University (SCSU), St. Cloud, Minnesota, and a Research Associate with the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Denver Science Museum in Colorado.  She received many national academic and social group awards for the high caliber of her research and teaching, her service to the community, and her tireless work as a champion of gender and ethnic equality.

In November, 2007, the Hmong American New Year Planning Committee in Minnesota recognized her enormous contributions to the community as an educator in their annual banquet, held in St. Paul, Minnesota.  In April, 2007, Hmong National Development, Inc., recognized the positive impact of her contributions to the betterment of the Hmong people by giving her the Teacher of the Year Award at their yearly conference, held that year in Detroit, Michigan.  She was selected St. Cloud State University’s Professor of the Year in both 2002 and 2004; and was chosen by the Hmong Women’s Action Team, of St. Paul, Minnesota, as the 2002 recipient of their National Hmong Women’s “Courage to Make a Difference” Award.  In 1994, she was named for both the Outstanding Woman Award of Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado and the TRIO Achievers Award of the National Council of Educational Opportunity Associations, Chicago, Illinois.

She had twice been called upon to share her expertise with Congress: first, in 1994, before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific’s Hearing on Indochinese Refugee Issues; and again in 2001, for the Congressional Summit on the Status of Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian Americans in Higher Education.

With a great deal of original research to her credit, she has been widely published; two of her best known books are Hmong American Concepts of Health, Healing, and Conventional Medicine (2003), and Dia’s Story Cloth: The Hmong People’s Journey to Freedom (1996).