When Marcus Lyon—the London-based artist, social entrepreneur, and creator of the multi-layered, immersive, and research-based Human Atlas platform—is interested in a project collaboration, most people would be hard-pressed not to respond in the affirmative promptly and enthusiastically. This was certainly the case in January 2023, when Joyce Javier, MD, MPH, MS, FAAP, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine Associate Professor of Health Systems Science, was nominated to take part in Alta / a Human Atlas of a City of Angels, a fully interactive social-impact art project, created in collaboration with The Getty Conservation Institute, to preserve and highlight the lives of 100 Angelenos who are creating positive change across Los Angeles County.
A curatorial committee composed of hand-picked leaders from communities across Los Angeles County informed Dr. Javier that she had been selected to be a part of Alta. The project includes individuals who have made significant contributions to Los Angeles and embody the best of service to society. The final group of nominees range from indigenous rights leader Janet Martinez and veteran labor rights leader Dolores Huerta to globally celebrated comedian and Chicano art champion Cheech Marin and founder of Homeboy Industries Father Greg Boyle, and the project frames many of the key narratives about this region of Southern California. Alta represents each nominee’s work through photographic portraits, interviews, and ancestral DNA maps. These elements reveal how the subjects’ lives intersect with the city’s past, present, and future and documents a richer narrative for generations to come about Greater Los Angeles, its people, and communities.
Alta highlights Dr. Javier’s work as a Filipina pediatrician and public health researcher whose mission is to promote the emotional well-being of all youth. Alta is available in podcast, book, museum exhibition, architectural projection, and digital formats. In her audio highlights, Dr. Javier shares more on her inability to picture herself as a doctor at a young age simply because she’d never seen a woman— more specifically, a Filipina—working in that role. Later in life, Dr. Javier crossed paths with a Filipina woman at a conference, who was both a mother and doctor. Their chance meeting helped ignite Dr. Javier’s desire to go into medicine, study public health, and give back to the community that raised her as well as other underserved populations.
Today, Dr. Javier leads the Filipino Family Health Initiative, which uses community-based participatory research to implement the Incredible Years® program—an evidence-based parent education program developed by Dr. Carolyn Webster-Stratton to strengthen parent-child relationships and promote the social and academic success of Filipino youth aged 8 through 12. Incredible Years® helps introduce Filipino parents to varied methods that help improve child behavior, school success, family communication, and problem-solving while preventing child behavioral issues.
“I am the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants from the Philippines,” said Dr. Javier. “My parents and grandparents were able to lift themselves out of poverty and immigrate to the U.S. I was the first in my family to be born in the U.S., specifically in Historic Filipinotown, an area of Los Angeles where many of my community partners are located. This recognition is deeply meaningful because I have often felt invisible [because I] never met a physician that looked like me until I was in college. Being honored by Alta as one of Los Angeles’ 100 changemakers means future generations will know we were here, we matter, and our stories matter. I hope it instills in our youth that anyone, regardless of their background, can use their talents to reshape the world around us.”
Dr. Javier said her drive stems from the purpose and passion forged by her immigrant upbringing, rooted in the values of her community, culture, and profession. In Alta, she emphasizes the importance of representation and diversity in the field of medicine and through her leadership at the Filipino Family Health Initiative, a multi-disciplinary team of pediatricians; occupational therapists; mental health providers; community, academic, and faith-based partners; and families. Dr. Javier and her team have helped provide parent workshops to more than 300 individuals over the last 10 years, and more than 600 Filipinos have participated in the Filipino Family Health Initiative research study within the last 20 years.
“Depression and suicide are deeply stigmatized topics in the Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander community, yet through kapwa (shared identity) and bayanihan (communal unity, helping others without expecting anything in return), our multidisciplinary team … has identified culturally affirming, evidence-based strategies to decrease anxiety and depression symptoms among Filipino youth.”
Alta’s full interactive project will be shared in several formats, including an exhibition at the Los Angeles Central Public Library which runs from January 13 through April 27, 2025, a limited-edition interactive portrait book, a website , a podcast titled Intersections: Los Angeles , and public activations across regional libraries and outdoor spaces downtown. A mobile app that allows users to scan each participant’s portrait to listen to their oral histories accompanies these interactive elements. Alta was created for the Southern Californian art initiative PST ART: Art & Science Collide and is an EarthPercent accredited project.
Learn more about Dr. Javier’s story in her Intersections: Los Angeles podcast chapter, which drops on November 12.
