Bio: Katarzyna Budzynska, MD, MSc, is a dedicated family medicine physician and epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. She brings extensive experience in patient care, research, and medical education. After earning her MD from the University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland, Dr. Budzynska completed a family medicine residency at St. John Hospital in Detroit, followed by an academic fellowship and Preventive Medicine residency at Boston University, where she also earned a master’s in epidemiology.

Dr. Budzynska is passionate about research, having led numerous studies on topics such as dietary patterns in food deserts, disparities in diabetes care, and cancer screening in patient-centered medical homes. Her research focuses on identifying high-risk patients within primary care and enhancing screening practices to improve patient outcomes. She has served as an investigator in several clinical studies at Henry Ford, contributing significantly to evidence-based care.

Currently, Dr. Budzynska is the Assistant Program Director for Scholarly Activity at Henry Ford Family Medicine Residency, where she has revitalized the research curriculum, resulting in increased academic productivity. A recipient of multiple teaching awards, she continues to mentor residents and medical students, integrating research into clinical practice to enhance patient care and health outcomes.

Bio: Shaunta Chamberlin PharmD, FCCP is a Professor and Assistant Residency Program Director – Curriculum and Research in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Graduate School of Medicine in Knoxville, Tennessee.  She earned her PharmD degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and completed her Pharmacy and Internal Medicine Pharmacy Residencies at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center and University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy.  Her areas of clinical focus include asthma, COPD, smoking cessation, women’s health, resident education, patient education, health literacy.  She also serves as the Director of Research for the Department of Family Medicine.  In this role, she serves to support, encourage and provide education on clinical research initiatives and has developed a curriculum and process for the resident research program.  Dr. Chamberlin enjoys spending time with her four kids, Joey, Max, Sam, & Eloise and her husband, Eric.  On the weekends she is generally at a sporting event with her family or supporting University of Tennessee athletics! 

Bio: A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Everett is a Professor of Family & Community Medicine at the University of Missouri. He received his PhD from Louisiana State University in 1992, and then completed an internship and postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Psychology at Brown University. His entire academic career has been spent in Family Medicine Departments. Dr. Everett has a longstanding interest in behavior change and has developed intervention approaches that are effective at reducing health risks at the individual, family, systems, or community level. His work is assuring evidence-based approaches reach vulnerable and underserved populations. He has received funding from numerous sources including the American Cancer Society, the Missouri Foundation for Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute of Health, and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to address his work. He was named research director for MU Family & Community Medicine in January of 2024 and also co-directs the MU School of Medicine Rural Health Research Center that includes a practice-based research network of over 60 primary care clinics. 

Bio: Diego Garcia-Huidobro, MD, PhD, is a family physician and researcher. He is Associate Professor and Research Director at the Department of Family Medicine at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota. He uses mixed methods to develop, implement and evaluate interventions that strengthen family relationships to improve health, strengthen primary care research evidence, and expand its research workforce. He enjoys training medical students, family medicine residents, and primary care providers on research, and supporting the evaluation of primary care innovations. On a personal level, he enjoys spending time with his family, traveling as much as possible and playing basketball with the VMA Panthers.

Bio: Laura Igarabuza, MD, is Assistant Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine and Assistant Professor, Center for Urban Bioethics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. In 2022, Laura was appointed inaugural Vice Chair of Research of the Department of Family and Community
Medicine. She is a member of the AAFP, STFM, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians. Her research interests include social medicine, health disparities, systemic and structural change, diversifying the family medicine physician workforce, and global health equity.

Bio: Dr. Autumn Kieber-Emmons is a family physician and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family Medicine Lehigh Valley Health Network. She received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MPH with a concentration in health policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a practicing family physician, with a focus on prenatal care and Spanish-speaking populations. She is the Director of the Lehigh Valley Practice and Community Based Research Network, a large network of practices in Southeast and Northeast Pennsylvania investigating cancer disparities, substance use, and other primary care problems. Through her research, she has developed the focused Rapid Assessment Process (fRAP), using GIS and qualitative exploration with a health policy lens, to impact health disparities facing our communities. To build research capacity, she is an Associate Professor at the USF Morsani College of Medicine, and leads their research office for medical students at LVHN, and co-leads the residency research requirements for LVHN’s residency programs. In 2021, she founded the Mid-Atlantic Research Consortium, a network of 13 institutions across 3 states in the Mid-Atlantic area, where she works to increase research capacity and collaboration in the discipline of Family Medicine regionally.  

Bio: James LaRosa, MD is a practicing family physician and an Associate Program Director for the Department of Family and Community Medicine at ChristianaCare.  He is board certified in addiction medicine and the lead of the substance use disorder program within the Christiana Family Medicine Residency. He leads the scholarly activity and research redesign for the residency program.

Dr. LaRosa completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, earning a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a minor in psychology. He moved to Philadelphia in 2013 and earned his medical degree at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.  

Dr. LaRosa completed his residency training in family medicine at ChristianaCare where he served as chief resident during his third year. He stayed on as a clinical faculty and now serves as the associate program director for the residency program.

He has helped grow the substance use disorder program within the Christiana Care Family Medicine department through the procurement of state-based grants for substance use disorder treatment. Dr. LaRosa hopes to continue to expand the reach of this program through direct connections with the Emergency Rooms, access to Mobile Van Units, and innovations in contingency management for substance use disorders.  

Bio: Dr. O’Dwyer is a principal residency faculty member at the University of Michigan Medical School and serves as the Director of Resident Scholarship for the Family Medicine Residency. She completed residencies in both internal medicine and family medicine and has a master’s degree in public health. Dr. O’Dwyer also holds a postgraduate diploma in women’s health from the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, U.K., and is a North American Menopause Society–certified menopause practitioner.  Dr. O’Dwyer serves on the editorial board of NEJM Journal Watch General Medicine. Her clinical and scholarly interests focus on optimizing care of chronic illness in primary care and women’s health.