Our Start
“Your brother has a massive tumor in his liver caused by hepatitis B. And I’m afraid your mother has hepatitis B too.” Leslie Hsu Oh could never forget the doctor’s words. Her brother, Jon-Jon, was only 17 at that time. He died a few months after he turned 18.
A year later, Leslie’s mom, who never stopped blaming herself for passing the virus to her son, died too. It was then that Leslie learned that her family could have been saved by a simple vaccine, or a timely screening, even before any of the symptoms started to show.
As a student at Harvard, Leslie reached out to allies and HBI was officially established. It was the first organization to not only offer free screenings, but to leverage the students’ ability to facilitate partnerships between community organizations and empower them to develop their own cultural and linguistically appropriate campaign.
An Interview with Our Founders
In this 2014 interview, Leslie Hsu and Thomas Oh, the founders of HBI-DC, discuss the organization’s beginnings and its progress up to that point. Keep reading to see how we’ve evolved and expanded our services in the years since.
Our Evolution: From Hepatitis B Initiative to Health Betterment Initiative
Founded in 2006 as the Hepatitis B Initiative of Washington, D.C., the organization began with a focused mission to address hepatitis B disparities in underserved communities across the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region.
Over time, it became clear that testing alone was not enough to improve long-term health outcomes. Individuals needed education, navigation, and sustained support to move from diagnosis to care, and ultimately toward independence in managing their health.
In response to these gaps, CEO & Architect Sandra Marrero Ashford, MPH, MPA, MA created the Health Betterment Initiative (HBI), a broader public health model designed to move beyond disease-specific testing toward sustainable access to care.
Formally launched in January 2024, HBI represents the intentional redesign of the organization’s approach, integrating:
- Community Health Workers in the field
- Education around complex health conditions
- Linkage-to-care and resource navigation
- Apricot, HBI’s data-informed system and data collection with support of AI which insures follow-up and continuity.
This shift reflects a move from isolated screening efforts to a structured model that connects community trust with measurable outcomes.
Through the combination of field-based outreach and data-informed infrastructure, HBI works to ensure individuals are not only screened, but supported in understanding their health and navigating systems of care.
The long-term goal is sustainability: equipping communities with the knowledge and confidence to engage providers and access care independently.
HBI is breaking barriers in accessing healthcare services due to:
We are multilingual and provide translated educational materials in multiple languages
Our mobile outreach program travels to communities where the most vulnerable reside
We gently guide clients step-by-step through health and social service IT systems
We bring connections to care at shelters and throughout the community, meeting people where they are
We provide consistent, trusted access to care, helping individuals take control of their health even during times of instability