“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

— Dale Carnegie, American writer

Kao Kang Kue Vang is a PhD prepared nurse with over 16 years of nursing experience. She is currently a Quality Nurse Consultant I for Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Region, Clinical Quality and Data Analytics team. Her nursing experience includes working in the telemetry unit, cardiac step down, adult/pediatric trauma critical care, cardiothoracic critical care, and Quality and Safety department. She is knowledgeable about quality improvement initiatives and conducted multiple quality improvement projects and developed policies and procedures that improved patient care, decreased hospital length of stay, decreased risk for infection, and costs. Kao Kang Kue was recognized with the Daisy Award for advocating for her patients and nursing colleagues by starting a debriefing program in a high stress level 1 trauma critical care unit.

Kao Kang Kue is the co-founder of a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Hmong Nurses Association, Inc. She started this organization in 2012 with the intention to address the lack of representation of Hmong Americans in the healthcare profession by providing mentorship to high school and college students and professional nurses seeking professional growth and development. She has a long history of successfully mentoring high school and college students for educational and professional success. Some of Kao Kang Kue’s passion includes finding opportunities for process and system improvements in healthcare, improving patient outcomes for the underserved and underrepresented, and empowering Hmong Americans to obtain higher educational opportunities.

Kao Kang Kue earned her PhD in Healthcare Leadership and Nursing Science from the University of California Davis, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. She is engaged in the developing culturally appropriate research for the Hmong American community to address data disparities that impacts health outcomes. She is involved in research that investigates COVID-19 mitigation behaviors in Hmong Americans, research on health disparities topics, and looking at data visibility, and its impact on health equity. She earned her Master and Bachelor of Science with distinction from Vanguard University of Southern California and her Associate of Science in Nursing from Pacific Union College.

Kao Kang Kue is the oldest of 13 children. Her parents are refugees from the Vietnam War whose goals and aspirations are for their children to obtain educational success. Kao Kang Kue is married to her loving husband, Edward Vang of 14 years, who is also a nurse. They have a 7-year-old daughter, Kora, who loves arts and crafts and cooking just as much as her mommy. On Kao Kang Kue’s spare time, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her rambunctious seven-year-old and family.