LEADS Project: Assessment of DEI Climate in a Family Medicine Department

Bio:Dr. Wheat is the Program Director for the McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency Erie Humboldt Park. This program is a Teaching Health Center Program that serves a largely Spanish speaking patient population at Erie Family Health Center a Federally Qualified Health Center in Chicago.  She is an Associate Professor and the Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the Department of the Family and Community Medicine where she oversees efforts of equity within the department.

Dr. Wheat earned her medical degree at University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine and her Master of Public Health at University of Illinois School of Public Health. She completed a family medicine residency at McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency Humboldt Park. She currently primarily provides full primary care primarily to patients living with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.  Dr Wheat is the Medical Director for the Lending Hands for Life Program within Erie that oversees care for those living with HIV/AIDs, Hepatitis C services, and pre-exposure prophylaxis services to adult and adolescent patients.  She also runs an outpatient procedure clinic with the residents in her program and is part of the maternity care team. Dr Wheat has a strong interest in reproductive health, health equity, and social determinants of health. 

LEADS Project:Promoting Specialty Respect at Georgetown University Medical Center/MedStar Health – Next Steps for Organizational Change

Bio:Dr. Jeff Weinfeld is a Professor in the Georgetown University Department of Family Medicine and serves as the Director of Medical Student Education. He runs the Evidence-Based Medicine Course and the DC Health Equity Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship at the School. He has held positions in quality and informatics for governmental, non-profit, and community organizations, including working with HRSA’s Office of Health Information Technology and MedStar's Health Quality Office. He is Project Director for the DC Million Hearts Grant, with a goal of improving cardiovascular outcomes for patients that live in the District. He is board-certified in family medicine and clinical informatics and practices at MedStar Family Medicine at Spring Valley in Washington, DC. 

After studying biology at Cornell, he received his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine, completed his Family Medicine residency at the Georgetown University/Providence Hospital program, and received a master's degree in biomedical informatics from the Oregon Health & Science University. His interests include evidence-based medicine, medical education, caring for underserved patients, clinical decision support, and clinical informatics.

LEADS Project:Developing a Family Medicine Rural Training Track Residency in Minnesota

Bio: Andrew Slattengren, DO, FAAFP, is an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and serves as the Associate Program Director and Director of Osteopathic Education at the University of Minnesota North Memorial Family Medicine Residency. Dr. Slattengren gained his Doctor of Osteopathy at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed residency at the University of Wisconsin Madison Family Medicine Residency Program. He was a faculty at the University of Wisconsin Madison prior to joining the North Memorial Family Medicine Residency.

Dr. Slattengren is a founding board member and remains active with Family Medicine Midwest. He is a past President of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians and is a board member of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians Foundation.

LEADS Project: Faculty Development expanded across the state of PA

Bio: Dr. Gretchen Shelesky is the program director of the UPMC St Margaret & University of Pittsburgh Faculty Development Fellowship since 2018 after joining UPMC St Margaret Family Medicine Residency Program Faculty as the Director of Medical Student Education in 2010. She also serves as one of the associate program directors for UPMC St Margaret Family Medicine Residency Program. She was born and raised in Scranton, PA, coming to Pittsburgh in 2001 to attend medical school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She attended the University of Scranton and received a B.S. in Biochemistry and Philosophy. Dr. Shelesky completed family medicine residency training at the UPMC St Margaret Family Medicine Residency Program where she also completed fellowship training in faculty development while completing a Masters of Medical Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Her professional interests include medical education research with special interest in using games and escape rooms in teaching as well as MAT and LGBTQ health.

LEADS Project: Creating a culture of inclusivity: Recognizing and changing implicit bias language in narrative assessments of learners, faculty, and applicants

Bio: Ann E. Rutter, MD, MS, Associate Professor, Academic Vice Chair and Director of Family Medicine Medical Student Education in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at Albany Medical College. She was part of the Leadership in Medicine Program with Union College and the Graduate College of Union University before obtaining her medical degree from Albany Medical College. During her time at AMC, she was elected into both the Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Societies. She then completed her Family Medicine Residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as Chief Resident. Annie’s clinical interests include primary care obstetrics and women's health but she also continues to practice all aspects of Family Medicine, including inpatient care and outpatient procedures. Annie has a strong passion for medical education and is enthusiastic about teaching both residents and medical students here in Albany, as well as participating in medical education and medical education research on a national level. She has been an active member of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) and is the current Chair of the Medical Student Education Committee which offers her the opportunity to serve on STFM’s Board of Directors. She also serves as STFM’s representative to the Alliance for Clinical Education.  Annie has been recognized by both students and residents for her teaching commitment and excellence.

LEADS Project:Integrated Mental and Behavioral Health in Family Medicine

Bio: Anna Ramanathan is the Director of Administration in the Department of Family Medicine, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. He has a responsibility to support teaching, research, and clinical missions of the department. He supports Educational and Research Operations of the departments to ensure they serve the needs of its stakeholders effectively. In his operational capacity, he is responsible to manage and lead high volume clinic delivery operations and P&L responsibilities. Leveraging data, while managing their teaching & research efforts, he works with clinicians to highlight opportunities for their continued clinical productivity. He sees this as an avenue to improve clinicians ‘joy in practice.

Anna is a graduate of Fuqua School of Business, Duke University with Health Sector Management concentration and holds a B.S. in Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park

LEADS Project: Mentoring Program for Faculty Development

Bio: Shalina Nair, MD, MBA, FAAFP is an Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at The Ohio State University.  She is the Vice Chair for Quality and Innovation since July 2020 and the Clinical Lead for the Medical Center’s  eConsults Program since 2018. The eConsults program is a Health system wide Telehealth initiative designed to improve access and quality of care. Dr. Nair is involved with disseminating education of telehealth processes to improve the eConsult process. As part of the Coronavirus pandemic response, she led the departmental initiative to develop and disseminate best practices for providing telehealth (video, electronic, phone) to patients and ensuring both their and providers safety.  She recently served as the Interim Chair for the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) from March 2021 through November 2022.   She is a member of the Ambulatory Improvement Management System team and the Ambulatory Medical Emergency Response workgroup, both of which work to improve quality and safety processes in the primary care network.  She has also served as a Portfolio Coach for medical students since 2018. She received her MBA and completed her Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt through OSU’s Fisher College of Business and has led and implemented many successful quality initiatives for the department such as tobacco cessation, colorectal cancer screening, and improving the anticoagulation process.  Her interests include preventive health, chronic disease management and quality improvement throughout the healthcare system.

LEADS Project: Developing a systematic program to enhance research grant funding in a family medicine department

Bio: Allison Macerollo, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Wexner Medical Center of The Ohio State University.  Her current role as Vice Chair of Education in her department allows her to oversee educational activities related to UME and GME as well as provide faculty development and mentorship for faculty in the department.  She created, implemented, and currently co-directs an accelerated medical school track that allows students to graduate medical school and have direct progression into Family Medicine residency.  Her other roles include directing the semester long course that all third year medical students take which includes clinical time in Pediatrics, Adult Ambulatory care, an elective, and all of the clinical sites and didactic experiences.  She loves to provide a pipeline to Family Medicine experiences through her role as advisor to FMIG, a summer experience for rising second year students, career counseling for 4th year students planning a career in Family Medicine and supervising Family Medicine residents in the outpatient setting.  She clinically sees her own patients in the near east side of Columbus and since residency at Fairfax Family Physicians she has worked in patient care that focuses on the care of high need communities.  One of her key missions has been to provide high quality care for patients who are not able or equipped to demand it. 

LEADS Project: Diabetes Health Equity Through the Lens of Adverse Childhood Events Screening

Bio: Dr. Monica Le MD MPH is a Family Medicine physician serving as the Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs at the Harbor-UCLA Department of Family Medicine. She also serves as Co-Director of the Lomita Family Health Center, the primary ambulatory teaching clinic of the residency. In this capacity she helps the Department stay nimble while collaboratively building their Patient-Centered Medical Home teaching, learning, and quality improvement strategy.

Dr Le has a strong passion for global health, with experiences ranging in projects that span  clinical, public health, and social entrepreneurship domains in Sri Lanka, Haiti, Tanzania, Nepal, and Honduras.  Dr. Le, along with two other colleagues from MIT and the Harvard Kennedy School, founded a company (Ghonsla) using green technology to combat poverty, indoor air pollution, and deforestation. Ghonsla won the MIT IDEAS Competition Muhammad Yunus Award and has incorporated and is operating in Pakistan.  Dr. Le was also a Board Member of the nonprofit Himalayan HealthCare, which operates medical trekking missions, supports social enterprise (employing nearly 1,000 women in the eco-friendly handicraft trade), and is operating the first community hospital for the rural poor in Nepal. 

Previously, she was Associate Medical Director for the Office of Clinical Affairs of UMASS Medical School Commonwealth Medicine, working directly to support the Massachusetts Medicaid program. In this position, she was able to impact multiple aspects of health policy in the state, including leading health equity initiatives, collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on cross-organizational maternal health improvement efforts, and serving on the statewide commission for Postpartum Depression as part of state efforts to operationalize universal peripartum screening for caregivers. Dr. Le received her medical degree from New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, and completed her residency in Family Medicine, Faculty Development Fellowship at Harbor UCLA, Department of Family Medicine, Torrance, CA and California Endowment Minority Health Policy Fellowship at Harvard, Boston MA.

LEADS Project: Incorporating telehealth into residency curriculum in an underserved population m

Bio: Dr. Keber has been a board certified, practicing family physician for almost 40 years and currently works for Northwell Health Physician Partners in Family Medicine at Glen Cove Hospital. She continues to serve as the Chair of Family Medicine within the hospital at Glen Cove and the Vice Chair of the Department of Family Medicine for Northwell Health and Zucker School of Medicine beginning in 2013. She earned her medical degree from the State University of New York, Health Science Center-Brooklyn, College of Medicine, formerly SUNY Downstate School of Medicine, and completed residency in Family Medicine at The Community Hospital of Glen Cove, now the Zucker School of Medicine Hofstra/Northwell Health Glen Cove Family Medicine Residency Program. 

Dr. Keber is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Family Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine, Hofstra Northwell. In that capacity she has developed curriculum for the MS4 acting internship in ambulatory family medicine, and serves as the site clerkship director for the CUNY School of Medicine students who rotate through the Glen Cove site. She also mentors students interested in family medicine as a career and lectures in multiple settings on “Family Medicine as a Career”. 

As a leader in family medicine at Northwell Health and Glen Cove Hospital Northwell she has been instrumental in developing the patient centered approach and team-based care with NCQA recognition as a Patient Centered Medical Home level 3 for the last 5 years for the combined faculty and residency practice. Dr. Keber has spoken nationally on topics related to both diabetes care and management as well as team-based population health within the PCMH model of care which includes preventive care such as cancer screening and vaccines. Dr. Keber also participates in many activities within the community setting giving talks to many in various senior citizen groups and also working with residents in a training program to improve the resident experience in participation in the community via community based organizations. She is currently working with Northwell leadership to enhance geriatric care in the ambulatory setting at Glen Cove Hospital and the ambulatory practices in the local area.

LEADS Project: Advancement of health equity through development of a scalable street medicine program model.

Bio: Taylor Hooks, MBA is the Senior Clinical Administrator for the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Division of Street Medicine. The Street Medicine Division provides primary care medical services to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, consults, educates and trains street medicine programs across the state, nation and world and advocates for new policy in the state of California and nationally through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She is part of the strategic development team, designing the program’s dramatic expansion during these critical growth years. She negotiates contracts from concept inception to full execution, creates and manages budgets and has complete P&L responsibility for the division. She orchestrates partnerships with local and state governments, outlines fiscal strategies and continues to work to scale division operations while addressing the constraints of variable funding sources, compliance and public policy.

Taylor’s career has traversed multiple industries between healthcare and sports entertainment. Her roles have ranged from a healthcare clinician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Kerlan-Jobe Institute as a computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologist to oversight of all game entertainment teams with the NBA’s LA Clippers and, subsequently, game operations with the Los Angeles Lakers. She is now a healthcare executive at USC working diligently to promote and provide health equity in the greater Los Angeles area.

Taylor earned an Executive MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Radiologic and Imaging Sciences. 

LEADS Project: Developing and Implementing Faculty Mentorship for the UTSW Department of Family & Community Medicine

Bio: Dr. Esther Danphuong Ho graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and completed her Family Medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center.  

After residency training and becoming board certified, Dr. Ho initially worked as a staff and per diem physician at Riverside County and Southern California Kaiser Permanente, as well as in community and private clinic settings, before joining the University of California, Irvine (UCI), as family medicine hospitalist faculty. Her roles as the UCI FM Subinternship Course Director, FM Inpatient Faculty Lead, and FMIG Co-advisor, and Assistant Program Director were stepping stones in her growth as an educator, mentor, and leader. She became the UCI FM Residency Program Director at the same time the ACGME implemented the New Accreditation System in 2014.  She also co-founded Schwartz Rounds at UCI, which are multidisciplinary grand rounds-style events that focus on a case or theme related to the emotional impact of patient care that health care professionals experience. In 2017, Dr. Ho was awarded the UC Irvine Residency Program Director of the Year, and in 2018 she earned the UC Irvine Department of Family Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award.

When her family relocated to Dallas, Texas in 2019, Dr. Ho joined the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.  She  helped start the Primary Care Cancer Survivorship Clinic Program at UTSW and became the Family Medicine Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs in 2021. Dr. Ho sees patients in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Her academic and research interests include hospital medicine, graduate medical education, clinician well-being, and cancer survivorship care and training.

LEADS Project: Unite: Working Together to Improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Bio: Dr. Josephine Fowler is a Board Certified Family Physician with fellowship training in Maternal and Child Health. Currently, she is the Clinical Vice Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts.  In a short period and during the most challenging time of healthcare, she serves on numerous task forces and committees to improve health equity, patient access, resident education, recruitment and retention, and to improve diversity in the workforce. At an early age, she decided that she would become a physician. Since that time, she embraces her successes and setbacks as a necessary part of the journey to reach this goal. She was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and later raised in Mobile, Alabama. She is one of 15 children and life has taught her that you can do anything if you focus and believe in yourself.

From 2006-2016, she served as Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA) and Designated Institutional Official (DIO) at JPS Health Network focusing on expanding medical education and scholarship in a large public institution with a major focus on building new residency programs and transforming the institution to meet requirements for system growth in medical education. From 1999 to 2006, she served as Director of Maternal Child Health at Boston University Department of Family Medicine in a newly developed Family Medicine Residency Department.  This role included a position as Associate Medical Director for Boston HealthNet Plan, a Medicaid HMO originally at Boston Medical Center that later expanded to offer statewide coverage. 

Dr. Fowler is a builder. Her career has afforded her the opportunity to lead in many areas of healthcare in local, national, and international communities.

LEADS Project: Development of a Holistic Faculty Evaluation / Review Process and Faculty Development

Bio: Dr. Careyana Brenham is a Professor and Physician at SIU School of Medicine and the Assistant Chair for Graduate Medical Education in Family medicine and recently former Residency Program Director of the SIU Family Medicine Residency Program as well as the Assistant Chief Medical Officer at SIU Family & Community Medicine FQHC.Dr. Brenham completed a Faculty Development Fellowship and her Family Medicine Residency at Southern Illinois University Family Medicine Residency Program in 2004 and 2003 respectively.  She earned her medical degree from SIU School of Medicine in 2000 and her bachelor’s degree in Biology with Distinction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996.  She is board certified in Family Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine.   

Her special interests are in women’s health, LGBTQAI+ care, and care of children who have been victims of abuse.  Dr. Brenham provides women’s health care and obstetric care to women in central Illinois and teaches resident physicians about reproductive health care. Dr. Brenham serves as a forensic medical examiner for several County Child Advocacy Centers in central Illinois, where she sees children for forensic medical exams in cases of child sexual abuse and is a child abuse consultant for the Department of Children and Family Services.  Dr. Brenham also directs a Gender Equity / Transgender Clinic at SIU Family Medicine providing care to patients in the LGBTQAI+ community and in particular hormone affirming care to patients who are transgender. Dr. Brenham is a board member of International Assists Medical Missions and the Illinois Child Advocacy Center.  She has previously served on the board for the Sojourns Women’s Shelter and was a past chair for the Children’s Justice Task Force for the state of Illinois. She has and continues to volunteer for medical mission trips in places such as Haiti, Panama, Honduras and Nigeria.   Over the years she has received numerous awards including the Illinois Academy of Family Medicine Teacher of the Year, the Humanism in Medicine Award, and the Don Thorp Child Advocate Award from the Child Advocacy Center.      

Dr. Careyana Brenham is married to Andrew Brenham and they have four beautiful daughters: Ashlyn, Cadence, Anicka, and Crickett.

LEADS Project: Centering Rural Experience in Curriculum Development

Bio: Jaime Bowman, MD, FAAFP earned her Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Kent State University and her Medical Degree from the Northeast Ohio Medical University.  After completing her residency training in Family Medicine at Maine Medical Center in Portland Maine, she settled in eastern Washington State providing full scope care for the rural community for over a decade.  Dr. Bowman still focuses her clinical, teaching, and leadership skills on vulnerable populations as the Clinical Education Director for Family Medicine at Washington State University College of Medicine.  Her scholarly work focuses on underserved and rural learning and her publications and presentations demonstrate a keen sense of bridging advocacy and belonging.