Appendix B

Biographical Sketches of Moderators, Speakers, and Panelists

Suzanne Bakken, RN, Ph.D., is the Alumni Professor of Nursing and Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University. Following doctoral study in nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, she completed a National Library of Medicine postdoctoral fellowship in Medical Informatics at Stanford University. The goal of Dr. Bakken’s program of research is to promote health and reduce health disparities in underserved populations through the application of innovative informatics methods. A major focus of her current grant portfolio is visualization of healthcare data for community members, patients, clinicians, and community-based organizations. Dr. Bakken currently directs the Center for Evidence-based Practice in the Underserved and the Reducing Health Disparities Through Informatics (RHeaDI) predoctoral and postdoctoral training program; both funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). She also served as Principal Investigator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality–funded Washington Heights Inwood Informatics Infrastructure for Comparative Effectiveness Research (WICER) and its follow-up study, WICER 4 U, which is focused on promoting the use of WICER infrastructure through stakeholder engagement. She has also received funding from the National Cancer Institute, National Library of Medicine, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. Dr. Bakken has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. In 2010, she received the Pathfinder Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research. She is an elected fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Nursing, American College of Medical Informatics, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Jeffrey B. Caballero, M.P.H., is the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations’ (AAPCHO’s) Executive Director and has been with the organization since 1993. In this capacity, Mr. Caballero advocates for programs and policies that increase access to high-quality, comprehensive community health care services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. He has overall authority for all AAPCHO programs, finances, and operations and serves as chief spokesperson for the organization. Mr. Caballero participates on numerous national committees that address issues affecting Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diabetes, and cancer. His work experience encompasses a variety of fields, from grassroots organizing and health education to bone marrow transplant and primary health care. He has played leading roles in the development of several national plans to reduce health disparities, including Eliminating Hepatitis B in Asian Pacific Islander Communities, Utilization of Health Information Technology to Eliminate Health Disparities, and Development of Patient Centered Medical Homes. Recently, Mr. Caballero was a featured speaker on the topic of health care reform at the 2009 California Hepatitis Alliance meeting and also spoke at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health’s 2009 World Hepatitis Day in Washington, DC. In addition to his work for AAPCHO, Mr. Caballero now serves as Vice-Chair of the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, Board-Elect of the American Diabetes Association and is a member of the National Diabetes Education Program’s executive committee. Mr. Caballero received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry/Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and his Master’s of Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Clifford Coleman, M.D., M.P.H., is a national expert in the field of health literacy. His research and teaching focuses on improving health literacy and clear communication training for health care professionals. In 2010 he was the principle investigator on a national consensus study to identify a comprehensive set of health literacy educational competencies for health care professionals. Dr. Coleman is a practicing physician and faculty member at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine, where he is responsible for the curriculum on health communication, professionalism, and ethics. At OHSU in 2014, he developed and implemented the first known health professions curriculum which integrates health literacy teaching as a running thread throughout the pre-clinical training years. Other interests include improving medical education for culturally responsive care. Dr. Coleman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at OHSU, where his clinical interests include health care for medically complex individuals and underserved populations. He has a

bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dartmouth College, and a Doctorate of Medicine from Stanford University. He completed a dual residency in Family Medicine and Public Health & Preventive Medicine at OHSU, with a Master’s of Public Health from Portland State University in 2004. Dr. Coleman was born in Oregon, and identifies as biracial: African American and white.

Alicia Fernandez, M.D., is a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and an attending physician in the General Medical Clinic and the Medical Wards at San Francisco General Hospital. Her research primarily focuses on health and health care disparities, and she is particularly interested in vulnerable populations, Latino health, immigrant health, and language barriers. In addition to her research and clinical practice at San Francisco General Hospital, she does a great deal of mentoring for students, residents, fellows, and faculty. She has received several honors and awards, including the Arnold P. Gold Professorship for Humanism in Medicine. She has served as an advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, the National Quality Forum, The Commonwealth Fund, the American Medical Association, the American Board of Internal Medicine, and other organizations on projects focused on health care disparities, Latino health, and limited English proficiency populations. She was a standing member of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Health Care Quality and Effectiveness study section (2006-2010) and is currently a member of the National Institutes of Heath’s Health Services Organization and Delivery study section.

Paul Geltman, M.D., M.P.H., has more than 25 years of experience as a physician. Over that time, he has become a nationally recognized public health expert on immigrant and refugee issues. He is the long-standing medical director for refugee and immigrant health in the Division of Global Populations and Infectious Disease Prevention at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Dr. Geltman has worked in clinical, policy, and public health settings with refugee populations resettled in Massachusetts as well as in Rwanda. He practices primary care pediatrics and serves as medical director and vice president for ambulatory care services at Franciscan Children’s in Brighton, Massachusetts. Dr. Geltman is a graduate of Princeton University and received his M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. After his pediatric residency at the Floating Hospital for Children in Boston, he completed a postdoctoral academic fellowship in child advocacy and community pediatrics, with a focus on immigrant and refugee children, at Boston Medical Center (then Boston City Hospital). His academic work has produced wide-ranging publications including the most extensive report on

lead poisoning among refugee children in the United States and a groundbreaking, nationwide study of the functional and behavioral health status of the unaccompanied refugee minors known commonly as the “Lost Boys” of Sudan. Most recently he has concluded a major research grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research that supported the largest study ever conducted of the relationships among health literacy, English language skills, acculturation, and health status of a U.S. refugee population.

Anthony Iton, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., is senior vice president for healthy communities at The California Endowment. In the fall of 2009, he began to oversee the organization’s 10-year, multimillion-dollar statewide commitment to advance policies and forge partnerships to build healthy communities and a healthy California. Dr. Iton serves on the board of directors of the Public Health Institute, the Public Health Trust, the Prevention Institute, and Jobs For The Future. In the past, he has served as both the director and County Health Officer for the Alameda County Public Health Department. In that role, he oversaw the creation of an innovative public health practice designed to eliminate health disparities by tackling the root causes of poor health that limit quality of life and lifespan in many of California’s low-income communities. He has worked as an HIV disability rights attorney at the Berkeley Community Law Center, a health care policy analyst with Consumers Union West Coast Regional Office, and as a physician and advocate for the homeless at the San Francisco Public Health Department. Dr. Iton’s primary focus includes health of disadvantaged populations and the contributions of race, class, wealth, education, geography, and employment to health status. His awards include the Champion of Children Award from the United Way and the National Association of City and County Health Officials Award of Excellence for the use of information technology in public health. In February 2010, Dr. Iton was recognized by the California Legislative Black Caucus with the Black History Month Legends Award and presented on the floor of the California State Assembly with a resolution memorializing his life’s work and achievements.

Iyanrick John, J.D., M.P.H., is the senior policy strategist for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), a national health justice organization focused on improving the health and well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders living in the United States and its territories. He assists with APIAHF’s health policy and advocacy efforts on issues related to health care access, language barriers, the collection and reporting of disaggregated data, and other health equity initiatives. He also helps to guide the intermediate and long-term policy and program strategy for the organization. Prior to working at APIAHF,

Mr. John worked as a policy analyst for the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and as a research consultant for the Loma Linda University School of Public Health in southern California. Mr. John holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, an M.P.H. in Epidemiology from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, and a B.S. in Biology from Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Mimi Kiser, D.Min., M.P.H., RN, has been with the Interfaith Health Program (IHP) since 1993, after a first career as a community health nurse. She cut her teeth in faith and health working with Dr. Tom Droege at The Carter Center in the early years of Atlanta Interfaith Health taking on the responsibility of coordinating program planning and evaluation using a participatory approach. For 5 years she worked with Dr. David Hilton, facilitating Training for Transformation workshops in health ministry and public health settings. Dr. Kiser has taught “Health as Social Justice” and “Faith and Health: Transforming Communities” for Emory public health, nursing, and theology graduate students for a number of years. She is currently chair of Emory’s Religion and Health Collaborative Academic Programs Working Group. Through her leadership, IHP and Emory’s new collaborative are contributing innovative education and training models to the faith and health movement. IHP was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most recently directing the Institute for Public Health and Faith Collaborations. The Institute has ignited the work of 78 collaboratives in 24 states aimed at the elimination of health disparities. Dr. Kiser has contributed nationally to building the capacity of health groups to form collaborative relationships with the faith community, specifically through networks such as the American Public Health Association’s Caucus on Public Health and the Faith Community, the Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities’ Faith Action Team, and the Health Ministries Association. Her on-the-ground work took on new dimensions when she took on part time work from 1996 to 2001 as coordinator of Parish Health Ministry for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. She is currently chair of Emory’s Religion and Health Collaborative Academic Programs Working Group. Through her leadership, IHP and Emory’s new collaborative are contributing innovative education and training models to the faith and health movement. Dr. Kiser earned her doctorate in ministry in Faith and the Health of Communities at Wesley Seminary in Washington, DC.

Justine Kozo, M.P.H., serves as the Office of Border Health Chief for the County of San Diego, Health and Human Services Agency, where she facilitates collaborative activities among organizations working in the California/Baja California border region. In her role, she participates on numer-

ous projects ranging from health education to research, encompassing a broad range of topics from emergency preparedness to infectious disease prevention. One of Ms. Kozo’s main projects involves working with the Office of Emergency Services and other County departments on an effort to improve communication with limited English proficient populations during public health emergencies and natural disasters. Prior to working for the County of San Diego, Ms. Kozo worked at the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University for 8 years in various public health roles, including managing community-based, binational (San Diego-Tijuana) research studies. She earned her master’s degree in public health with an emphasis in health promotion, from San Diego State University in 2006. Ms. Kozo has co-authored several manuscripts addressing topics including HIV research in the San Diego-Tijuana border region and border health in general.

Kari LaScala, J.D., is a health communications specialist with Wisconsin Health Literacy (WHL), a division of Wisconsin Literacy, Inc. WHL plays an instrumental role in planning, writing, testing, implementing, and managing health literacy interventions for various at-risk populations in Wisconsin. While practicing law in Chicago, much of her work was focused on helping at-risk populations; specifically, she worked at a domestic violence clinic representing low-income victims of domestic violence in protective orders and divorces against their abusers. Prior to joining WHL, she worked at the Waunakee Public Library where she organized and implemented a majority of the programming for adult patrons. As a freelance writer, she also penned articles for the Waunakee Tribune and other local newspapers. Ms. LaScala holds a B.A. in journalism and psychology from Northern Illinois University and a J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law.

Julia Liou, M.P.H., is the director of program planning and development at Asian Health Services (AHS). Ms. Liou oversees fundraising, program planning, grants, and manages various community projects. She co-founded and manages the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, a statewide coalition effort to address the health and safety issues nail salon employees and community members face in their work environment.

Hugo Morales, J.D., is the executive director and co-founder of Radio Bilingüe, the National Latino Public Radio network. In 1976, Mr. Morales and an all-volunteer staff of farmworkers, teachers, students, and artists founded Radio Bilingüe, which, on July 4, 1980, began broadcasting over the entire San Joaquin Valley, California. At the time, Mr. Morales, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, was an adjunct lecturer of La Raza Studies at California State University, Fresno. Ever since then,

Mr. Morales has been executive director of Radio Bilingüe and a pioneer and advocate for bilingual and minority-controlled public media throughout the country. Radio Bilingüe is now a national satellite community radio service in Spanish, English, Triqui, and Mixteco that serves Latino radio audiences throughout the United States and Mexico, with live 24/7 streaming service online. It has its headquarters in Fresno, regional offices in Salinas and El Centro, and national production studios in Oakland, California. Radio Bilingüe has 15 FM radio stations (113 full power FM stations and 2 FM repeaters): 8 in California, 3 in New Mexico, 1 in Colorado, and 1 in Arizona. Radio Bilingüe is the recognized Spanish-language radio service for the public radio system in the United States. It serves more than half a million listeners with Linea Abierta, its pioneering daily Spanish-language national talk show, Noticiero Latino, its independently produced news service, and its rainbow of Spanish-language traditional folk music for its national Latino audiences broadcast on its 24-hour satellite programming service used by affiliates throughout the country. The entire 24-hour daily operation is totally devoted to public service. Mr. Morales is a Mixtec Indian from Oaxaca, Mexico. At the age of 9, his family immigrated to Sonoma County, California, where he grew up in a migrant labor camp. After attending public schools and serving as his high school student body president, he graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School in 1972 and 1975, respectively. In 1994, Mr. Morales became the first resident of the San Joaquin Valley to be a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In 1999, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting honored him with the Edward R. Murrow Award, public radio’s highest distinction. In 2006, Mr. Morales received the Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation, established “to recognize people whose extraordinary and courageous work celebrates the human right to freedom of imagination, inquiry, and expression.” Mr. Morales is fluently bilingual in English and Spanish and is a student of French and Portuguese.

Nick Nelson, M.D., studied Classics and Religion at Reed College and Wadham College before attending medical school at St. George’s Hospital in London. He undertook postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, where he served as an intern, resident, and chief resident before joining the faculty in 2012. Since that time he has directed the Highland Hospital Human Rights Clinic (HRC), which serves asylum seekers and refugees residing in Alameda County. The HRC has grown from a single doctor in 2012 to include two general internists, a doctor of psychology, and two nurse practitioners. The clinic has a dual mission: to provide trauma-informed primary care for victims of torture and other forms of abuse residing in Alameda County; and to document human rights abuses through forensic medical and psychologi-

cal evaluations for people seeking asylum in the United States. Since 2012, HRC clinicians have performed more than 150 forensic evaluations and testified on behalf of asylum seekers in many cases before Federal Immigration Courts. The clinic’s service to traumatized refugees was recognized in 2015 when it won an Exemplary Health Partner award from the International Rescue Committee. In addition to directing the HRC, Dr. Nelson also serves as an associate program director in Highland’s Internal Medicine Residency Program.

Liliana Osorio is the deputy director of the Health Initiative of the Americas (HIA) at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Since joining HIA in 2002, Ms. Osorio has led and collaborated in several projects, including the coordination of the annual Binational Health Week, one of the largest mobilization efforts in the Americas to improve the well-being of Latino immigrants. Other projects include the Binational Policy Forum on Migration and Public Health, the Summer Institute on Migration and Global Health, the Research Program in Migration and Health, and the Binational Promotores Program. She has managed several statewide campaigns targeting Spanish-speaking Latinos, including the “H1N1 Influenza Outreach and Education Campaign to Reach the Hard-to-Reach Latinos in California” and a 2-year campaign to educate and refer Latinos to enroll in health insurance through California Covered. Ms. Osorio is the editor of four editions of the English-Spanish Dictionary of Health Related Terms. She has also collaborated in the development of several other publications, including educational manuals for community health workers and fact sheets on migrant health issues. Ms. Osorio received her bachelor’s degree in social communication and journalism in Colombia, and currently is pursuing a Master of Public Health at San Diego State University.

Henry R. Perea, M.P.A., graduated from Fresno State University with a bachelor’s degree in Criminology and received his master’s degree in public administration with a Healthcare Specialization from the University of Southern California. In his elected official capacity Henry served on the Fresno County Office of Education Board of Trustees, Fresno City Council, and Fresno County Board of Supervisors representing District 3 where he completed his last term in January 2017. In his professional career he served as a human resources director at a level 1 trauma hospital and burn center for the Valley and as director of classified personnel at two local school districts. Mr. Perea’s public service has been focused on improving the quality of life for Fresno County residents. A few of those public service highlights include establishing a Youth Psychiatric Treatment Center; expanding mental health programs; improving services to be culturally competent; designating $5 million to provide health care for Fresno

County’s undocumented residents; building the Lighthouse for Children and child development center; and spearheading the effort to reduce infant mortality rates in Fresno County by establishing a partnership with Fresno State University, First 5 Fresno, and Fresno County Public Health, Social Services and Children’s Mental Health.

Jesús E. Quiñones was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where he obtained a college preparatory education that enabled and facilitated his move to St. Louis, Missouri, in 2010. He obtained his Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Neuroscience from Saint Louis University in 2013. During his undergraduate career, Mr. Quiñones worked as a research assistant with the Department of Psychology and as a Program Coordinator Assistant with the Department of Anatomy of the School of Medicine. Additionally, he was the principal investigator of a study titled Attitudes Towards Substance Use for his senior capstone thesis. Mr. Quiñones began working in the healthcare setting in early 2012 at Casa de Salud, a nonprofit health care clinic that provides high-quality medical and mental health services to the immigrant and refugee communities in St. Louis Metropolitan Region. Beginning with Casa as a front desk receptionist in 2012, Mr. Quiñones greeted patients at their check in and helped everyone feel welcomed. His excellent performance and passion for working on behalf of its patients led to his promotion as Referral Coordinator, where he assisted patients in scheduling external referral appointments and providing support during their transition to care outside of Casa. In 2015, he was named the Guides for Understanding Information and Access program coordinator and facilitated the restructuring of the program into a goal-oriented case management model. Mr. Quiñones sits on the St. Louis Regional Health Commission’s and Washington University in St. Louis’ Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Community Advisory Boards.

Megan Rooney, M.S.W., M.Ed., is the director of program development at Health Literacy Media. Her accomplishments at Health Literacy Media include developing a Plain Language program informed by an evidence-based writing practice for readers with limited literacy, training clear communication skills to more than 400 health care providers, and securing more than 200 health communication projects from an international pharmaceutical company. Ms. Rooney has served as a Mental Health Therapist for the International Rescue Committee, where she provided culturally aware, trauma-informed, and linguistically accessible mental health care to international survivors of human rights abuses, as well as developed an evaluation program to assess client satisfaction and mental health progress. In addition, Ms. Rooney has worked as an English as a second language (ESL) instructor at the International Institute of Saint Louis, where she

integrated health literacy tenets into a curriculum designed to help students navigate the U.S. health care system. Ms. Rooney’s bibliography includes having co-authored articles published in outlets such as the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center at Harvard, the Journal of Health Communication, and the journal of Health Communication & Behavior. In 2016, Ms. Rooney received her Master’s of Social Work with a Health Concentration at the University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Rooney also holds a Master of Education from The University of Texas at Austin in health communication with concentrations in stress and psychoneuroimmunology.

Maricel G. Santos, Ed.D., is an associate professor of English at San Francisco State University, where she teaches in the M.A. in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Program. Her teaching and research areas include socio-cognitive dimensions of L2 acquisition, health literacy, immigrant literacies, and teacher identity formation. From 2008-2013, she was a research fellow funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program. Her health literacy research explores ways that adult English as a second language (ESL) participation serves as a health-protective factor in immigrant communities. In collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco, she is studying the effects of peer support networks and innovative curricula on health literacy outcomes among beginning-level adult ESL learners.

Rishi Sood, M.P.H., is director of policy and immigrant initiatives in the Bureau of Primary Care Access and Planning at the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In this role he oversees policy analysis related to health reform and works on various initiatives to improve access to quality primary care for NYC residents. He is program director of ActionHealthNYC, NYC’s new health care access program for uninsured residents, recommended to the NYC mayor by a task force Mr. Sood co-chaired. Mr. Sood earned a master’s degree in public health and an undergraduate degree in medical anthropology from Case Western Reserve University. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in public health leadership at the University of Illinois at Chicago.