Rod Lew has been the Executive Director of Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL), a national AAPI tobacco control network of more than 500 organizations for the past 11 years.  He was a contributing author to the Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco Use among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups.  In March 1999, he also testified before the Congressional Committee on Commerce on the impact of national tobacco policy on the AAPI community.  Rod is a member of California’s Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee.  He is currently chair of American Public Health Association’s Committee on Equal Health Opportunity and also was the chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus from 1998-2000.