Speakers at Putting Care at the Center 2024

Brandon Wilson

INSPIRE: Building meaningful collaboration with people who have lived experience

Friday, October 18, 2024  |  12:15-1:15 pm

Bio: Dr. Brandon G. Wilson is a transformative leader in health innovation, public health, and equity and currently serves as the Co-Interim President & CEO | Senior Director of Health Innovation, Public Health, and Equity at Community Catalyst. In this role, he oversees the overall direction of Community Catalyst’s work to build the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, as well as the organization’s health system innovation and community-first public health work. Furthering his commitment to improving health care access, quality, and equality, Dr. Wilson serves on several boards, including the Primary Care Collaborative, Health Care Payment and Action Learning Network, and the Community Solutions Program Partner Advisory Board.

As Senior Director of Health Innovation, Public Health and Equity, Dr. Wilson leads the Center for Community Engagement in Health Innovation, which conducts community-based research to understand how inequities in the U.S. health system drive poor health outcomes for historically excluded communities and drives practice and policy change strategies based on its findings. Dr. Wilson also drives Community Catalyst’s strategic vision for a public health system rooted in community leadership and perspective, which includes Community Catalyst’s Vaccine Equity and Public Health Program (VEAP).

Burt Pusch

INSPIRE: Building meaningful collaboration with people who have lived experience

Friday, October 18, 2024  |  12:15-1:15 pm

Bio: Dr. Pusch has dedicated his life to changing the way society perceives and responds to bio-physical differences often mis-characterized as “disabilities”. From conducting research which advance strength-based narratives, to teaching legal, architectural, and paradigmatic topics to lay persons, professionals, and graduate classes, to founding and directing not-for-profit businesses that facilitate equity and inclusion, he strives to advance quality of life for all persons with disabilities.

Erin Dalton

Strengthening data ecosystems for improved clinical and social care

Thursday, October 17, 2024  |  1:45-2:45 pm

Bio: Erin Dalton is the Director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, which works to strengthen families and communities through a network of social services, care, and support. DHS serves over 200,000 people each year through its community-based programs that prevent harm and address needs for family support and child development, developmental supports, senior services, housing, and protection from maltreatment.

Ms. Dalton has been recognized for her groundbreaking achievements in integrated data and analytics, including using predictive risk models to bring critical information to front line staff so they can make better decisions, as well as building unique information-sharing partnerships. Her years of experience in leading systems improvements earned her a reputation for expertise in child protection, housing, and criminal justice systems, as well as for being a leader who relies upon community engagement to design solutions.

John Kim

Building bridges: The role of hubs in forging ecosystems of care

Wednesday, October 16, 2024  |  1:55-2:40 pm

Bio: John Kim is the CEO at HealthierHere, a cross-sector collaborative that elevates community voice into system transformation to achieve health equity for residents of Seattle/King County WA and beyond.  He serves on the Community Advisory Board for the Health Promotion Research Center at the University of Washington and on the boards of the Community Center for Education Results and the YMCA of Greater Seattle.  He is a seasoned strategic leader who is passionate about making a meaningful difference in health equity.  John’s professional experience includes a diverse mix of settings from a national healthcare law practice to hospital senior management to social justice and equity-focused community organizations.

Mr. Kim graduated with a JD from New York University School of Law and a BA in Government from Dartmouth College.

Louis Bezich

Building bridges: The role of hubs in forging ecosystems of care

Wednesday, October 16, 2024  |  1:55-2:40 pm

Bio: Louis Bezich is Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Cooper University Health Care. Mr. Bezich has more than 40 years of senior management experience including leadership positions in county and municipal government, higher education, and the private sector. He joined Cooper in 2011 and is responsible for government and community relations, real estate, and military services. He served as Cooper’s administrative lead for its Covid-19 response, and for Cooper’s recent acquisition of Cape Regional Medical Center.

Mr. Bezich is vice chair of the Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors, and board chair of the Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Coriell Institute and the Camden Community Partnership. Mr. Bezich is also president of the board of Cooper Lanning Square Renaissance School Facilities, an affiliate of the KIPP Cooper Norcross Renaissance Schools.

From 2002 to 2020, he served as chair of the Camden Higher Education and Health Care Task Force and is former chairman of the Camden Special Services District Advisory Board. From 2001 to 2009, Mr. Bezich was president of the Board of Education of the Camden County Technical School District. He is past president of the Boy Scout Councils of Camden County and Southern New Jersey and is the recipient of their Silver Beaver and Distinguished Citizen Awards for community service.

Mr. Bezich is an adjunct professor in the Graduate Department of Public Policy and Administration at Rutgers University-Camden, and the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Tampa. He has previously taught at Camden County College and Rowan University. Bezich is the author of Crack The Code: 2

10 Proven Secrets that Motivate Healthy Behavior and Inspire Fulfillment in Men Over 50, and a forthcoming book Living A Kick-Ass Life: Lessons From 50 Plus Men Who Figured It Out For People of All Ages Who Want To. He is a contributing author to Corporate Lawbreaking and Interactive Compliance, edited by Jay A. Sigler and Joseph E. Murphy, a contributing writer on men’s health for PhillyVoice.com, and a regular guest on This Is It TV with Cheldin Bartlatt Rumer.

Mr. Bezich holds a master’s degree in public policy from Rutgers University, a bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of Tampa and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. He resides in Haddon Township, NJ with his wife Maria and has two adult sons, Anthony, and Stephen and two grandchildren, Luca, and Brayleigh.

Luis Ortega

Story Share

Thursday, October 17, 2024  |  9-10 am

Bio: Luis Ortega (he/them) is a multidisciplinary storyteller, narrative strategist, facilitator, and the founder and director of Storytellers for Change.

Over the last fourteen years, Luis has worked to design and facilitate storytelling and narrative strategies to mobilize communities and organizations toward collective healing, justice, and liberation. His research and consulting practice focuses on the intersection of narrative change, racial equity, asset-based storytelling, facilitation, and participatory engagement.

Luis’ projects have been featured at the Harvard DACA Seminar, HBO’s “Where Do You Exist?” podcast, the Kauffman Foundation’s Disruptor Speaker Series, the Seattle Design Festival, and the Gates Foundation Discovery Center. Luis is a W K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Leadership Network Fellow, the Co-Director of La Cima Bilingual Leadership Camp, and the co-founder of the Expresión Storytelling Fellowship at the Latinx Education Collaborative. Luis has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington and a Masters in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Manisha Sharma

Strengthening data ecosystems for improved clinical and social care

Thursday, October 17, 2024  |  1:45-2:45 pm

Bio: Manisha Sharma, MD, FAAFP is a board certified family medicine physician, trained in social medicine, who works at the intersection of social justice and equity, patient care, health policy, system design and clinical innovation. Dr. Sharma leads and provides strategic advisory support on multiple local, state, and national initiatives geared to dismantle structural racism in medicine and end health inequities. She appears often on several major television and radio networks, addressing topics such as health and racial equity, health in all policy, social justice, wellness, health, and medicine. She has organized and led numerous grassroots physician campaigns through the organization Doctors for America where she served as the National Director of Leadership Cultivation. She is a recent graduate of the California Health Care Foundation Leadership and Innovation Fellowship. She is a founding partner of Civic Health Alliance (a non-partisan coalition of health professionals and students, committed to helping peers and patients register to vote and vote safely), and Centivox Group, a social impact firm that transforms public health communications by elevating health care providers, scientists, health and racial equity experts as trusted messengers.

Naomi Williams

INSPIRE: Building meaningful collaboration with people who have lived experience

Friday, October 18, 2024  |  12:15-1:15 pm

Bio: Naomi serves as the Patient Family Engagement Specialist with PFCCpartners. Originally from Pennsylvania, Naomi has lived most of her life in Georgia. For over 20 years Naomi has served  families and communities as a community health educator and family support coordinator. Educational and professional experiences served her well, and in 2009, Naomi’s disability advocacy along with community and organization education efforts were enhanced when she became the parent to a 26 week micro-preemie and began the journey of raising a child with complex health and medical needs.

Naomi holds a Master’s in Public Health. She is also a certified grief specialist and yoga instructor.  Naomi is the author of And God Remembered Noah: A mother’s heart-opening journey through 22 weeks in the NICU (2018), and she and her son are principals in the 6,000 Waiting documentary (2019).

When not advocating for her family or others, you can find Naomi getting lost exploring nature or taking a deep breath on her yoga mat.

Pam Dardess

INSPIRE: Building meaningful collaboration with people who have lived experience

Friday, October 18, 2024  |  12:15-1:15 pm

Bio: Pam Dardess is Vice President at Institute for Patient and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC) where her work focuses on creating and sustaining meaningful partnerships between patients, families, and healthcare partners. Pam is a qualitative researcher who believes strongly in the power of words and stories as data. Prior to joining IPFCC, Pam was a Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research where she led AIR’s Center for Patient and Consumer Engagement. Pam has an MPH from UNC-Chapel Hill with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health and particularly values the opportunities she has had over the years to learn from people with lived experience.

Father Paul Abernathy

Keynote: The power of ecosystems to meet the collective needs of the community

Thursday, October 17, 2024  |  8:30-9 am

Bio: Father Paul Abernathy is an Orthodox Christian priest and the founding CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project. Since 2011, Fr. Paul has labored with his community to address Community Trauma with Trauma Informed Community Development; A framework that facilitates the transformation of trauma affected communities to resilient, healing and healthy communities so that people can be healthy enough to sustain opportunities and realize their potential. Under Fr. Paul’s leadership, innovative trauma-informed grass-roots strategies have been developed and implemented to address acute, historical, transgenerational and complex trauma on a community level.  In addition to programming,  millions of dollars in various kinds of support have also been distributed to the Greater Pittsburgh Area with his direction.  Community groups from across the nation have worked with Fr. Paul to be trained in the Trauma-Informed Community Development framework.

He has a B.A. in International Studies from Wheeling Jesuit University, and holds a Master in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.  He also holds a Master of Divinity from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and was selected for Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program. A former Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army, Father Paul is also a combat veteran of the Iraq War.

Fr. Paul is also an author, and his work has been featured in film as well as local, national, and international media.

In addition to his work with the organization, Fr. Paul is and has been a member of multiple community, state, and national boards and has received numerous community awards.

Fr. Paul is the pastor of St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church, and a husband and father of two children.

Sarah Ridout

Building bridges: The role of hubs in forging ecosystems of care

Wednesday, October 16, 2024  |  1:55-2:40 pm

Bio: Sarah C. Ridout, MBA, SPHR is the Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) Program Director for Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear (CCLCF) where she focuses on implementation, planning and evaluation of the HOP program along with an incredibly talented team and network of Community Based Organizations within a six-county region. Sarah’s previous work includes leading communication and grant writing for CCLCF, grant management and compliance for a program funded by the Assistance to Firefighters Grant through FEMA and managing local and international projects for training & development, process improvement, and strategic planning.

Valerie Arkoosh

Fireside chat with Secretary Valerie Arkoosh

Wednesday, October 16, 2024  |  1:20-1:50 pm

Bio: Valerie A. Arkoosh, MD, MPH, was appointed to lead the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services by Governor Josh Shapiro on January 17, 2023.

Prior to this role, Secretary Arkoosh served on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners for eight years, serving as Commission Chair from November 2016 through January 2023. As a physician and public health professional, Secretary Arkoosh was at the center of Montgomery County’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, leading a data- and science-driven approach to the unprecedented challenge. Arkoosh’s leadership was praised during the county’s response, especially her transparency and public communication throughout the pandemic.

Arkoosh is a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and received a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She performed her residency at Jefferson Medical College in Anesthesiology with a special focus in Obstetrics. Prior to stepping into public service, Secretary Arkoosh was Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.

Upon obtaining her Master of Public Health in 2007, Arkoosh became deeply engaged in the national effort to achieve comprehensive health care reform. She led the National Physicians Alliance, a national non-profit organization of physicians, who, putting their patients before profits, joined a broad-based nation-wide coalition for reform. During this time, she developed policy and legislative strategy, and promoted public engagement in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, and throughout the country. Dr. Arkoosh maintains comprehensive knowledge of the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its impact on individuals and the health care system.