Ping Ho, MA, MPH – Founder & Director

Ping is Founder and Director of Arts & Healing Initiative, an organizational member of the UCLA Integrative Medicine Collaborative, of which Ping is a steering committee member. She was founding administrator for the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, which led to the privilege of writing for Norman Cousins and co-writing the professional autobiography of George F. Solomon, M.D., founder of the field. She has a BA in psychology with honors from Stanford—where she was appointed to establish the still-thriving Health Improvement Program for faculty and staff, an MA in counseling psychology with specialization in exercise physiology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MPH in community health sciences from UCLA School of Public Health.

Ping is associate editor for the Creative Arts Therapies section of the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine and has been Co-Chair of the annual Expressive Therapies Summit: Los Angeles, which has offered 150+ workshops on creativity and the arts in healing. She developed the Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts (SEA) and the SEA on a Shoestring program of supportive art, movement, music, and writing for individuals or groups in any setting. In addition, she co-developed and served as principal investigator for the evidence-based program, Beat the Odds®: Social and Emotional Skill Building Delivered in a Framework of Drumming.  She is co-author, with Erica Curtis, of the 2019 National Parenting Products Award-winning book, The Innovative Parent: Raising Connected, Happy, Successful Kids through Art (Ohio University/Swallow Press, March 2019).

Krista Beagin – Operations & Communications Director

Jennifer Kuo – Programs Manager

Jennifer brings an abundance of experience with her two decades of work in events management, community building, marketing, and education within the non-profit and corporate sectors. She has worked in development and fundraising with the Boys & Girls Club, event management and marketing at The Walt Disney Company, and grassroots community-building programs and e-commerce marketing at TOMS. Jennifer values education and lifelong learning and she obtained a BA in Music Industry Studies from San Francisco State University, is a certified 200-hour and kids’ yoga teacher, trained in sound healing work, and will be receiving a Masters of Public Health at Cal State Northridge in Fall 2022. Having been a Kindermusik music & movement educator, she has always been an advocate for the research-based impact that the arts have on people’s wellness. Jennifer holds a Social Emotional Arts Certificate and Beat the Odds® Training certificate from Arts & Healing Initiative and continues to study mindfulness at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Heidi Parker – Community Initiatives Manager

As Community Initiatives Manager, Heidi forges connections with individuals and groups at the intersection of public health, expressive arts, and community engagement. Drawing upon her background in nonprofit management, Heidi also currently serves on the Southern California Art Therapy Association Board of Directors. As a certified California Climate Steward, she maintains an active eco-arts practice that focuses on repurposing found materials. Originally from Chicago, she developed a profound appreciation for the arts thanks to the city's vibrant cultural scene, including its museums, music, theatre, and dance. She graduated from DePaul University with a BA in Studio Art, received a MA in Art Therapy from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and completed an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Duke University.