HEDI Advisory Council (2024)

Dr. William Alexander is currently the Plan Performance Medical Director at Amerigroup Community Care of Georgia, where he oversees the healthcare of its 574,000 members and serves as the principal medical manager and policy advisor to the health plan.

A board-certified internal medicine and infectious disease physician, Dr. Alexander has served as a member of the Infant Mortality Task Force of the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee, the Advisory Board of the Institute of Health Administration at Georgia State University, and on the boards for Families First, and ZAP Asthma.

Dr. Alexander is a member of the Georgia Medicaid Credentialing Committee, the Georgia Department of Community Health’s Medical Care Advisory Committee, and the American College of Physician Executives.

Dr. Alexander served as National Quality Medical Director for Cigna HealthCare, where he developed the company’s clinical quality strategy.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Elaine Archie-Booker has been actively providing community service to underserved communities around the State of Georgia. In addition to her 10 years as a registered nurse in the Grady Health System emergency room and critical care units, she was also the public health nurse for the Fulton County Health Department in the Ben Hill and Adamsville communities.

Archie-Booker currently coordinates MPH students at various community-based partner sites with whom she volunteers. She has served on the American Cancer Society Advisory Board, as Chair of the Physical and Mental Health Committee with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and as a member of the American Public Health Association Executive Board. Dr. Booker is an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Director of Community Engagement, and an academic advisor and mentor for the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Deonte Bridges is an assistant principal at a local charter school in Atlanta, where he works tirelessly to ensure school readiness, improve academic achievement, inspire civic leadership, encourage personal accountability, and promote resiliency among people of all ages.

As a Gates Millennium Scholar and alumnus of Morehouse College, Bridges decided to take the road less traveled, a different one than his peers, and fully dedicate himself to academics. This determination, along with a strong work ethic, earned him the esteemed title of valedictorian for the historical Booker T. Washington High School’s graduating class of 2010. Bridges was the first Black male valedictorian from that school in more than a decade. In addition to securing the top spot in his graduating class, Deonte also managed to earn more than $1 million dollars in scholarship offers.

Dasha Broadnax is the Health Equity Access Coordinator for Grady Hospital. Her experience in healthcare has inspired her to find solutions to inequity within the healthcare industry. Her dedication to providing excellent health experiences for everyone, regardless of background, drives her participation in the Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Council. Her focus is to establish more sustainable health systems in Atlanta.

Broadnax brings a wide scope of experience to the council. Currently pursuing a degree in botany at Oregon State University, she has worked as an oceanic research vessel crew member with Skidaway Institute of Oceanic Science and completed national service with an environmental-focused AmeriCorps program in Destin, Florida. Her aspirations include evaluating the sustainable efficacy of current social and environmental conditions and identifying areas of potential improvement. Participating in the HEDI Advisory Council provides her the opportunity to become closely connected and involved with her community and the people living in it.

Sabrina Broadnax is the Vice President of Human Resources at Grady, a Human Resources professional with over 25 years of experience across various industries, including healthcare, retail, social services, and education. Broadnax’s personal commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and resiliency awareness is evidenced by her wide-ranging credentials and leadership.

Her focuses include organizational development assessments and business administration, with an emphasis in human resources. Having worked with leaders, staff, and learners in organizations and the community, she brings to the inaugural Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Council a unique professional background.
While humbled to work in an organization that gives her the opportunity to make professional and community contributions, Sabrina is most proud of being a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. Believing that being present, purposeful, and intentional in life garners gratitude, grace, and greatness, she is blessed to have the gifts of family, village, and legacy.

Dr. Kelley Carroll is the Executive Vice President of Ambulatory Care Services/Chief of Ambulatory Medicine at Atlanta’s Grady Health System. Previous to joining the health system in 2017, Carroll served as Assistant Chief of Staff for Ambulatory Care at Harris Health System in Houston, Texas.

At Grady, Dr. Carrol directly oversees all ambulatory, pharmacy, and clinical ancillary services, and the skilled nursing facility operations, as well as Grady-employed physicians, advanced practice professionals, nurses, and clinicians. She also works with the medical school partners, key health system divisions, and executive leaders to ensure timely, efficient, high-quality, patient-centered care. She is passionate about improving the health of the Atlanta community.

After her residency at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston, Carroll then joined the faculty of the University of Texas McGovern Medical School as an assistant professor of family medicine. She received a certificate in physician leadership from the University of Texas School of Public Health in 2015.

Gari Clifford is Chair and Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Adjunct Faculty at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Dr. Clifford has spent much of the last decade developing programs focused on mental health and neurological diseases. While on faculty at the University of Oxford, he co-founded the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute and founded the Center for Affordable Healthcare Technology, which led to the Co-Design Lab For Health Equity and Safe+Natal, both now housed at Emory.

Through these initiatives, he is committed to addressing health equity and developing sustainable solutions to healthcare problems in resource-poor locations, with much of his work focused in Guatemala.

With more than 25 of experience in inpatient and ambulatory care and 20 years of experience in higher education, community education, community partnership, and clinical research, Pamela Cooper brings a wide and exciting scope to the advisory council. As program manager of the Cancer Health Equity Institute at MSM, Cooper manages and implements strategic planning for Navigations for Clinical Care, clinical trials, and genomic testing.

In her role as clinical research mobile unit manager, she was instrumental in the proposal for a Clinical Research Mobile Unit to enhance clinical research recruitment, basic biometric health screenings, and onsite human subject clinical trial participation in the community. Cooper manages operations and logistics of the Mobile Unit, which includes review and approval requests for the mobile unit, coordination of a driver and volunteers, and management of onsite logistics and staff.

Clarenton “Nicky” Crawford is the founder and executive director of Flowing with Blessings, Inc. Crawford worked in various governmental positions in Washington DC and Southern California before relocating to the metro Atlanta area. He worked at and retired from Dekalb County Watershed Management as an administrative manager, and is currently president of Crawford Enterprises, Inc.

Crawford observed the need for better hygiene for the unhoused in his community. His concern for health recovery, human dignity, and human respect emboldened his desire to create change. His love for humankind led him to collaborate with the Bay Area Church in Concord, California, in partnership with Lave Mae in San Francisco, on the Clean Start shower initiative. After two years of research, he established Flowing with Blessings, Inc., an Atlanta non-profit organization initiated in February 2022 to offer showers of blessings to the metro Atlanta area.

Cassandra Edmond serves as a senior data reporting analyst for the City of Atlanta’s Department of Parks and Recreation and previously served as an analyst for the Department of Human Resources.

Edmond’s career scope has included work as an event manager for NUANCE, where she was a consultant on the company’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, event coordinator for numerous political, non-profit, and community organizations, and for local artists, including Morehouse College Office of Health Professions, Morehouse College Office of Alumni Affairs, and as paralegal and events coordinator for Edmond and Lindsay, LLP. Edmonds also works in retail, the marketing advising business, and with individual professional clients.

Dr. Eric Flenaugh is the Director of GCC Advanced Diagnostic and Interventional Pulmonary Service and Director of Lung Nodule Clinic. Flenaugh completed his pulmonary training at UTHSC Houston and his MD at Anderson Cancer Center, which included a formal training curriculum in Advanced Diagnostic and Interventional Pulmonology Medicine.

Recruited by Morehouse School of Medicine, he joined the Grady Health System to establish a dedicated Advance Diagnostic and Interventional Pulmonary Service for the Georgia Cancer Center of Excellence. As part of the GHS faculty, he has performed grant-funded and award-winning research. He is a published author, has served on multiple hospital committees, established clinical service lines with the development of practice guidelines for the screening and diagnosis of lung cancer, and performs skill assessment and didactic teaching for physicians and health centers both nationally and internationally. Dr. Flenaugh received the 2010 Georgia Research Alliance’s Distinguished Clinician and Scholar Award.

As public health and social innovation strategist and committed servant leader, Jevon Gibson has over 20 years of experience designing, developing, and implementing public health and social innovation efforts to scale.

Mr. Gibson served as the Director of the Office of Infectious Diseases with the Georgia Department of Public Heath, leading statewide HIV, STI, Refugee Health, and TB programs. He has also served as the Director of Clinical Services, guiding Georgia’s Cancer State Aid, Stroke and Heart Attack Prevention (SHAAP), and Breast and Cervical Cancer programs (BCCP). As the Director of the Office of Coordinated Youth Services with the Clayton County Board of Health, Mr. Gibson led countywide health and youth development efforts. He has also served as the program manager for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) national Center for Workplace Excellence in HIV Prevention (CWE), leading support teams in Bethesda and Georgia. For over 10 years, Gibson has served as CEO/Senior Consultant for Community Health Solutions (CHS).

Ashley Gresham has 20 years of healthcare experience with 16 years of nursing, specializing in critical care and emergency care. In her role as Vice President of Emergency Services, Gresham has operational oversight of the Emergency Department, Marcus Trauma Center, the Clinical Decision Unit, the Urgent Care Center, the Inpatient Observation Unit, the Sickle Cell Emergency Department, the Rape Crisis Center, and Grady’s Trauma Recovery Program. Ashley is also responsible for the Georgia Poison Control Center, one of the largest poison centers in the United States.

Gresham was appointed to the Senate Study Committee on violence against healthcare workers and was selected as one of the top 100 Black Women for Business and Influence in 2021. Ashley has recently been appointed to the Georgia Board of Nursing.

Rachel Hall-Clifford is an assistant professor in the Center for the Study of Human Health and the Department of Sociology at Emory University. As a medical anthropologist, Hall-Clifford applies social science approaches to global health research and implementation. She has conducted fieldwork in the central highlands of Guatemala on the delivery of health services for more than 15 years.

Her research areas include accessible healthcare for marginalized populations, health systems strengthening in post-genocide contexts, and global health fieldwork ethics.

She is a co-founder of safe+natal and of the Emory Co-Design Lab for Health Equity.

Dymeka Harrison is the Chief Commercial Officer of Foundation Medicine. In this role, Ms. Harrison is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s global clinical commercial strategy across all product lines. Spearheading the company’s innovative customer collaborations, Harrison leads the clinical commercial team in strengthening existing customer relationships and establishing new partnerships. Under her leadership, the team works to expand patient access to comprehensive genomic profiling and explores new opportunities to work on a systemic level with health systems, academic medical centers, and community practices.

Before joining Foundation Medicine, Harrison served as Head of Strategic Marketing at Abbott Laboratories, overseeing global marketing efforts for the company’s Rapid Diagnostics Division. She was instrumental in developing and implementing innovative strategies to accelerate product launches and business opportunities.

Anne Hernandez has dedicated her professional life to those who are underserved and who experience behavioral health challenges. With over 30 years of experience in community mental health and substance abuse, Hernandez has worked in direct care, policy formulation and implementation, as well as in leadership roles. Anne has worked at Grady Health System for nine years, where she serves as the Vice President of Behavioral Health. Grady’s services emphasize community support for the whole person, housing first, and peer support throughout the recovery journey.

Previously, Hernandez worked with a Medicare Quality Improvement and external Administrative Services Organization for Georgia and currently serves on the Justice and Mental Health Policy Board in the Fulton County City of Atlanta as they drive change in policing, incarceration, and support to those experiencing behavioral health issues. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Georgia.

Dr. Sheryl Heron is the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Co-Director of Education and Training for the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE), and Vice-Chair of Faculty Equity, Engagement, and Empowerment in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. Heron’s awards include the Partnership against Domestic Violence’s HOPE Award, the Woman in Medicine Award from the Council of Concerned Women of the National Medical Association, and the Gender Justice Award from the Commission on Family Violence.

Dr. Heron was named the inaugural president of the Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. She has recently been appointed as the southern regional representative of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Diversity and Inclusion (AAMC/GDI).

Dr. Heron has lectured and published extensively on wellness and well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion in medicine and is a co-editor of two textbooks on diversity and inclusion in Quality Patient Care.

As Vice President and Chief Application and Informatics Officer, Glenn Hilburn has practiced as a critical care registered nurse and an informaticist and has served in leadership roles for several healthcare software development firms. With his extensive knowledge of clinical processes, systems development, and informatics, Hilburn brings a most important perspective to the use of technology in enhancing patient safety, improving care quality, and driving clinical innovation.

Hilburn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, a Bachelor of Business Administration, and a Master of Business Administration. He is a Certified Healthcare Chief Information Officer (CHCIO) as well as a Certified Professional in Health Information Management Systems (CPHIMS). Hilburn was a 2020 America’s Essential Hospitals Fellow and is currently a HIMSS Fellow, a member of the Board of Directors for Georgia HIMSS, where he serves as membership chair, and is an active member of the College of Healthcare Information Executives.

Alicia M. Ivey is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Goldbergs Concessions which has exclusive rights to the iconic Atlanta Braves All Star Grill, Goldberg’s Bagel and Deli, Subway, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

Ms. Ivey’s exemplary leadership led to her appointment to the Board of the City of South Fulton’s Development Authority, the Fulton County Tax Allocation Board, as well as the Board of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) where she served as treasurer and vice chair of the Operations and Safety Committee. Ivey was tapped to serve as an Advisory Board Member for Greenwood Bank, a financial institution committed to the economic empowerment of minorities.

Ivey recently joined St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital’s Advisory Council as sub-chair and served as Director of Economic Development for the National Black MBA Association. She has been named Woman of the Year by Atlanta Business League and as one of the 100 Most Influential African American Women in Atlanta.

Dr. Jones is a physician, epidemiologist, and anti-racism activist specializing in the effects of racism and social inequalities on health. The Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College, London, she also serves as an adjunct professor at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. Jones is a senior fellow and adjunct associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Jones contributes novel insights about the epidemiology of health disparities related to racial classifications. She is the preeminent spokesperson on pathways linking racism to poor health outcomes by using innovative, powerful allegories to enable inclusive dialogue and catalyze collective action on this critical public health issue.
Her many honors include the Wellesley Alumnae Achievement Award (Wellesley College’s highest alumnae honor), the John Snow Award for distinguished service to the health of the public through outstanding contributions to epidemiology, Epidemiology Section, American Public Health Association, and the Chanchlani Global Health Research Award (McMaster University).

As an associate professor of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory School of Medicine, Dr. Sheetal Kandiah has been practicing since 2006. Prior to her appointment at Emory in 2011, Kandiah was in private practice and on faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Currently, she provides disease consults, HIV primary care, and inpatient transplant for infectious diseases, in addition to managing the antibiotic stewardship program at Grady Hospital.

Kandiah’s research has focused on quality improvement initiatives related to antimicrobial stewardship. specifically in the limited resource setting. Her focus within this area is using EPIC, the electronic medical record, to initiate antimicrobial stewardship interventions to decrease C. diff colitis, antimicrobial resistance, and overall optimizing antimicrobial prescribing. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Kandiah expanded her research interests and now works as an investigator at the Grady clinical trials site on vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19.

As Director of Supplier Diversity for Grady Health System, Crystal Anderson King works to identify, mentor, and engage diverse suppliers in Grady’s supply chain process. This award-winning advocate for diverse suppliers and civil rights is also a respected leader at Southern Company for more than 15 years. King held the positions of Corporate Relations Project Manager, Senior Supplier Development Consultant, Senior Contract Analyst, and Southern Company Services Enterprise Solutions. She has used her expertise to enhance the internal relationships between procurement, supply chain, and supplier diversity.

Currently, King serves as a local advisory board member for AID Atlanta, is on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Business League, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women – Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter, the Healthcare Supplier Diversity Alliance, the Hedera Foundation, and The One Million Dreams Foundation for Black Women and Girls. She was recently named to the Vizient Supplier Diversity Advisory Council.

Kimberly King serves as Principal and Communications Strategist for Otto Communications, an independent public relations and corporate communications firm based in Atlanta. Prior to the firm’s founding in 2020, Kimberly honed her communications strategy skills in both the corporate and government arenas.

King is active in the community, serving on the boards of the League of Women Voters—Atlanta Fulton County, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, and the Atlanta Suburban Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is an active member of the National Black MBA Association, UGA Alumni Association, NAACP Atlanta Fulton County Branch, and a number of other community-focused organizations.

Ms. King earned her MBA in Finance at Clark Atlanta University. She is also a proud graduate of the University of Georgia’s School of Journalism. In her spare time, King may be found on the slopes, biking, walking, or discussing current events.

Dr. Taniecea Mallery serves as Senior Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in Washington, DC. In this role, she helps guide senior leaders and chief diversity officers at the nation’s medical schools, teaching hospitals, and health systems to build more inclusive and equity-minded organizations. Prior to joining AAMC, she served as Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she led institutional efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion and taught graduate courses in educational leadership and strategic planning.

Her recent publications include national data and policy reports on diversity in the United States physician workforce, studies on the impact of medical school curriculum on where physicians choose to practice, and research on the role of social influence in group decision-making for faculty advancement, promotion, and tenure.

She completed the Chief Diversity Officer Fellows Program sponsored by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) and is the founding president of the Louisiana Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (LADOHE).

Leslie Marshburn is a healthcare strategist currently serving as Executive Director of Strategy and Population Health at Grady Health System. Ms. Marshburn pairs her public health and business background to implement programs and strategies designed to improve the community’s health and increase overall access to healthcare. Leading initiatives that span clinical care, information technology, care management, managed care, and community partnerships to connect outcomes to value delivered to patients and external payers, Marshburn partners closely with the business intelligence and clinical applications teams at Grady to design the tools necessary to assess, manage, and measure the clinical and non-clinical needs and outcomes of our populations to elevate the overall health status of the community.

With her leadership, Grady is partnering with the City of Atlanta, Atlanta Housing, Partners for HOME, United Way of Greater Atlanta, and Mercy Care to address those homeless who are chronically high users of emergency services, have a disability, and who meet Grady’s high user definition.

Darlene McAshan currently serves as the Executive Director for the Grady Patient Access Center. She has 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, serving in leadership roles in patient access, patient satisfaction, provider relations, and in healthcare insurance on the payor side.

McAshan implemented a process to use non-clinical staff for discharge follow-up calls which helped reduce readmission rates. McAshan is also a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and a leader of leaders, both in work and outside of work.

She is the executive pastor of The Champion Center, Loganville, GA, whose mission aligns with the mission of the HEDI Council. McAshan is the treasurer for the Global Pastoral Fellowship, Gatekeepers, in Stonecrest, GA, and a member of Faith Works, a non-partisan organization educating communities about programs for assistance and about the political system. As part of the Community Engagement Pillar, she plans to engage her network in the Faith-Based community to accomplish the goals of HEDI.

Danette McLaurin Glass is Senior Strategist and Chief Operating Officer for First TEAM America, LLC, a regional training, technical assistance, and project management agency providing strategic development services to nonprofits, universities, and government agencies, including divisions of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Health Resource Services Administration (HRSA) Division, Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Division, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and many others.

With over 30 years of community engagement experience, Glass began developing strategies to assist struggling nonprofits in 1990 with capacity building and strategic partnerships. Her true passion is to serve our region’s most vulnerable youth and families. A fierce advocate for eliminating the disparities in maternal and child health, she led a team of community members and public and private entities to develop “Health literacy and Patient Advocacy” training to address the disparity in infant and maternal health outcomes.

Lynne P. Meadows has been a nursing and healthcare professional for 34 years. In her extensive career at Grady Health System, she held several leadership roles, including Assistant Vice President of Patient Care Services. Currently, she is the Director of District Health Services for the Fulton County School System, where she has served since the program’s inception in 2000.

Meadows was named 2011 School Nurse Administrator of the Year by the Georgia Association of School Nurses and in 2017, the March of Dimes Nurse Administrator of the Year. She participates in various health-related community boards and committees on the local, state, and national levels. Meadows is passionate about supporting pediatric and women’s health initiatives, advocating for health equity, diversity, and inclusion, and other efforts aimed at improving the quality of life for those most in need.

Captain Aprille Moore has over 15 years of law enforcement experience and currently serves as the Unit Commander for the Community Engagement Unit of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office under the leadership of Sheriff Patrick Labat.

Her law enforcement background is augmented by her training as a Registered Neutral with the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution. She leverages these skills with the goal of improving police-citizen encounters. She earned her Master of Public Administration from Troy University and her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Georgia State University.

Mary Parker’s journey began as the daughter of a Mississippi sharecropper and has led her to become the president and CEO of the first and largest African American woman-owned security services firm in the United States. Based on the basic principle: If it is to be, it is up to me; Parker’s philanthropy and community engagement extends to providing educational and leadership resources by way of scholarships for underserved high school seniors and support for Motherless Daughters and Children of Incarcerated Parents organizations. Through The Mary Parker Foundation, with her multi-tiered approach to philanthropy, she has invested in under-resourced people and places, fostering prosperity and wellbeing, empowering people, and building community.

During the pandemic, Parker created a Virtual Summer Camp for Visionaries, delivering memorable experiences to homebound children.

As an inspirational speaker, Mary Parker hopes to leave a legacy by being the voice for the voiceless and forging partnerships to provide access to health and wellness and educational opportunities for the underserved.

Dr. Kiwita Phillips serves as Residency Program Director in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Earning her MD at Harvard Medical School, Phillips then completed a fellowship in clinical research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University as a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow. After her training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Morehouse School of Medicine, she joined the faculty in 2010, where she now serves as an associate professor and Residency Program Director in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Phillips won the 2011 GME Faculty of the Year Award. As a patient advocate and skilled surgeon, her clinical interests include minimally invasive gynecologic surgery and adolescent and teen health.

Phillips is co-founder of the R.E.A.C.H Scholarship (1998-2016), a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a member of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, and a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Dr. Jacquelyn Reasor serves as Grady Health System’s Vice President of Clinical Ancillary Services, which encompasses Laboratory/Pathology, Radiology, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Respiratory. She has 30 years of healthcare experience in clinical and leadership roles, providing her with a diverse and strong foundation in operational efficiency, patient satisfaction, decision support, and revenue cycle management.

Reasor is best known for creating an organizational culture that thrives on civility, authenticity, vulnerability, and transparency. Her passion inspires and empowers leaders and teams to become high performers devoted to Grady’s values and mission.

Joining Grady Health System as the Director for Rehabilitation Medicine, Dr. Reasor’s leadership has successfully created a high-performing team with Tier 1 engagement scores. She also developed best practices to drive clinical care coordination for patients.

Lovette Twyman Russell is a senior consultant with Coxe Curry & Associates, in which role she provides strategic consultation to nonprofits strengthening their success in board development, volunteer engagement, and fundraising.

Passionate about children’s causes, Russell currently serves on the boards of Zoo Atlanta and the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation. She has headed up some of the city’s exclusive events, including the Mayor’s Masked Ball, the Atlanta History Center’s Swan House Ball, Zoo Atlanta’s The Beastly Feast, Park Pride’s 25th Anniversary Gala, and the inaugural Grady Hospital Gala. Named the 2012 Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Russell received the 11Alive Boisfeuillet Jones Community Service Award and was named the Mary Caan Volunteer of the Year by the Lupus Foundation.

Russell was deeply honored by Hughes Spalding Hospital’s decision to name its emergency department the Lovette Twyman Russell Emergency Department.

Dr. Lawrence L. Sanders, Jr. believes that good health is the result of individuals, groups, organizations, neighborhoods, and communities working to create conditions that foster good health in every neighborhood and every community. At Morehouse School of Medicine, he teaches internal medicine, business principles, and patient safety and quality improvement to residents and medical students. At Grady Health System, he serves as the physician advisor for clinical documentation improvement, care management, and hospital throughput.

Sanders is active in professional associations and believes that advocacy influences the political processes that share the future of medicine. Serving as president of the Atlanta Medical and the Georgia State Medical Associations and as a member of the National Medical Association, he has served as Speaker of the House of Delegates, where he also serves as chair of the Committee on Administrative and Financial Affairs. Sanders also serves as a delegate for the Medical Association of Atlanta to the Medical Association of Georgia House of Delegates.

As a diversity professional for more than 25 years, Nisha Simama is currently a coach and mentor at Paideia school, where she also served as a counselor and multicultural/diversity director for over 20 years.

Simama is currently a member of the board of HEALing Community Center, a primary care health center serving Atlanta and Fulton County. She is a former member of the Atlanta Board of Education, the Fulton County Board of Health and Wellness, and was executive director of Georgia’s largest Head Start Program. As a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion for a quarter of a century, Simama has helped many organizations, clients, and individuals achieve collective and personal DEI goals.

Working with educational institutions and non-profit and private sector organizations, she has led workshops, and assessed organizational systems and cultural climates to identify racism and cultural biases. Simama has provided guidance and support in building programs that lead to greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. She strongly believes that addressing implicit biases is a critical component of creating more inclusive, diverse, and equitable environments.

Dr. Lori Singleton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine and a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. A graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, she completed her pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s, followed by a pediatric hospital medicine fellowship at Emory University.

Singleton has served as Morehouse’s Chief of Patient Safety and Quality at Grady Memorial Hospital since 2016. She is also a member of The Children’s Care Network quality committee. Dr. Singleton invests her training in quality improvement to advance patient care by increasing clinical guideline adherence and decreasing the overuse of diagnostic studies and therapies. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running 5k races, and spending time outdoors with her family.

Dr. Randi Smith serves as a trauma surgeon and surgical ICU doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital and as the physician lead for Grady’s Interrupting Violence in Youth and Young Adult (IVYY) HVIP.

Smith is involved in pipeline programs that bridge the gap between the medical field and youth from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine and that link URiM medical students with mentored research experiences.

A member of several committees aimed at achieving diversity, inclusion, and health equity, she serves on the DEI committees of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. With a particular interest in violenceprevention, global surgery, clinical outcomes, and social determinants of health that lead to trauma and health disparities, she serves on the Improving Social Determinants to Attenuate Violence (ISAVE) working group for the American College of Surgeons. She was recently appointed Emory University’s inaugural Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Michelle Staples-Horne was the first African American to serve as a Department Medical Director for the State of Georgia, serving over 25 years as Medical Director for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. She is currently responsible for the daily provision of medical services for approximately 1,000 youth in 25 secure facilities across the state, and, at the request of the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Staples-Horne initiated Georgia’s program to provide health services to DJJ youth in secure confinement.

Staples-Horne was the first Black female Registered Sanitarian (Health Inspector) for DeKalb County, where she advocated creating the first Health Educator position for the Environmental Health Division. Her clinical experience includes Pediatrics at Columbia University’s New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine. Staples-Horne also has extensive experience in the field of public health as a health inspector, health educator, and teen clinic physician. Her clinical experience.

She is the recipient of the Armond Start Award of Excellence from the American College of Correctional Physicians and of the Bernard P. Harrison Award of Merit from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

As Executive Director of Grady Health System’s Radiology Department, Strozier oversees the operation of 200 employees. With over 32 years of radiology experience, Strozier provides leadership support for Carelogistics, the hospital’s operating system, reflecting the organizational values and mission of Grady Health System.

Strozier’s work as a PRN Staff MRI technologist has given him a solid foundation for his work at Grady. He has trained MRI Technologists on cardiac, breast, MSK, body, and neuro exams. He earned ACR accreditation for Siemens Aera, Espree, and Symphony scanners.

Starting his career in the Navy as a radiologic technologist, Strozier then provided technical assistance and leadership for the WellStar Paulding Imaging Center, the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, and Resurgens Orthopedics.

Chasity Tharpe joined Grady in 2017 from Gwinnett Medical Center, where she served under Risk Management in Patient Relations. Over her career, Tharpe developed patient and family advisory councils and led service excellence teams. At Grady, she helped pioneer the Patient Experience Coaching Department, where she counsels countless patients, families, staff, and leaders on patient satisfaction and conflict resolution.

Tharpe earned a Master’s in Public Health from Des Moines University School of Osteopathic Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration from Middle Georgia State University.

Pastor Eric Vincent Thomas is currently the pastor of Saint Pieter Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. Ordained to preach the Gospel in 1995, he has since contributed richly to the lives of the community and those he serves. He first served in various ministries at the Emanuel Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Mitzi Bickers. In his current position, he sponsored over 250 youth in the Saint Peter Sports Ministry.

As part of his deep commitment to the community, Pastor Thomas served as the city-wide, faith-based coordinator for the Atlanta mayor’s office. Thomas is a member of the PNBC, Southern Region, and the New Era State Convention. He serves on several community organizations, is the commissioner and board member of Cascade Youth Organization, and is a board member of the Future Foundation and The Leadership Academy of Atlanta. He serves as a member of the steering committee of Atlanta’s Weed and Seed.

Marci Tribble is the Director of Psychiatric Emergency Services at Grady Health Systems. As a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Marci has served the underserved for over 20 years. Throughout her career, she has built four vocational rehabilitation programs and continues to develop recovery-focused programs for those living with mental health concerns, substance misuse disorders, and those involved in the criminal justice system.

Tribble manages the SBIRT grant for preventative substance abuse care at Grady. She created a “soft touch” discharge team (LINC) that follows each discharge until a stable connection has been made to the next level of care. She also oversaw the creation of a dedicated emergency service that ensures that those in a psychiatric crisis are assessed and dispositioned with dignity in a safe, private setting.

She serves on the Atlanta and Fulton County Center for Diversion and Services project, the Justice Policy Board, Familiar Faces Project in Fulton County, and the NICK Project in DeKalb County.

Shante Walker is the Centering Program Coordinator at Grady Health System. In this role, she manages the daily operation of this unique form of prenatal care, ensuring that patients receive the highest quality of service and education during their pregnancy.

As the Centering Program Coordinator, Walker has increased Centering patient enrollment, strengthened relationships with community partners for continuum of care, and increased exclusive breastfeeding rates among Centering patients. Before taking this position, she provided in-home case management to expecting women across Atlanta’s communities. Shante’s work in maternal health over the past eight years has strengthened her commitment to closing the health equity gap for prenatal women of color in the state of Georgia.

A native of Savannah, Georgia, Harold N. Washington is a 24-year public school educator. A 1998 graduate of Savannah State, Washington earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a master’s in Education from Troy University. He also earned a specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Valdosta State University. Washington has served the students of Georgia as a teacher, coach, mentor, and administrator.

Currently, Washington serves as a district coordinator in DeKalb County. He has remained active and close to his Savannah State roots as president of the Savannah State University National Alumni Association. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Savannah State Foundation and on the Board of Directors for the House of Fire Fitness Community Impact Center.

Representative Mary Frances Williams is currently the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP). There she develops and executes the strategic plan to identify and engage community stakeholders who share a commitment to the ongoing need for evidence-based, medically accurate adolescent health services.

Prior to her election as State Representative for House District 37 in 2018, Williams spent 34 years as a public policy advocate for nonprofits serving women, children, and families. She helped restore millions of dollars to state school nutrition programs and successfully fought for the passage of the Family Care Act, which allows Georgians to use sick leave to care for ailing family members. Representative Williams was successful in passing legislation to remove “sunset” language that would have repealed the Family Care Act.

Williams has been instrumental in the work of Georgians for Children Advocacy, Voices for Georgia’s Children, and the Coalition United for a Responsible Budget.

Kimberlydawn Wisdom is the Senior Vice President of Community Health and Equity and Chief Wellness and Diversity Officer at Henry Ford Health. She is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, the Chair of the Gail and Lois Warden Endowment on Multicultural Health, and the first state-level surgeon general in Michigan and the nation.

In 2012, Wisdom was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. Since 1987 she has been on the faculty in the Department of Medical Education at the University of Michigan Medical School and is an adjunct professor at the UM School of Public Health. Dr. Wisdom focuses on health disparities and healthcare equity, infant mortality, maternal and child health, chronic disease, unintended pregnancy, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, and tobacco use. She has worked collaboratively with school districts, faith-based organizations, and the business community.