Dr. Thao is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, an elite group of surgeons dedicated to the highest standards of patient care and surgical excellence. He completed his undergraduate degree at Brown University and received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He completed his general surgery residency at St. John Hospital in Detroit, MI and received further training in plastic surgery in Akron, OH.
Dr. Thao has been named "Best Plastic Surgeon" by Readers' Choice, "Top Doctor" by Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine, "Best Doctor for Women" and "Best Minnesota Doctor" by Minnesota Monthly. He is a member of many professional organizations including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Minnesota Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Thao serves as the Board Chair for Hmong Medical Association.
Bao Vang
Serial entrepreneur, community leader, and philanthropist are the first few words that come to mind when thinking about Bao Vang. Born in Laos, Ms. Vang escaped the war-ravaged country as a young girl with her family to a refugee camp in Thailand and then eventually moved to America. The oldest of 5 siblings, she helped raise them while going to school herself. She identified real estate as an area of interest early on, saved and worked hard to slowly build a profitable portfolio of rental properties. She continued to actively manage this portfolio, while working full-time at the county and state government, and raising a family. Along the way she has started, grown, and sold several successful businesses. Since 2007 she has leveraged her skills and talents to serve the community as the Executive Director and CEO of Hmong American Partnership. Under Ms. Vang’s leadership and direction, the organization has grown by leaps and bounds yet their focus has remained the same – empowering the immigrant and refugee community, while building on their personal and cultural strengths to help them flourish in their new home.
Cy Thao
Cy Thao is a man with diverse interests. An avid hunter, fisherman, artist, explorer, former politician, successful business owner, and a philanthropist. Born in Laos, Mr. Thao spent five years in a refugee camp in Thailand and arrived in Minnesota in 1980. He completed his undergraduate degree in political science and studio art from the University of Minnesota. As a recipient of the Bush Artist Fellowship, he completed a series of 50 oil paintings that he had begun as a student in 1993. The exhibition, "The Hmong Migration: Fifty Paintings" chronicles 5000 years of Hmong history beginning with creation stories and ending with a world map showing the many countries where Hmong people now make their homes. The powerful and moving exhibition was featured at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2004 and has now been published as a book. In 2002, Mr. Thao was the first Hmong-American elected to serve in the Minnesota House of Representative. He served as a Representative until January 2011 and since then has been focusing on growing the assisted living business he owns with his wife.
Dr. Pramod Kelkar
Dr. Kelkar believes in practicing “whole person medicine” and takes an individualized/personalized approach to caring for patients. He completed his Allergy and Clinical Immunology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in 2001, and practiced for three years in Indianapolis before joining Allergy and Asthma Care in 2004. He was Assistant Professor of Medicine at both Mayo Clinic and Indiana University School of Medicine. He has served in several leadership positions in national organizations, including the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Dr. Kelkar is a sought-after speaker at national and international conferences, and has published extensively in both academic journals and medical textbooks. Dr. Kelkar enjoys spending time with his family, playing tennis, hiking, and everything outdoors. He has a passion for integrative/holistic/functional medicine, and nutrition and wellness.
Kao Kaliya Yang
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American writer. She is the author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir (Coffee House Press, 2008), winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Awards in Creative Nonfiction/Memoir and Readers Choice, and a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Asian Literary Award in Nonfiction. Her second book, The Song Poet (Metropolitan Books, 2016) won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award in Creative Nonfiction Memoir. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, a PEN USA Award in Nonfiction and the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize. In the fall of 2019, Ms. Yang will debut her first children’s book, A Map Into the World, a collection titled What God is Honored Here? Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Indigenous Women and Women of Color, and a work of nonfiction about refugee lives in America, Somewhere in the Unknown World. Ms. Yang is also a teacher and a public speaker.
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