Pedro J. Greer Jr., MD, is Professor of Medicine, Founding Chair of Humanities, Health and Society; and Associate Dean for Community Engagement at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, Florida. Working with various FIU colleges, Dr. Greer spearheaded the nationally recognized Green Family Foundation Neighborhood Health Education Learning Program (NeighborhoodHELP). This program prepares medical students and other health professions students to address the social determinants of health through a hands-on longitudinal experience caring for underserved households in Miami-Dade County.

Better known as “Joe,” Dr. Greer has been an advocate for health equity by engaging communities to create effective health and social policies and accessible health care systems. He established Camillus Health Concern, Inc. and Saint John Bosco, health centers for underserved populations in Miami-Dade County, Florida. He has received numerous recognitions, including being named one of the 500 Most Influential Business Leaders in Life Sciences listed on the Florida Trend 2019; June 2019 AMA Foundation Pride in Profession Award; Bob Graham Center for Public Service 2017 Citizen of the Year; 2014 National Jefferson Award in the category of Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged; 2013 Great Floridian Award; the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom; and in 1993, was honored as a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" Fellow. He has published more than 30 articles and book chapters and wrote Waking Up in America, a book about his life experiences, including caring for homeless individuals and advising Presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton on health care policy.

Dr. Greer is currently a Trustee at the RAND Corporation (America’s oldest and largest think tank) and is the Chair of the Pardee RAND Graduate School Board of Governors. He served as Chair for the Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation from 2002 to 2012, and is an independent board member of American Funds 2016 to present.  He completed his medical studies at La Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic. He trained in Internal Medicine, served as Chief Resident, and completed two post-doctoral fellowships (Hepatology and Gastroenterology) at the VA/University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. Before joining FIU, Dr. Greer ran a successful private practice and was Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mercy Hospital in Miami.

• Steven Larson, MD
  Inclusivity of Immigrants in our Communities

Dr. Steve Larson is a cofounder and the Executive Director of Puentes de Salud, a clinic that focuses on the health and wellness of Philadelphia’s rapidly growing Latin immigrant population. He is an Assistant Dean for Global Health Programs and an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Larson will discuss how his work promotes the inclusion of this vulnerable immigrant population through education and community outreach.

• Ellen Tedaldi, MD
  The Challenges of Caring for Patients with HIV

Dr. Ellen Tedaldi is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Temple Comprehensive HIV program. She is a general primary care internist who has been taking care of HIV patients since 1984. While at Temple, she has been instrumental in developing the HIV program that includes Ryan White funding for primary care, women’s health care, case management and the newest medication assisted therapy. Her program has been involved in NIH and pharma-sponsored research, CDC observational HIV databases, and various public health projects for over 25 years.

In her talk, Dr. Tedaldi will discuss the challenges of patients among diverse populations who are living with HIV and the issues surrounding diagnosis and retention as well as the increasing social, political and psychological aspects of care.

• Jasjit Beausang, MD
  Breaking the Silence around a Taboo Topic: FGM/C

Dr. Jasjit Beausang is Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, formerly at Drexel University College of Medicine. She is an alumna of SKMC (formerly Jefferson Medical College) and completed her residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in 2013. Dr. Beausang maintains a special interest in immigrant and global health. She, along with Dr. Sandra Wolf, provided clinical services for the Philadelphia International Women’s Project, a community-centered program designed to engage women who have experienced Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in preventive and specialty women’s health care. Dr. Beausang has since grown her expertise in treating women with FGM/C, and has had international experience in Sudan and France. In next steps, she anticipates publication of work from PIWP, and will be returning to training this year, to subspecialize in Urogynecology.

Dr. Beausang will introduce the audience to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and its prevalence in the US and locally.  She will offer pearls on starting the conversation within the community and with individual patients.

• Lara Weinstein, MD, MPH, DrPH
  Harm Reduction is Good Medicine

Dr. Lara Weinstein is a board-certified family physician working at the intersection of clinical care, public health, and social justice to realize health equity for people with experiences of psychiatric disabilities and complex chronic disease. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. She provides clinical care through the Project HOME Health Services (PHHS) Federally Qualified Health Center at the PHHS Pathways to Housing PA satellite, where she is the director of integrated care and research for the Pathways to Housing PA Housing First organization. As a clinician and researcher, Dr. Weinstein has implemented programs of system innovation in integrated medical and behavioral health care for populations experiencing serious mental illness and severe substance use disorders. She currently leads the research efforts for a Primary and Behavioral Healthcare Integration grant and a Medically Assisted Treatment Primary Care Expansion Grant, both funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration as well as an innovative community-based Opiate Use Disorder Center of Excellence funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Her work is done in collaboration with two nationally recognized community organizations in Philadelphia, Pathways to Housing PA and Project HOME that provide permanent supported housing for people with experiences of homelessness and serious mental illness and substance use disorders.
This presentation will focus on the devastation of the opioid crisis and the opportunity to reclaim compassion in medicine through caring for people with substance abuse disorders.

• Liset Contreras & Elaine Chan
  Caring for Undocumented Immigrants: Student Highlight

This year, medical students at the Gold Humanism Honor Society Chapter at the David Geffen School of Medicine developed a list of core values which include justice, advocacy, upholding human dignity, agent of change, and service. In line with their core values and the recent acts in policy to further marginalize our immigrant community, their chapter decided to move forward with an undocumented immigrant curriculum initiative and Know Your Rights badge buddy project. We designed and will distribute badge buddies with Know Your Rights information so that medical students on the wards have the information available for patients. Additionally, we are developing an undocumented immigrant curriculum for medical students and faculty so that the historical context and best practices for taking care of undocumented immigrants are propagated for years to come. Medical students Elaine Chan and community partner Liset Contreras will speak on these efforts. 

• Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH
  Is compassion a healthcare disparity?

Dr. Stephen Trzeciak is a physician scientist, Professor and Chair of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, and the Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care. Dr. Trzeciak is a practicing intensivist (specialist in intensive care medicine), and a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded clinical researcher with more than 100 publications in the scientific literature, primarily in the field of resuscitation science. Dr. Trzeciak’s publications have been featured in some of the most prestigious medical journals, such as: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Circulation, and The New England Journal of Medicine. His scientific program has been supported by research grants from the American Heart Association and the NIH (National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), with Dr. Trzeciak serving in the role of Principal Investigator.

• Bernard Lopez, MD, MS, CPE, FACEP, FAAEM
  An Inclusive Environment – A Vital Component of Successful Medical Care

Dr. Bernie Lopez is the Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Thomas Jefferson University. A graduate of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College Class of 1986, Dr. Lopez also holds the position of Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement at SKMC. Additionally, he is a Professor and Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at SKMC.

Diversity is the richness in human differences. Inclusion is the valuation of diversity where each person is cherished for their whole identity. An inclusive environment is vital to providing equitable health care to all that we serve. This talk is meant to tie together the various teachings of the day and describe how inclusion is vital to the human experience that is provided by the physician.

• Nethra Ankam, MD and Rebecca Levenberg, MA
  Disability and Inclusion: Perceptions Matter

In this session, participants will explore their own perceptions of disability and discuss how these might impact the care of patients. Participants will view disability through multiple lenses, discuss physical and attitudinal barriers to inclusion, and conceptualize ways to bring empathy, knowledge, and hope to their patients.

Dr. Nethra Ankam is an Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, Co-Faculty Lead for the Jefferson Health Mentors Program, and Wellness Thread Director for JeffMD. Her interests include thinking and teaching about function and disability, inter-professional teamwork, and lifestyle medicine. Rebecca Levenberg is a Peer Mentor Coordinator at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. She is also a special educator with 25 years of experience teaching children and adolescents with disabilities in public, private, and charter schools.

• Beth Deering, MSW, LSW with Lynn Heitz, MSW and Justin Salisbury
  Reducing Barriers to Care for Blind Patients

In this session, staff from Associated Services for the Blind (ASB) will dive into the everyday life challenges that individuals who are blind and visually impaired face while seeking medical care. The goal of this session is to educate medical professionals on the common barriers that these individuals encounter and discuss ways in which preventative measures can be used to provide a better support system for those with vision loss.

Beth Deering, MSW, LSW, is the Director of Outreach and Community Partnerships at Associated Services for the Blind. She serves as a bridge for the ASB Resource and Call Center, ASB clients, and various community stakeholders to ensure the highest level of community engagement and program participation. In her role, she is dedicated to coordinating the development and delivery of all community outreach and training programs to encourage inclusivity and accessibility on the overall continuum of care.

Lynn Heitz, MSW, is the Director of Education and Enrichment Programming at Associated Services for the Blind. Lynn Heitz is President of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania and comes to ASB with more than 10 years of experience with the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services for both the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In her role, she oversees the coordination, supervision, and training for ASB’s Life Skills curriculum, its Orientation and Mobility training’s Access Technology Center and training, as well as compliance with best practices and governing regulations.

Justin Salisbury comes to Associated Services for the Blind from the state of Hawaii’s Services for the Blind, a branch of the Department of Human Services Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. He holds a National Orientation and Mobility Certification (NOMC), National Certification in Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind, and National Certification in Unified English Braille. At ASB Salisbury provides training in Orientation and Mobility, personal adjustment to blindness and braille.

• Debby Derricks
  Comprehensive Care for Veterans

This session will focus on the ways in which the Veterans Multi-Services Center (VMC) provides a comprehensive approach to care for our Veteran population throughout Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware. VMC focuses on ending Veteran homelessness, with a multifaceted support strategy to address Veteran-to-Civilian transition, temporary and permanent housing, benefits, employment and training, as well as emerging programs to combat the opioid crisis. Community partners, such as medical professionals, play a pivotal role in understanding where nonprofits can best collaborate to provide comprehensive care for holistic health outcomes. 

Debby Derricks is currently the Director of Development for the VMC, where she serves the organization in a dual capacity by managing communications and development efforts. Before joining the VMC, Debby worked in both the private and public sector, including diverse projects within political campaign management, communications consulting and strategic marketing. Debby is also a Leadership Philadelphia 2015 Fellow and New Leaders Council 2019 Fellow. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Psychology from NYU and dabbled in graduate work at UPenn.

• Alisa Gutman, MD, PhD
  From the Courtroom to the Clinic: What Forensic Asylum Work Can Teach Us About Being Good Doctors

In this session, participants will discuss how lessons learned from asylum evaluations can inform clinical practice for medical students and physicians.

Dr. Alisa Gutman completed a combined MD/PhD program at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Gutman is the Founder and Medical Director of the Philadelphia Human Rights Clinic, an organization that works in collaboration with Physicians for Human Rights to provide pro bono psychiatric and physical evaluations for asylum seekers in support of their claims for immigration court. Philadelphia Human Rights Clinic is the first asylum clinic with a collaboration among several medical schools; its mission is based on education, volunteerism, and community collaboration. Dr. Gutman teaches residents and medical students as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Penn, treats patients in the outpatient Behavioral Health clinic at the Crescenz VA Medical Center, and consults through her private forensic psychiatry practice.

• Vanessa Ingram
  How to Interact with Children who have Experienced Trauma and/or Homelessness

Workshop description and bio coming soon

• Abigail Kay, MD
  Caring for Individuals with Addiction Use Disorders

Dr. Abigail Kay will facilitate a conversation on patients who have substance use disorders and how they can sometimes be challenging to work with, whether it's because of their trauma history, their current substance use, or a co-occurring psychiatric illness. At times these challenges may make it difficult for their physician to find empathy for them.  This workshop will address these challenges and explore ways in which we as clinicians can find empathy, or at least decrease our frustration, when working with this patient population and thus allow us to provide better care.

Dr. Kay is a an Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Undergraduate Medical Education at Sidney Kimmel Medical College who lectures on maintaining empathy and a humanistic approach to medicine. In addition to lecturing extensively within the medical college, Dr. Kay has lectured nationally on innovative teaching methods for medical students and taking care of patients with addiction use disorders.

• Jack Ludmir, MD
  Maternal Health for Undocumented and Immigrant Populations

In this workshop, participants will discuss the prevalence and origin of migrant populations in the US in the last 20 years, the challenges of providing obstetric care to vulnerable populations in particular migrant populations and the mechanisms to provide prenatal care to unauthorized women and the ethics behind them.

Dr. Jack Ludmir is the Senior Vice President for Physician Engagement and Integration, the Associate Provost for Community and Global Initiatives and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University. He is also Executive Director of the Philadelphia Collaborative for Health Equity. He is a the past President of Women and Children’s Health Services (currently the Ludmir Center for Women’s Health), a nonprofit organization devoted to the care of women from the surrounding community and is a co-founder of Puentes de Salud and Latina Community Health Services, organizations providing free care to uninsured immigrants.

• Katie Milholin
  The Path to SNAP: Food Insecurity

In this session, participants will explore food insecurity in the Philadelphia region, discuss ways that medical providers can recognize food insecurity, and introduce resources available to food insecure individuals. The interactive "Path to SNAP" activity will highlight barriers patients might face when connecting to programs such as SNAP (food stamps). Finally, attendees will have a chance to brainstorm strategies to ensure successful connection to such resources and promote healthy eating habits among those they serve.

Katie Milholin started as an intern at the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger in May 2017 as part of her coursework at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating with a BA in Health and Societies, she joined the Coalition's staff full-time. As the Community Educator, Katie works to educate members of the community about food insecurity and develops partnerships with clients and local organizations to create more resources to fight hunger.  

• Daphne Owen, MD
  Social Determinants of Health in Undocumented Immigrants

In this session, participants will discuss how uninsured immigrants are supported medically, educationally, and emotionally at Puentes de Salud.

Dr. Daphne Owen is Assistant Medical Director of Puentes de Salud, a nonprofit health and wellness center providing services for uninsured immigrants in Philadelphia. Dr. Owen is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Quinn Pellerito and Radha Prabakaran
  Surviving Sexual Violence: Its Effects on Medical Care and What you Can Do

In this workshop Quinn Pellerito and Radha Prabakaran will facilitate a conversation about why it is important to screen for sexual trauma, what impacts it has on a person’s health, and how it impacts their ability to move through medical systems. Workshop participants will leave with some fundamental best practices to help survivors access the care they need.

Quinn Pellerito and Radha Prabakaran hold the position of LGBTQ+ education specialists at Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence (WOAR). They collaborate with the Mazzoni Center on the Lotus Program which aims to create a broad resource network of LGBTQ affirming sexual violence providers. They offer LGBTQ+ affirming trauma-informed best practice trainings with the goal of minimizing barriers to accessing these services for LGBTQ+ survivors of sexual violence. They specifically develop and facilitate trainings relating to the issue of sexual violence affecting LGBTQ+ individuals and communities through the Lotus Program in collaboration with WOAR.

• Franco Rosado, MS
  Rising Up From Poverty: How Being Cheerleaders for Kids in Poor Neighborhoods Can Keep Them from Gangs, Drugs, Prisons, and Death

In this session, Franco Rosado will bring to light the importance of being socially and emotionally sensitive to those in need so that we continue to handle them with loving care and compassion.

Franco Rosado loves to give back to children living in communities suffering from street and gang violence because he was one of those kids. Growing up in South Bronx, Franco was not set up for success but managed to make it to UCLA where he discovered his love of acting and recently earned his Master's Degree in Community Economic Development. He now owns his own production company with previous plays centered around gang prevention and leading a positive life. With his free time, he mentors children in New York City and Philadelphia with his own life lessons.

• Gretchen Shanfeld, MPH
  Meeting the Needs of Newcomers: Best Practices in Providing Care to Immigrants and Refugees

This session will cover the basics of immigration to the United States including pre-arrival factors and social determinants of health post-arrival.  The presenter will focus on meeting non-clinical needs of newcomer populations including best practices in cultural humility, language access, addressing social determinants of health and meeting mental health and wellness needs.

Gretchen Shanfeld currently serves as the Director of Program Operations and Quality Assurance at Nationalities Service Center. Gretchen has been working with vulnerable adults in Philadelphia for fifteen years. Her work initially began with men and women transitioning from welfare into work. In recent years, she has returned to work with immigrant and refugee populations.

• Susan Shifrin, PhD
  Never Beyond Reach: A New, Inclusive Approach to Caring for People Living with Dementia

Through shared stories, a case study, and facilitated interactive experiences, this workshop will bring to life creative, humanist and above all inclusive approaches to caring for and honoring the dignity of people living with dementia.

Susan Shifrin, PhD is an art historian, curator, educator and arts accessibility advocate. In 2013, she founded ARTZ Philadelphia, a community-based nonprofit organization centered on the belief that people living with dementia should be accorded the benefits of well-being and quality of life that others enjoy. ARTZ Philadelphia turns this belief into reality through interactions around arts and culture in evidence-based programs that connect people living with dementia and their care partners with artists, cultural organizations, and each other. The organization's mission is to provide opportunities for self-expression and the rebuilding of self-esteem and dignity to people with dementia and those they love. Since 2016, Dr. Shifrin has directed an innovative, award-winning arts and dementia mentoring program at Jefferson ("ARTZ @ Jefferson") in which people with dementia diagnoses and their care partners mentor medical and other health professions students about the lived experiences of dementia, revealing the person before the diagnosis and the person still very much there after the diagnosis. Art is the vehicle that brings mentors and students together and together, they are beginning to change the face of care for those living with chronic illness. The next semester of ARTZ @ Jefferson begins in February 2020. It is open to all Jefferson medical and health professions students and residents.

• Assata Thomas
  The Health of our Communities and Mass Incarceration

In this session, Assata Thomas will discuss her unflagging commitment to social justice and building a society emancipated from the socially inequitable and calloused/profoundly destructive system of mass incarceration; a society where even the most vulnerable communities have equal and unrestricted access to healthcare, to justice and to unqualified protection of their safety and security.

Assata Thomas is Director of the Institute for Community Justice (ICJ), a Program of Philadelphia FIGHT. As Director, Ms. Thomas oversees the effective execution of ICJ’s aims to provide support, education, and advocacy for individuals, families, and communities who are impacted by mass incarceration.

• Daniel Winetsky, MD
  Bringing Down the Barriers: Caring for Patients with Criminal Justice Involvement

This session will provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities inherent in providing care to patients involved in the criminal justice system. Participants will not only discuss the practical aspects of providing health care in correctional settings, but also address the wide-reaching impact of incarceration and other forms of criminal justice involvement on health and human rights among those living in the community. Particular attention will be paid to: health disparities, human rights, trauma-informed care, substance use, infectious disease epidemiology.

Dr. Daniel Winetsky is a Fellow in Clinical Infectious Diseases and Behavioral HIV Research at Columbia University in New York City. His research focuses on the control of HIV and viral hepatitis among people who inject drugs amid transitions between criminal justice and community settings. From 2015 to 2017 he served as the Site Medical Director for East Jersey State Prison, a maximum-security state penitentiary.