Bishop Horace E. Smith is a man gifted with a passion for God's Word coupled with a love for God's people. He has a contagious spirit of generosity that overflows in every facet of his life. As pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church and an attending physician specializing in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (formerly Children’s Memorial Hospital), Dr. Horace E. Smith has treated bodies and souls for three decades. Bishop Horace E. Smith M.D. was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. Bishop Smith graduated as an honor student from Lindblom High School and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree (with honors) Chicago State University, and M.D. from University of Illinois Medical Center.
Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, a San Francisco native, has served her call through prophetic action and ministry for justice for over thirty years. The call to “blend proclamation, worship, service, and advocacy on behalf of those most marginalized in church and in society” led to the founding of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in 1991. In 2003, Rev. Dr. Flunder was consecrated Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a multi-denominational coalition of over 100 primarily African American Christian leaders and laity. She is a graduate of the Certificate of Ministry and Master of Arts programs at Pacific School of Religion and received her Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Bishop Flunder is a DEMOS board member and Senior Fellow at Auburn Theological Seminary and Andover Newton Seminary. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor and speaker at Pacific School of Religion and numerous seminaries and universities including Auburn, Brite Divinity, Chicago Theological, Columbia University, Drew, Duke, Eden, Howard, Lancaster, New York Theological, and Yale. She is also an award-winning gospel music artist and author of Where the Edge Gathers: A Theology of Homiletic and Radical Inclusion.
Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. A passionate and longstanding champion of social justice and gender equality, Ms. Byanyima leads the United Nations’ efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Ms. Byanyima believes that health care is a human right and was an early champion of a People’s Vaccine against the coronavirus that is available and free of charge to everyone, everywhere.
She holds a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Cranfield University and an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Manchester.
Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick, Jr., is the Senior Pastor of the Bethel Church, located in Jacksonville, Florida. McKissick returned to Bethel in 1995 to share leadership with his father and has since succeeded him as the sole Senior Pastor of the church. Under our Bishop’s leadership, Bethel has become known as The Bethel Experience, a worship known for his vibrancy, energy, and diversity. His teaching has resulted in a church that has transitioned into a church where generations worship. Bishop McKissick is a powerful messenger of God who has been afforded many national platforms for proclamation, among them being the morning preacher at the prestigious Hampton University Ministers and Musicians Conference as well as the featured conference preacher in the evening; the conference preacher at the John Malcus Ellison Convocation at Virginia Union University (Now the John Ellison/Miles Jones Convocation) and being inducted into the Morehouse School of Religion Board of Preachers. Bishop has also served as a professor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, as a doctoral mentor, where students have been selected to sit in a learning cohort, sitting under his academic mentorship as they work towards their earned Doctor of Ministry degree. In the United program, McKissick has graduated from five doctoral classes.
Dr. Kafui Dzirasa is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, neurobiology, and neurosurgery, and the K. Ranga Rama Krishnan Associate Professor at Duke University and an investigator in the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.
Rev. Tony Lee is the founder and Senior Pastor of the Community of Hope A.M.E. Church in Hillcrest Heights, MD. Community of Hope is recognized throughout the region for its innovative ministry, social engagement, and community outreach. Community Of Hope has gained national recognition for its work around HIV/AIDS, violence prevention, community/police partnerships, and educational advocacy. The church’s work is also highlighted in the documentary “The Gospel Of Healing,” and Rev Lee is a contributor to the books “Being A Black Man: At The Corner Of Progress And Peril” and “Reach: 40 Black Men Speak On Living, Loving & Succeeding”. Pastor Lee is also highlighted by Heather Foster in her chapter in the book West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House.
Rev Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland at College Park, a Masters Of Divinity degree from the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and is currently pursuing a Doctor Of Ministry degree at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary focusing on Church Planting and Multiplication.
As director of Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Robert A. Winn, M.D., is leading the nation in establishing a 21st-century model for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the oncology workforce, optimizing cancer health care outcomes for all and spearheading interdisciplinary approaches to cancer disparities research. Just the fourth director of Massey since its 1975 National Cancer Institute designation, Winn oversees a center comprised of nearly 150 scientists and clinical investigators. Leading by example, Winn is nationally recognized for his community engagement efforts in promoting new approaches to building trust among populations previously disenfranchised from healthcare or excluded or abused in research. Most recently, during the pandemic, Winn launched a nationally heralded Facts & Faith Fridays conversation series. This initiative creates a dialogue between science, community, and faith leaders to combat medical mistrust within the African-American community. Hosted guests have included Jill Biden, Ed.D., Anthony Fauci, M.D., Ned Sharpless, M.D., and Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Winn is also the namesake of the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program, a $114 million training and education program in partnership with the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation.
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Michelle is a longtime dance and exercise enthusiast. Michelle was a dance major and played the violin at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. She obtained a B.S. and M.S. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and also received a second B.S., with honors, from the City University of New York at Queens College and majored in nutrition and exercise sciences.
Michelle is a certified group exercise instructor with the American Council on Exercise® and personal trainer via the American Council on Exercise and Applied Academy of Personal Training Education®. She also holds kickboxing, Zumba® and Silver Sneakers® instructor certifications. She is also a Balm In Gilead Lifestyle Coach.
Dr. Barbara Louise Shaw is the Immediate Past International President of The Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. A product of four generations in the A.M.E. Zion Church, born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Barbara L. Shaw was spiritually developed and reared in the Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church (Baltimore, Maryland) where she served in many positions. She was consecrated a Deaconess in 1993. She is a dedicated mother and grandmother who understands and values the importance of family. Dr. Shaw was educated in the public schools in Baltimore; Morgan State University; and graduate studies at The Johns Hopkins University, School of Writing. Professionally, she has served as a teacher in the Baltimore City Public School System; Associate Producer at Maryland Public Television; and a Chief Administrator with the State of Maryland Department of Public Safety. In October, 1997, she retired after 30 years of service in the state of Maryland. In August 2003, Dr. Shaw was elected the 16th General President of the Women's Home and Overseas Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. In this position, she presided over 800,000+ women on five continents. In August of 2007, she was re-elected as General President and retired in July, 2011. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hood-Speaks Theological Seminary of the University of Calabar, Nigeria, West Africa, June 2005. In February 2006, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Livingstone College, Salisbury, North Carolina.
Cary L. Goodman, a native of Richmond, VA, has a sincere passion to empower faith communities nationally to operate at their fullest capacity in areas of health promotion, advocacy programs, outreach and development. For over 15 years, he has been dedicated to working with faith communities to establish and expand health programs across the United States by building their capacity to address health disparities that greatly impact their congregations and the communities they serve and strategically leveraging faith‐based and community partnerships to impact sustainability.
Currently, Cary is a Program & Strategic Development Consultant for The Balm In Gilead, Inc. A highly skilled strategist adept at leading relationship building and engagement opportunities, he has forged various faith based and public health community partnerships and coalitions. With a sincere passion to empower black men, Cary founded Black Men’s Wholeness, an initiative designed to engage black men in conversations focused on areas that reassure wholenesses such as trauma, emotional and mental health, and fatherlessness.
An ordained minister, Cary deems himself a “connector”; where he focuses on the significance of outreach and engagement, establishing coalitions, collaborating, and relationship building in order to increase accessibility and sustainability to strengthen congregations and communities.
Saidi Mpendu, MD, MPH, is the Country Director of The Balm In Gilead – Tanzania. Dr. Mpendu also serves as Deputy Chairperson of Institutional Review Board (IRB) @ Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) and his a Member of Clinical Trail Sub Committee of National Ethics Committee for Clinical Research @ The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR); Member of Technical Working Group‐ Public Private Partnership (PPP) @ Tanzania‐Ministry of Health & Social Welfare. Dr. Mpendu is the former National Program Director @ The National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) and Medical Officer @ Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC). As a public health specialist, Dr. Mpendu continues his work on various research committees @ Muhimbili University of Health and Allied sciences. Dr. Mpendu passion is coordinating public health and social welfare programs and systematically building the technical and institutional capacity of faith‐based organizations to be a focus for change.
Dr. Reema Dirks earned a Doctor of Pharmacology degree from the University of Missouri- Kansas City. After working in community pharmacy, Reema realized she could make an impact at the patient level by working to educate healthcare providers and facilitating research working in the pharmaceutical industry. Thus began her career as a medical science liaison (MSL). Over her 15 years of experience, Reema has grown her passion for education by providing education to people living with asthma, specifically in underserved and underrecognized populations. Having asthma in her family and living in an urban environment, she recognizes that better asthma control lies in educating yourself about your disease and advocating for yourself. Reema proudly hails from Oakland, California.
Cassandra Smith currently serves as the Director, Health Equity, Enterprise Advocacy Relations at Amgen. She has over twenty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, joining Amgen in June 2023. In this role, Cassandra collaborates with and connects internal and external stakeholders to implement strategic plans that align with the company's vision and values around addressing health disparities.
Cassandra earned a Bachelor of Science degree in General Science with a concentration in Biology from The Pennsylvania State University, and a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Marketing from St. Joseph’s University. Cassandra is a Philadelphia native, and she currently lives just outside of Philadelphia in South Jersey with her partner, Raymond, 2-year-old daughter, Seneca, and puppy, Teddy.
Laonis Quinn, RN, MSN, AE-C is the founder and Executive Director of Breathe Anthony J Chapman Asthma Foundation. Since the untimely death of her eldest son Anthony Jamar Chapman (Tony) in 2007 from a fatal asthma attack. Her passion is unwavering for advocating about asthma education to increase awareness about the effects asthma has on families and communities to help save lives. She has been active in the community for over 15 years, serving with various organizations, Laonis has spoken on several National Platforms telling Tony’s story. She has been sitting on the Board of Directors at Allergy & Asthma Network for the past 3 years. She has been a Registered Nurse for over 25 years, specializing in critical care. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Science in Nursing Education from the University of Phoenix. She is also a Certified Asthma Educator. Laonis has had asthma since she was a child.
Dr. Idoroenyi Amanam is an Assistant Professor in the Leukemia Division at City of Hope. He obtained his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, and completed his training at St. Mary-UCLA Internal Medicine Residency, where he was awarded Intern of the Year, Resident of the Year and Chief Resident distinctions.
He completed his hematology and oncology training at the City of Hope/Harbor-UCLA combined program, serving as chief fellow and was then awarded a Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Fellowship, with a concentration on acute leukemias and myeloproliferative neoplasms.
He currently is active in basic and clinical research and is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Myeloproliferative Research Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Jorge Leon is a results-oriented leader who has been with Johnson & Johnson for over 22 years. He is currently the Director, Our Race to Health Equity – Enterprise Engagement, in the Global Community Impact organization, the group responsible for disbursing philanthropic dollars on behalf of the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.
Through his work at the foundation, he supports J&J's Our Race to Health Equity initiative. He is also responsible for supporting the direct debt and equity investments that the Foundation makes in US-based entrepreneurs and start-up organizations through J&J Impact Ventures (JJIV).
For the first 19 years of his career at Johnson & Johnson, Jorge worked through many roles in the Consumer sector, where he gained valuable experience managing many of their iconic brands, including LACTAID®, MYLANTA®, Children’s TYLENOL®, Children’s MOTRIN®, and BENADRYL®.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Systems Engineering from the University of Florida, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Shelina Ramnarine PhD is the Director Our Race to Health Equity Community Engagement. Shelina is a recognized change catalyst with proven capabilities to take innovative ideas from concept to execution. She is a collaborator with an aptitude to connect people and ideas. She has experience collaborating with technical, scientific, and commercial colleagues to drive and deliver on strategic initiatives. Shelina holds a PhD in Human and Statistical Genetics from Washington University in St Louis and earned undergraduate degrees in Biology and Statistics from the University of Georgia.
Shelina is a native of Trinidad and Tobago and holds a strong value for community. As a community cultivator, Shelina works to create spaces to foster dialogue. Blending head and heart, Shelina aims to use her talent towards solving unmeet needs.
Dr. Ogo Egbuna is a passionate physician scientist with nearly two decades of clinical, academic, and drug development experience. Originally from West Africa, he completed medical school at the University of Nigeria before emigrating to the United States, where he completed his residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai followed by clinical fellowships in nephrology and kidney transplant medicine at the University of Rochester and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, respectively. Dr. Egbuna then completed a Masters in Clinical Investigation from the Harvard/MIT School of Health Sciences and Technology and was on faculty teaching residents, caring for patients, and conducting National Institutes of Health-funded research at the Harvard Medical School.
Throughout his early career, Dr. Egbuna received several honors and awards for his exceptional academic and clinical work and received over a dozen invitations to give oral presentations on topics ranging from kidney disease clinical research to disparities in access to kidney care and transplantations for underserved minorities. He spent ten years at Amgen as a Clinical Research Medical Director for both early and late phase clinical development programs, interacting with a wide range of medical, regulatory, and business stakeholders. During this time, he also began teaching and mentoring medical students as an assistant clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Currently, Dr. Egbuna is the Vice President, Clinical Development and also the Global Clinical Development Lead for Vertex Pharmaceutical’s APOL1-mediated focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) program, which aims to develop a potentially curative treatment for the underlying cause of APOL1-mediated Kidney Disease. In addition to his role at Vertex and his professorship, Dr. Egbuna also offers pro bono advice to the leadership of KidneySolutions, a kidney disease and dialysis center in Lagos, Nigeria, on standardization and implementation of policies and clinical procedures as well as the use of modern technologies for dialysis and electronic medical records.
Ifeoma Onuorah is an Assistant Professor with the Division of Cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta Georgia since 2017.
Dr Onuorah obtained her Bachelors of science in nursing from University of Texas Medical branch Galveston graduating with high honors. She completed her medical school training at the University of Texas San Antonio and was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha honor society (AOA) at graduation. She completed her Internal Medicine residency training at the prestigious John Hopkins’s Osler training program in Baltimore Maryland and General Cardiology Fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University hospital, Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
Dr Onuorah is a fellow of the American society of echocardiography and American college of Cardiology.
Dr Onuorah interest include echocardiography, valvular heart disease. Additionally, she has special interest in cardiovascular disease prevention and outcomes in low socioeconomic communities.
Dr. Kernizan is a board-certified pediatric cardiologist with advanced fellowship training in fetal cardiology. She has been with Nemours Children’s Health initially as a clinical fellow for four years working in pediatric cardiology, prevention, and advance cardiac imaging and now works as an attending physician in Panama City, Florida. Dr. Kernizan has published medical journal articles on rheumatic heart disease in the United States, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, micronutrient intake and hypertension, echocardiographic assessment of ventricular function along with other topics and has lectured on an array of topics such as high output heart failure in the fetus, pediatric heart screening in Haiti, and the syncope in the pediatric patient. In addition to English, Dr. Kernizan is also fluent in French Creole.
Dr. Willibroad Maimo is a board-certified internist and geriatrician currently pursuing a fellowship in Cardiovascular medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. He has a strong passion for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a focus on risk stratification and cardioembolic disease. Among his clinical and research interests is seeking to understand early detection of pre-disease states, through modalities such as coronary artery calcium scoring and high-risk cardiovascular biomarkers such as Lipoprotein LpA. He is also involved in the National Lipid Association Lipid Scholars Program seeking to complete advanced training in clinical lipidology.
Joanne is a Patient Engagement Liaison (PEL) with GSK. She has worked for more than 40 years caring for patients in the pediatric, adults, and octogenarian areas, including the specialties of allergy and asthma, cardiology, dermatology, ENT (ears, nose, & throat), neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, pulmonary, and urology. Also, Joanne has worked 22 years within the pharmaceutical industry supporting patients and their healthcare providers.
Joanne obtained her first nursing license as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at the young age of 17 years old. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from SUNY Brockport and a Master of Science in Nursing and Nurse Practitioner (NP) degrees from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She has a strong passion for educating and advocating for patients and caregivers. Throughout her career she has become a true Ambassador for those without a voice or who are often overlooked and lack access to healthcare, which has fueled a fire within her for years.
Joanne has worked in unmet communities helping those who have little to no healthcare. She has also worked in local churches to change the lives of their congregants to live healthier lives. Joanne's proudest accomplishments include being a mother to two beautiful children and a wife of 30 years to her wonderful husband. She believes the greatest gift one can provide to others
is the gift of a servant. Her passion is advocating and empowering others, traveling, healthy living, reading, and sitting by any ocean. Also, having the honor to positively impact patients' lives and potentially improve their quality of life through education and advocacy regardless of diagnosis, neighborhood one resides in or any other health disparity reason.
