Speakers
Keynote
Theodore M. Brown, Ph.D.
University of Rochester
Dr. Theodore M. Brown is a professor of public health and policy, medical humanities and history at the University of Rochester. His area of research is the history of health policy in America and he specializes in the intellectual, institutional, and political histories of medicine. Brown received his B.S. in history and science from the City University of New York in 1963, and went on to complete a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from Princeton University in 1968. He also pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in the history of medicine in 1969. He currently serves as a contributing editor to the American Journal of Public Health, and as the editor of the Rochester Studies of Medical History. Brown is the co-author of three books on the topic of health care, and his most recent book The Quest for Health Reform: A Satirical History received attention for its use of political cartoons to illustrate the history and struggles associated with health reform in America. In 2013, Brown was appointed the Charles E. and Dale L. Phelps Professor of Public Health and Policy at the University of Rochester. He is currently working on a synthetic history of the World Health Organization.
Panel 1
Access to health resources during the COVID-19 pandemic
Jay Butler, M.D.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jay C. Butler, MD is the Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases. In this capacity, he provides leadership to the efforts of CDC’s three infectious disease national centers and helps to advance the agency’s cross-cutting infectious disease priorities.
Dr. Butler has 30 years of experience in increasingly complex public health leadership and management positions. He graduated from North Carolina State University with a BS in zoology, received his MD at the University of North Carolina, and did internship and residency training in medicine and pediatrics at Vanderbilt. After completing CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service in the Wisconsin Division of Health, Dr. Butler completed a preventive medicine residency with the Respiratory Diseases Branch in the National Center for Infectious Diseases, and an infectious disease fellowship at Emory University. He is board certified in medicine, pediatrics and infectious diseases, and has served in public health positions at federal, state, and tribal government, including completing more than 22 years in the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service, from which he retired at the level of Captain (Medical Director) in 2012.
From 1998-2005, Dr. Butler was Director of the Arctic Investigations Program and from June 2009 to March 2010 he directed CDC’s 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Vaccine Task Force, which achieved emergency vaccination of more than 80 million Americans. Dr. Butler made critical contributions to emerging infections, including serving on the Hantavirus Task Force in CDC’s Viral Special Pathogens in 1993 and 1994. He held leadership roles in multiple emergency responses, including CDC’s response to bioterrorist anthrax in 2001.
Dr. Butler has also held multiple leadership roles in Alaska, including Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (2014-2018 and 2007-2009), State Epidemiologist (2005-2007), and Senior Director of the Division of Community Health Services for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC)(2010-2014). He was President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in 2016-2017, and has made important contributions to public health approaches to reducing harms associated with addiction.
Tollie B. Elliott, M.D.
Mary's Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center
Dr. Tollie B. Elliott, Sr., serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Mary's Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that provides health care, education and social services to nearly 60,000 individuals in the Washington DC metropolitan area.
Since arriving at Mary's Center, Dr. Elliott has been instrumental in strengthening the sustainability of the organization by designing, developing and implementing the first telemedicine program in the District of Columbia at a FQHC. Leading his team to develop new and innovative strategies has contributed to Mary's Center being nationally recognized for the quality of healthcare delivered to their patients.
In addition to his role at Mary's Center, he counsels and serves on the advisory boards and credentialing committees for number of payers, a research institute and other organizations.
Dr. Elliott is a graduate of Howard University and Howard University College of Medicine. He completed his residency in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University, where he was named outstanding Senior Resident in Gynecology and Obstetrics. Prior to joining Mary’s Center, Dr. Elliott served as the Director of the Ob/Gyn Peer Review, a member of the Surgical Case Review Committee, At-Large Member of the Medical Staff, and Co-Chair of the Department of Ob/Gyn at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC.
Jenny Rowland-Shea
Center for American Progress
Jenny Rowland-Shea is the Deputy Director for Public Lands at the Center for American Progress with expertise on a range of land management, natural resource, and conservation issues. Prior to joining American Progress, she worked on climate and energy policy at the National Wildlife Federation. Rowland-Shea holds a MA from The George Washington University and BA from the University of Delaware.
Sacoby Wilson, Ph.D.
Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health
Dr. Sacoby Wilson is an Associate Professor with the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland-College Park. Dr. Wilson has over 20 years of experience as an environmental health scientist in the areas of exposure science, environmental justice, environmental health disparities, community-engaged research including community-based participatory research (CBPR), citizen science, and crowd science, water quality analysis, air pollution studies, built environment, industrial animal production, climate change, community resiliency, and sustainability. He works primarily in partnership with community-based organizations to study and address environmental justice and health issues and translate research to action.
Dr. Wilson is Director of the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH). CEEJH is focused on providing technical assistance and research support to communities fighting against environmental injustice and environmental health disparities in the DMV region and across the nation. In addition, he is working with schools in the region on pipeline development efforts in the STEM+H disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Health).
Dr. Wilson has been very active professionally to advance environmental justice science. He is currently a member of the USEPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), member of the National Academy of Science's Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (BEST), board member of the Citizen Science Association, and Editor in Chief of Environmental Justice. He is also a senior fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program.
Dr. Wilson has helped to build numerous environmental justice organizations and coalitions. He is Co-Founder of the DMV Environmental Justice Coalition which has been relaunched as the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Justice Coalition in 2021. He is Founder of 17 for Peace and Justice (an environmental justice advocacy organization) as well as faculty advisor for a student chapter at the University of Maryland-College Park. He is on the steering committee for the recently relaunched National Black Environmental Justice Network (NBEJN). Additionally, he hosts an annual environmental justice symposium that brings together community members, advocates, policymakers, researchers, students, and practitioners to discuss ways to address environmental justice issues in the DMV region and around the country.
Dr. Wilson, a two-time EPA STAR fellow, EPA MAI fellow, Udall Scholar, NASA Space Scholar, and Thurgood Marshall Scholar, received his BS degree in Biology/Ecotoxicology with a minor in Environmental Science from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1998. He received his MS and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with training in environmental health from the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
Panel 2
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on child and family health
Kendra Dunn
Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Early Childhood
Kendra Dunn is the Director of the Division of Community and Family Support in the Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Early Childhood. She serves on the leadership team of the Colorado Partnership for Thriving Families. Ms. Dunn is also the Board President for the Children's Trust Fund Alliance. She has worked in the family support field since 1993. Kendra has a special interest in building community conditions where all families can thrive from the start. Ms. Dunn was previously the founding Executive Director for Prevent Child Abuse Colorado and worked for the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. She studied psychology at American University and is the proud mother to two sons and a pampered pooch.
Andrew McGee
Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Early Childhood
Andrew B. McGee (Drew) is a Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) State Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Office of Early Childhood with the state of Colorado and a 3rd-year Psychology PhD student at the University of Denver, specializing in policy. Drew is involved in projects to advance Colorado’s early childhood care and education system and primary prevention work for child maltreatment. He has on-the-ground experience in early childhood education, having served as a preschool teacher in both a nonprofit mental health preschool day treatment program and a university-based childcare center.
Drew has also conducted research on child development and resilience in various settings, including the juvenile justice system, nonprofit settings, day treatment pre-kindergarten programs, and intervention studies. In terms of research, Drew is primarily interested in resilience, prevention, and intervention science, the buffering influence of protective factors across system levels (such as sensitive parenting or quality early childhood education) on early life stress, and behavioral and physiological stress responses in early childhood. Drew holds a B.S. in psychology from the University of Utah and an M.A. in psychology from Teacher's College at Columbia University.
Anna Gassman-Pines, Ph.D.
Duke Sanford School of Public Policy
Anna Gassman-Pines is WLF Bass Connections Associate Professor of Public Policy and Psychology and Neuroscience in the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy and a Faculty Affiliate of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy and the Duke Population Research Institute. Dr. Gassman-Pines received her BA with distinction in psychology from Yale University, where she was an Affiliate of the Bush Center for Child Development and Social Policy, and her PhD in Community and Developmental Psychology from New York University. Her research focuses on the development of low-income children in the United States and, in particular, how parents’ experiences outside the home – in low-wage workplaces, labor markets, accessing social services – spillover to the home and affect family functioning and child well-being.
Dr. Gassman-Pines has received awards for both research and teaching, including The Society for Research in Child Development Victoria S. Levin Award for Early Career Success in Young Children’s Mental Health Research and the William Duncombe Excellence in Doctoral Education Award from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, in additional to several foundations.
Shyla Rao, Ed.D.
Baltimore City Public Schools
Dr. Shyla Rao builds things as a sculptor, speaks up as an advocate, listens intently as a researcher, shares stories as a scholar, and embraces community as a leader. She believes that education is a form of social action that empowers young people to critically engage with their place in the world and affect change where they deem necessary. She also believes that learning should be fun, equitable, personally meaningful, and community-focused. Shyla currently serves as Principal at City Neighbors Hamilton, a K-8 public charter school in Baltimore City, Maryland where she works tirelessly to ensure that every student and their families are Known, Loved, and Inspired.
Shyla has worked with students in school settings for 25 years as an art educator, school leader, and advocate for equitable and inclusive practices in schools. She has worked with every age from kindergarten through graduate school in Baltimore City, New York City, Singapore, Japan, Kenya, and Jamaica. Shyla earned a Doctorate of Education degree at Columbia University, Teachers College and both a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her scholarship areas include equitable and inclusive practices in education, teacher preparation, and research in the classroom.
Shyla finds great importance with staying actively connected in the community through arts, advocacy, education, and play.
Emma Garcia, Ph.D.
Economic Policy Institute
Emma García is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. She specializes in the economics of education and education policy. Her areas of research include students’ academic and socioemotional development, equity, teacher labor markets, returns to education, and international comparative education. Prior to joining EPI, García held research positions at the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, the Campaign for Educational Equity, the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, and the Community College Research Center, among others, and she did consulting work for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, MDRC, and the National Institute for Early Education Research. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University. She has a Ph.D. in Economics and Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, an M.A. in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.
Economic Policy Institute: http://www.epi.org/Personal: http://www.epi.org/people/emma-garciaContact information: egarcia@epi.orgSocial Media: @emmagg01 @EconomicPolicyPhone: 202-331-5526
Panel 3
Understanding and mitigating barriers to health literacy
Lillie Williamson, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Communication Arts
Dr. Williamson's research examines the ways in which racial experiences and health communication interact to influence racial health disparities. Dr. Williamson has two primary lines of research a) the role of communication in medical mistrust and b) the impact of discrimination on health. In recent projects Dr. Williamson has investigated the antecedents of medical mistrust; the effects of exposure to vicarious racial discrimination (e.g., news stories about racial discrimination) on medical mistrust, and social support as a buffer to the effects of stressors, such as racial discrimination.
Patrick T. Smith, Ph.D.
Duke University School of Medicine
Patrick T. Smith is the Director of Bioethics for the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine, and an Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine. He also is an associate research professor of theological ethics and bioethics at Duke Divinity School. His current research and writing are in the areas of moral philosophy, bioethics, end-of-life care, and the religious social ethics of Martin Luther King Jr.
He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities. Professor Smith also worked professionally for eight years as the ethics coordinator for Angela Hospice Care Center in Livonia, Michigan. During some of that time he served on the Ethics Advisory Council for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and as a board member for the Hospice Palliative Care Association of Michigan.
He has served on the board of directors of organizations working for the common good and more equitable social arrangements such as YW Boston, which aims to empower women and eliminate racism. He also contributed thought leadership by serving on the board of a community development corporation, which supports local communities through building affordable housing, engaging in advocacy work, and providing education on housing policies and practices.
Reverend Dr. Kendrick E. Curry, Ph.D.
The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church
Washington, DC
For over 17 years, the Reverend Dr. Kendrick E. Curry has led the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church (PABC) in Washington, DC to new heights by transforming the local neighborhood, the District of Columbia and the world through the love of Jesus Christ. As such, the church has a Kingdom-focused agenda with ministries addressing the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical needs of DC residents and people internationally.
Pastor Curry values education and is a life-long learner. As such, he has earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University in Texas and an M.S., and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He also subsequently earned a Master of Divinity from Virginia Union University in Richmond, and He has completed advanced studies at the Northern Theological Seminary near Chicago and Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. Pastor Curry has completed Direct Action Organizing training through the Midwest Academy of Chicago.
Pastor Curry has a passion to transform challenged East of the River, Washington, DC community. As such, PABC has partnered with a mental health firm to deliver a day treatment program at PABC. Additionally, Pastor Curry serves on various boards and advocacy organizations including the AARP DC State (current President), DC Water and Sewer Authority, Education Forward DC, Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home, DC Jobs with Justice, and District of Columbia Baptist Foundation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been a leader in the “Faith In The Vaccine” initiative and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for DC Health. He is also a Steering Committee Co-chair for NIH’s Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) to Overcome COVID-19 Disparities.
Pastor Curry is the happy husband of the Reverend Karen Whitney Curry and father to Keyona and Kendrick II.