Get to know the Community Engagement Healthcare Improvement Conference Speakers

Keynote Speakers

September 12th Keynote Speaker Loretta Sweet Jemmott, PhD, RN, FAAN, Vice President, Health and Health Equity; Professor, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University.  Dr. Jemmott, an expert in health promotion research, is one of the nation's foremost investigators in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention, with perhaps the most consistent track record of evidence-based HIV risk-reduction interventions. The team she and her husband, Dr. John B. Jemmott III, lead at Penn has attracted more than $100 million in NIH funding over the past two decades to design and test interventions that reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases among diverse populations. Her studies have proved successful in reducing both risk-associated behaviors and the incidence of infection. Dr. Jemmott is an outstanding translational and community-engagement researcher who has had global impact. She has partnered with community-based organizations, from churches and clinics to barbershops, housing developments and schools, and transformed her research outcomes for use in real world settings. To date, eight of her evidence-based interventions have been designated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health for national and international dissemination. Those interventions are used in 50 states across the nation and eight nations across the globe. Full Bio- https://drexel.edu/cnhp/faculty/profiles/JemmottLoretta/ 

September 13th Keynote Speaker C. Daniel Mullins, PhD, professor in the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research Department (PHSR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Prof. Mullins receives a new $1.2 million PCORI Contract to inform best practices for giving patients a voice in research. Prof. Mullins’ research and teaching focus on pharmacoeconomics, comparative effectiveness research, patient-centered outcomes research, and health disparities research. He has received funding as a Principal Investigator from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), various pharmaceutical manufacturers including Bayer, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis, patent advocacy organizations, and the insurance industry. For more information on Prof. Mullins’ research projects, please see the Research Projects section. In addition to his faculty appointment, Prof. Mullins also serves as the Associate Director of the Center on Drugs and Public Policy at the School of Pharmacy, as well as the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Value in Health. VIDEO: Prof. Mullins’ interview from the recent National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) conference, “Putting Patients First?: Paving a Path to Useful CER.” Full Bio https://faculty.rx.umaryland.edu/dmullins/

Special Session Speakers

Kristi Graves, PhD a tenured Associate Professor of Oncology and in the Cancer Prevention and Control Program. Dr. Graves has led a PCORI-funded project to test an intervention that aims to help Latina breast cancer survivors and their caregivers improve their quality of life. Dr. Graves is collaborating with Nueva Vida, Inc (Washington DC) and three other community organizations (two in New York and one in California) on this effort. Dr. Graves is also co-leading an R01-funded project to explore symptoms experienced by patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer who received radioactive iodine treatment. In prior work, Dr. Graves investigated ways to inform people about genetic testing for genetic changes related to small increases in cancer risk. She is interested in translational research and research that improves cancer survivorship. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and completed post-doctoral training at the University of Kentucky. Full Bio https://explore.georgetown.edu/people/kdg9/ 

 Chinenye Anyanwu, PharmD, MPH, is an Engagement Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She acts as a liaison between the Engagement and Science teams, helping manage the organization’s research portfolio and assuring engagement of patients and other stakeholders throughout the course of research projects. Before joining PCORI, Anyanwu completed a fellowship in comparative effectiveness research and patient-centered outcomes research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research. She worked on various CER-PCOR training programs, was instrumental in the launch of the CER Collaborative Certificate Training program, a continuing education program on CER methods for pharmacists and pharmacy students. Anyanwu also spearheaded the first annual CER-PCOR Summer Institute, and served as project manager for the PCORI-funded National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) PCOR training program for rare-disease patients and patient advocates.  Full Bio https://www.pcori.org/people/chinenye-anyanwu-pharmd-mph            

Cindy Sickora, DNP, RN, Vice Dean for Practice and Engagement, UT Health School of Nursing; she is passionate about bringing high-quality, culturally competent care to underserved populations. Her areas of interest include social determinants of health and the role of nursing in healthcare transformation. “Nurses are uniquely situated to lead healthcare transformation by drawing from their deep roots in community and population health promotion”. Dr. Sickora is responsible for the school of nursing clinical enterprise, which includes community-based clinics, the student and employee health center and multiple faculty practice initiatives.  She was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Rutgers Community Health Center a nurse managed federally qualified health center in Newark, NJ where she also served as the Associate Dean of Community and Clinical Practice for Rutgers School of Nursing.  

 Luz Maria Bella-Cruz, MA & David Correa, MBA, BSN, RN are employed by the University Health System in San Antonio, TX. They have co-authored Scenarios for Success in Patient Communication (A Training Guide for Healthcare Professionals) and Diabetes Scenarios for Success in Patient Communication (A Training Guide for Healthcare Professional) to help improve communication between the healthcare professional and the patient or family members. Luz Maria and David have been featured presenters for national, state and local healthcare and literacy conferences. Their work is used nationally at conferences, hospitals, clinics, medical, nursing and pharmacy universities/schools, on websites, health literacy libraries and higher education.

 Laura Kolaczkowski comes from Beavercreek, Ohio, and worked at the University of Dayton for over 25 years until MS challenged her enough to go onto full-time disability. She is active in the MS Community on multiple levels, and writes for her own person blog, InsideMyStory and a patient expert for MultipleSclerosis.net.1 Laura is the Lead Patient Representative and co-principal investigator for iConquerMS, a patient powered research network. Laura freely admits her Liberal Arts background fuels her interest in patient engagement and empowerment and she struggles with the science of MS.

 Working Group Facilitators

Carole White, PhD, RN, is Professor and Nancy Smith Hurd Chair in Geriatric Nursing and Aging Studies at the School of Nursing, UT Health San Antonio. She teaches in the doctoral programs at the School of Nursing. She is leading a team to develop and implement a family caregiver program within the Bigg’s Institute for Alzheimer and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health. She has been working clinically and conducting research with family caregivers for over 20 years and is passionate about ensuring best practice to support family caregivers and improve their quality of life. Full Bio https://profiles.uthscsa.edu/?pid=profile&id=1FA0LHHCT

 Lisa Cleveland, PhD, RN, CPNP, IBCL, Assistant Professor at UT Health San Antonio, School of Nursing. She is a Board Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is also the Co-lead of the Bexar County Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) Collaborative (BCNC) which is a partnership between academic researchers, community stakeholders and patient/family partners. The purpose of the BCNC is to conduct research to reduce NAS rates and improve care in Bexar County. Full Bio https://profiles.uthscsa.edu/?pid=profile&id=1GT0MCM98 

 Darpan Patel, PhD Assistant Professor/Research, Office of Faculty Affairs & Diversity; is an expert on prostate cancer prevention. The focus of his research program is underscored by the unmet need to 1) develop protocols that prevent the onset and progression of prostate cancer and 2) reduce the adverse effects associated with cancer and cancer treatment. My passion is to answer this challenge and reduce the incidence and prevalence of prostate cancer in South Texas. Dr. Patel also serves as the Chair of the Community Engagement and Healthcare Improvement Conference. Full Bio https://profiles.uthscsa.edu/?pid=profile&id=3MU0O8Y9F