❙ Distinguished Speakers
❙ Aaron Baugh
Aaron Baugh is a pulmonologist raised in Ann Arbor, MI and trained at the University of California San Francisco whose research programs studies racial and economic health disparities in smoking-related disease. ■
❙ Lisa Braddix
Lisa M. Braddix is the Chief Health Equity Officer for the Southeastern Michigan Health Association (SEMHA) where she works to foster organizational collaboration to improve community health using practical approaches that will eliminate health disparities in marginalized populations throughout southeast Michigan. Lisa has spent several years working in community health and is passionate about issues related to health disparities and health equity.
Lisa serves as a co-chair of the Michigan Cancer Consortium Health Equity and Policy Committee and a co-chair of the Healthy Pontiac We Can! Coalition. She is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Community-Engaged Collaborative for the Promotion of Access to Technology and Health (CEC-PATH) at Wayne State University.
Lisa is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biological Sciences and has a Master of Public Health Degree from the University of Michigan. She has also earned a graduate certificate in Non-Profit Management from Eastern Michigan University and is currently a doctoral student at Wayne State University studying the Sociology of Health and Illness. ■
❙ Karen Edwards
My contributions to serve are multifaceted, based on my professional, educational, and kidney journey culminates in my worldview. I desire to utilize my experience to make an impact that will foster the mission of the KHI Patient and Family Partnership mission. By engaging my kidney patient experiences in the areas of patient engagement, community engagement, health equity and inclusion, and policy development.
As a retired public health official for the city of Detroit, I have a personal stake in assuring that patients are engaged and involved in advancements in biomedical products and other innovations in kidney care. An important aim of public health that I foster is to ensure core public health functions including assessment, assurance, and policy development are undertaken. It is integral that patient-centeredness is encompassed with the core function in the production of biomedical products, kidney advancements, and innovation.
Moreover, it is equally important that my experiences as a kidney patient, researcher, and caregiver; it is integral that all aspects of the Belmont Report are maintained in the development of biomedical products for kidney patients. The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical Research maintains the basic ethical principles. The basic ethical principles include 1) Respect for person, 2) beneficence, and 3) justice. Hence, this is accomplished by informed consent, assessment of risks, and selection of subjects (participants).
Lastly, ensuring that the above are enacted will further contribute to positive impacts in the development of biomedical products. Most importantly, these processes and applications will build trust, and transparency among patients and caregivers. ■
❙ Joseph Graves
Dr. Joseph Graves, Jr. received his Ph.D. in Environmental, Evolutionary and Systematic Biology from Wayne State University in 1988. In 1994 he was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS.) His recent honors include: “Genius Award” Liberty Science Center (May 2024) and Outstanding Alumnus Award (Public Service) Oberlin College (May 2024); Patrusky Lecture for Science Writers Conference (November 2024), W.W. Howells Award for best book in biological anthropology, presented by the American Association of Anthropologists (AAA), November 2024.
His research focuses on the evolutionary genomics of adaptation. He is the (Former) Director, (of the unjustly terminated) Genomic Research and Data Science Center for Computation and Cloud-Computing, GRADS-4C, NIH; Associate Director, Precision Microbiome Engineering (PreMiEr) NSF Gen-4 ERC; and the Director, NC Amgen Biotech Experience.
He is author of: A Voice in the Wilderness, (Basic Books), 2022 with Alan Goodman, Racism, Not Race, Columbia University Press, 2022; Principles and Applications of Antimicrobial Nanomaterials, (Elsevier), 2021; The Emperor's New Clothes, Rutgers University Press, 2005 and The Race Myth, Dutton Press, 2005. The following books will be published in 2025:
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Rose MR. Lenski R. Matos M. . , (New York: World Scientific), in prep, publication date 2025.
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Graves JL. Why Black People Die Sooner: Medical Misconceptions, the Harm They Cause, and How to Fix It, in press, Columbia University Press, 2025.
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Qureshi Z. Suleman M. (Amsterdam: Elsevier), Graves JL Section editor, 2026.
He has also served on the Racial Reconciliation and Justice Commission, and COVID Vaccination Task Force, and the Council of Advice on Public Policy (CAPP) of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and as science advisor to several Theological Seminaries through the AAAS Dialogues of Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program. ■
❙ Ricky Grisson
Ricky D. Grisson, II MD, MBA, MPH is a Pathologist, Laboratory Medicine physician and scholar with nearly 2 decades of experience directing high-complexity clinical laboratories. He serves as CLIA laboratory director for a number of regional laboratories and brings deep expertise in clinical laboratory interpretation, laboratory developed test validation, high complexity laboratory operations, network contract negotiations, informatics and quality systems development, management, assurance and control.
At NyLa, he has expanded our coverage of computational and digital pathology. He serves as the NyLa representative to several regional and national healthcare organizations, including the College of American Pathologists, the Digital Pathology Association, initiatives of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and initiatives of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies/Doris Duke Foundation.
Ricky completed medical school at Harvard, graduating magna cum laude with a special focus on molecular and cellular virology and HIV vaccine development. He obtained an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University as an El Paso Energy Scholar with a special focus on healthcare policy and management. And he obtained an MPH from Dartmouth Medical School with a focus on healthcare quality and biostatistics. ■
❙ Deb Stewart Anderson
Community educator and environmental justice advocate with over 15 years of experience in adult education, health equity, and community-based research. Skilled in instructional design, participatory research methods, and coalition building. Committed to advancing zero waste initiatives, circular economy infrastructure, and sustainable community health in Detroit through applied research, program development, and collaborative engagement. As a Certified Health Care Worker, she actively serves residents across the Detroit area. ■
❙ Jessica Paulucci Cerdeña
Dr. Jessica Paulucci Cerdeña is a medical anthropologist and family physician with fifteen years of experience advocating for social and health justice. She earned her MD and PhD from Yale University where she began using scholarship and activism as tools for health justice. Dr. Cerdeña coined the term “race-conscious medicine” to emphasize how racism, rather than race, determines illness and health. Her first book Pressing Onward: The Imperative Resilience of Latina Migrant Mothers narrates the ways women who migrated from Latin America overcome structural oppression to build futures for themselves and their children. Dr. Cerdeña is currently completing her family medicine residency at Middlesex Health and serves as an Assistant Research Professor through the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy at the University of Connecticut. Following graduation, she will continue working at the intersection of research, community-based primary care, and health policy. ■
❙ Kia Sweeney
Kia Sweeney is a native of Detroit, and a proud Cass Tech graduate. She attended the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor for undergraduate and graduate studies. She received a Bachelors of Science in Brain Behavior and Cognitive Science, a Masters in Social Work in Interpersonal Practice with Children, Youth and Families and a Masters in Public Health is in Health Behavior and Health Education. She has several years of experience as a Social Worker, Therapist, Program Director and Health Educator. She is now a 4th year medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine, where she is deciding between Family Medicine or Psychiatry. She has a love for family, people and dancing. Her faith and genuine gratitude keeps her grounded. Her goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of others while helping them to achieve their health goals. ■
❙ Andrew J. Twinamatsiko
Andrew Twinamatsiko is a director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law at the O’Neill Institute. He provides technical assistance for policymakers and public education on health policy legal issues — primarily focusing on access to healthcare coverage, affordability, transparency, and equity.
Prior to joining the O’Neill Institute, Twinamatsiko worked as a senior staff attorney at the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. In that role, he provided legal technical assistance to public health professionals, governmental agencies, and advocates throughout the U.S. in developing policies to eliminate tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Working in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Control Program, Twinamatsiko led a team of attorneys and policy analysts to craft tobacco endgame policies aimed at ending the tobacco epidemic in California.
Twinamatsiko has also served as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline, where he mainly taught public health law and state and local government law. His scholarly interests are centered around the intersection of anti-Black racism and health policy.
Twinamatsiko received his J.D. from the University of South Dakota and his LL.B. from Uganda Christian University. ■
❙ Jarrett Weinberger
Dr. Weinberger currently serves as the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) at the Detroit Medical Center, overseeing more than 60 programs and over 700 residents and fellows. He is also an Associate Professor in the Division of General Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
He remains actively involved in both inpatient and outpatient settings with a focus on Internal Medicine. Dedicated to serving the community and patients where they are, he has been very involved in various programs designed to connect community members with the appropriate care. He worked with the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation on their “building trust” initiative. He offered essential support and guidance in developing a diverse patient education series and a Health, Equity, and Justice in Medicine (HEJiM) curriculum. He also serves as the primary care provider for many HIV-positive patients.
Dr. Weinberger has served as the Medical Director of Quality for his practice group and is an active member of several national professional organizations. He has a diverse range of published writings and research, exploring innovations in graduate medical education, clinical outcomes across various populations, and case studies.
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Jarrett Weinberger received his medical doctorate from Wayne State University in 2006. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Detroit Medical Center. Dr. Weinberger immediately entered academic medicine, where he spent over 8 years leading one of the largest Internal Medicine training programs in Michigan. ■
❙ Gwen Winston
Gwendolyn Winston is President of g. bailey winston enterprise an organizational development consulting company. For the past two years she has been an advisor/coach to the co-directors of Wisdom Institute, a nonprofit that she founded in 1999 and directed until 2023 when she passed her torch. . Gwen’s enterprise specializes in small and large group facilitation, designs and leads racial equity and justice dialogic processes, community engagement action planning for coalition partnerships in nonprofit, health, government, academia fields, and for social justice initiatives and organizations engaged in human renewal and transformation.
As a seasoned Future Search consultant trained by Sandra Janoff of the nationally recognized Future Search Network, Gwen uses this methodology to center women’s ways in program development and advocacy, infusing art, storytelling, movement, music and the oral tradition as culture and practice to create gracious space for conversations. These conversations allow all to bring their full selves into the room in new ways to gain fresh perspectives with energy and grassroot sensibilities.
Gwen’s mission is to elevate connectedness and womb consciousness. She is recognized as a long-standing visionary, strategic leader and statewide organizer of educational and advocacy initiatives centered in the lives of African American women.
Born and raised in Detroit, Gwen has an accomplished history in political, policy and gender justice arenas. She worked as Chief of Staff for former Detroit City Council President Pro Tem; directed projects for a sexual assault holistic healing and awareness nonprofit; worked in the housing development field; served as a student and alumni development officer at a historic black college in Detroit; and for 18 years, pre-COVID, served as an Adjunct Faculty member at Wayne County Community College in its workforce development division’s nonprofit management and grant writing certificate programs.
Gwen earned a Master in Public Administration from Central Michigan University and Bachelor of Science in Business Education from Wayne State University. She is a facilitator with Doers Alliance, a board member of Food 4 Future Foodies, a former board member of Michigan Voices, a Fellow of the Michigan Political Leadership Program and the Detroit Equity Action Lab at Wayne State University Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights.
Gwen has been recognized by the National Association of Women Business Owners Greater Detroit Chapter; was named a MamaVist of the year by Mothering Justice; received the Harriet Tubman Award from the National Organization for Women Detroit; and the Women’s Action for New Direction of Southeast Michigan recognized her as a Systems Thinker;. She has received Freshwater Future and the River Work Network award as a Water Justice Shero and Innovator.
Gwen is the proud mother of two, grandmother of three grandsons and became a great grandmother to Chrome, born in Italy last November where his dad, Cassius, played professional basketball. ■