Melissa Cheyney PhD, LDM is Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Anthropology at Oregon State University (OSU) and a community midwife. She co-directs Uplift—a research and reproductive equity laboratory at OSU, where she serves as the Primary Investigator on more than 20 maternal and infant health-related research projects, including the Community Doula Project. She is the author of an ethnography entitled Born at Home (2010, Wadsworth Press), co-editor with Robbie Davis-Floyd of Birth in Eight Cultures (2019, Waveland Press), and author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed articles that examine the cultural beliefs and clinical outcomes associated with midwife-attended birth at home and in birth centers in the United States. In 2019, Dr. Cheyney served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Birth Settings in America Study and in 2020 was named Eminent Professor by OSUs Honors College. She also received Oregon State University’s prestigious Scholarship Impact Award for her work in the International Reproductive Health Laboratory and with the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Statistics Project. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care and the mother of a daughter born at home on International Day of the Midwife in 2009.

Yvonne is a third-year medical student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. She grew up on Long Island, New York and attended The City College of New York, where she graduated cum laude with a degree in English Literature. Prior to attending medical school Yvonne taught in New York City and volunteered with her local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Yvonne was a member of AMSA as an undergraduate student and currently serves as a President of her medical school’s AMSA chapter. Yvonne is bilingual, fluent in both English and Spanish. During her free time, she enjoys baking, reading, traveling, and playing with her puppy, Mika.

Gemma Costa has an M.S. in Student Affairs Counseling and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. Gemma has 10 years’ experience as a Career Counselor working with science and pre-health students and for the last 5 years has been the Senior Learning and Development Specialist within the AAMC’s, Careers in Medicine ® (CiM) program. In this position, Gemma trains medical school career advisors on how to advice medical students and utilize the CiM program. Gemma also creates content for the CiM Website and is focused on developing distance learning products for the program.

As Senior Vice President for Business Development and Operations, Lisa Cover is responsible for expanding ECFMG|FAIMER services, programs, and initiatives in conjunction with the enterprise’s strategic plan. Lisa provides overall leadership of signature programs including ECFMG Certification, ERAS Support Services, the Exchange Visitor Sponsorship Program, and credential verification services including the International Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC).
Ms. Cover’s expertise and experience focus on institutional strategy; new business development, both domestic and international; and operations management. Before joining ECFMG|FAIMER in 2015, she held several leadership roles over more than a decade at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), including Senior Director of International Medicine and Assistant Vice President of Planning and New Business Development. Prior to her time at CHOP, Ms. Cover held management positions at academic medical centers, including Columbia University in New York and BJC Health System in St. Louis. She also served as Senior Associate at a prominent health care consulting firm based in New York City.
Ms. Cover holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts with emphases in public health and management from Central Michigan University School of Public Health and a Master of Health Administration from Washington University School of Medicine. She is active in a variety of professional and civic organizations.

David Evans, MD is a board-certified family physician offering a broad scope of services. Evans received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the Pennsylvania State University and his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he graduated with honors.  After a year spent in Washington, DC as the National President of the American Medical Student Association he completed his residency in Family Medicine at Tacoma Family Medicine in Tacoma, Washington.

For 15 year Dr. Evans practiced at Madras Medical Group where, in addition to providing clinical care was active in his local community and with organized medicine.  He is a founding board member and a Past President of the National Physicians Alliance.

In April of 2012 Dr. Evans joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, the Program Director of the UW Family Medicine Residency, and the Rosenblatt Family Endowed Professor in Rural Health.  Dr. Evans is the recipient of several community service and teaching awards and enjoys living in Seattle, Washington with his wife, two children and dogs.

Jason is a third year medical student at the Medical University of Silesia. A resident of Morganville, New Jersey. Mr. Fang is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Biological Science, with minor in History and certificates in International Studies and Philosophical Foundations of Medicine. During his undergraduate career, his passion for learning about history and cultures led him to become President of Model United Nations where he competed in and won several international conferences around the country. His love of medicine matured while researching in the field of xenotransplantation at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute at UPMC for four years under Dr. David Cooper. He was accredited with several publications in established journals such as Immunology, Transplantation and Xenotransplantation and was accepted to present at several international research conventions. After starting at MUS, Jason became immediately active in community outreach, including organizing fundraisers and volunteering at local community projects. After becoming President of the local AMSA chapter, he pushed AMSA to have a larger presence on campus and in the community. He also worked as the Communication Lead for the Science Innovation Union, a UK-based non-profit that tries to bridge the gap between academia, industry and governments to build a new generation of bio-entrepreneurs. In addition to his academic work, he is also committed to helping his peers serving as Class President. Jason is excited to advance AMSA’s goals of education and advocacy as the International Trustee.

Dr. Flick graduated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California with a BS in biology where he was heavily involved in high school and university level tutoring. He then moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand where he worked as a high school mathematics teacher at an international baccalaureate school. In the two years prior to starting medical school, he volunteered in seven different countries throughout Asia with international medical aid programs. Dr. Flick attended medical school at UC Irvine after receiving the Army health professions scholarship. He served on the admissions committee for four years including working on the selection committee board. He completed a family medicine residency program in Oahu, HI and served on the residency admissions committee. He is board certified in family medicine and now works as a flight surgeon for the Army.

Bio Coming Soon!

Bio Coming Soon!

Avanthi is a fourth-year medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She graduated from Virginia Tech with degrees in Spanish and Biological Sciences with a Microbiology concentration. Early in her training, she volunteered regularly at a rural free clinic where she witnessed systemic injustice in the healthcare system. It was her patients that ignited her passion and unwavering drive for healthcare reform and health equity. In medical school, Avanthi served as the Co-President for the AMSA Chapter and hosted numerous events such as lobby days and advocacy skills workshops to engage others in student activism. Her leadership team was recognized as the recipient of the Paul R. Wright Chapter Success Award in 2017 for their strong commitment towards building and strengthening future physician leaders in the community. Avanthi has also taken an active role with National AMSA by serving as a Co-Chair for the AIDS Advocacy Network and most recently, AMSA’s Education and Advocacy Fellow. As the AMSA Fellow, she worked closely with AMSA’s National Leadership on major programming and advocacy campaigns related to gun violence prevention, civic engagement, access to medicines, and affordable health care. Now in her tenth year with AMSA, Avanthi will be stepping into the role of Vice President for Leadership Development. She is excited to work in tandem with AMSA Leaders to drive forward AMSA’s educational programming and advocacy initiatives for social justice.

Margarida Jorge is a 26-year veteran of electoral, union, civic engagement and issue campaigns and a recognized expert in strategic campaigns, grassroots organizing, issue advocacy and organizational development. Margarida currently leads two major national health care coalitions. She’s the Executive Director of Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a coalition campaign she helped found in 2008 to pass, implement and defend the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA). Following the November 2016 elections, HCAN reconvened to defend the ACA, Medicaid and the social safety net from Republican attacks and to advance policies that expand and improve health care for all.

As of 2019, Margarida also serves as the Campaign Directors of the Lower Drug Prices Now, a new coalition campaign to take on Big Pharma and make prescription medicines affordable for everyone no matter where they live, what they look like or what’s in their wallets.

Over the past twelve years in DC, Margarida has held many national leadership roles including as National Director of SEIU’s American’s for Health Care campaign, co-chair of Americans for Tax Fairness, and Executive Director of the Women’s Equality Center. She has worked as a strategic consultant and advisor for many progressive organizations including Demos, Main Street Alliance, Vision First, Faith in Action, Family Values@Work, Working America, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Working Families Party, and the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Before moving to DC in 2007, Margarida spent nearly 15 years organizing labor unions, fighting for progressive state policies, building community organizations and electing candidates in states like Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, and Florida. Margarida holds two BA degrees from Columbia University.

Dr. Edjah Nduom is a fellowship-trained neurosurgical oncologist and physician-activist. In his academic practice, he operates on brain and spinal tumor patients while investigating novel treatments for brain tumor patients. Dr. Nduom obtained his B.S. in Biomechanical Engineering at Stanford University in 2002 and subsequently obtained his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Dr Nduom then pursued neurosurgical training in the Department of Neurosurgery at Emory University and was awarded an NIH R25 Research Development Grant during his residency. In 2012, he completed an in-folded Research Fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology at NIH. Dr Nduom finished his neurosurgical training in 2013 and then pursued an additional Neurosurgical Oncology Fellowship at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where he was awarded the Jesse H. Jones Fellowship in Cancer Education.

Dr Nduom has held numerous leadership positions over his career. He was the President of the Medical Student Government at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was also an active member of AMSA and the Student National Medical Association. In 2015, he founded Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform, Inc. a 501c3 non-profit organization focused on eliminating the damaging health consequences that can result from negative interactions with the criminal justice system. He was recently named one of the National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 under 40 Leaders in Minority Health. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the National Brain Tumor Society and the Society for Neuro-Oncology of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ton is a fifth-year MD/JD candidate at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston Law Center with a passion for internal medicine. He sits on the American Medical Student Association Board of Trustees as the Vice President for Membership. Previously, he served as the Student Editor of The New Physician, and his passion for writing has led to featured articles on KevinMD.com, Doximity, and Mediaplanet.

He is a Summa cum laude graduate of the University of Houston. There, he is a co-founder of the first Texas public university Campus Kitchen Chapter. Prior to entering medical school, he was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award for his 1000 hours of service in volunteer and leadership capacities at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Dr. Le is an internationally recognized medical educator, physician executive and seasoned entrepreneur. He possesses deep experience in medical communications, health informatics, and medical practice management. Dr. Le earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. He trained in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital and completed an allergy and immunology fellowship and a masters in health sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Le has authored or edited over 40 textbooks including the First Aid for the Boards series. These books have been used by over 2 million physicians and medical students worldwide. He is also section chief of allergy and immunology in the University of Louisville Department of Medicine where he pursues his interests in asthma and medical education. He is currently Founder and Chief Education Officer of ScholarRx, a global platform for student-powered medical education, and serves on the Board of Trustees for Centre College of Kentucky.

Prof. Levin has been working in the fields of HIV disease for more than three decades. This work has taken her to Brazil, Barbados, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Canada, Switzerland, Ukraine, South Africa, and India. Her focus has been on managing programs to meet the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities (youth, injection drug users, sex workers, etc) and the health care providers who serve them, as well as to recruit partners outside of the health sector (government, transport, the press, private sector) to address HIV. She works as an independent consultant and is an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine. At Georgetown, Prof. Levin has taught on the following subjects: health policy, HIV diagnosis and testing, health communications and behavior modification, preschool health interventions, harm reduction, clinical problem-solving, community health, service learning, human sexuality, cultural competency, and a course on AIDS advocacy. She is faculty advisor to the Health Justice Track and GMAAN (Georgetown Medical AIDS Advocacy Network). She received her MPH in international public health policy from George Washington University and her BA in biology with an emphasis in molecular genetics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Adriane López works with the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®) team at the Association of American Medical Colleges. In her role as Engagement Specialist, she conducts student webinars and focuses on expanding opportunities in the VSLO Global Network.

Bio Coming Soon!

Emily joined CFHI in 2019 as the Program Coordinator of Academic Partnerships and Affiliates. In this role, she supports a wide array of CFHI stakeholders, engaging with academic partners, global partners, and students.

Emily has experience working in global health, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), service learning, and education. Before CFHI, she worked as an independent consultant and at an international development consulting firm coordinating an extensive portfolio of M&E contracts for the USAID/Kenya and USAID/East Africa missions. She also spent four years living abroad, teaching English as a second language in Spain and leading community development trips for international volunteers in Nicaragua. Emily has a Master’s degree in Global Health from Universitat de Barcelona and a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from University of Maryland, College Park. She is particularly passionate about amplifying evidence-based best practices in global health and shifting the foreign aid paradigm.

Petros currently serves as the Senior Director of Pre-Health Programs at Kaplan, overseeing the ongoing advancement and evolution of Kaplan’s MCAT programs. He started teaching for Kaplan in 1999, while completing his undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at UC Berkeley, and since then has worked extensively in Kaplan’s Pre Health preparation programs. Petros has held a wide variety of positions at Kaplan during his tenure, while always maintaining a close tie to the classroom, and still teaches on the Kaplan MCAT Channel. His distinctions include National Trainer of the Year, Regional Trainer of the Year twice, and Regional Teacher of the Year. Through his years at Kaplan, Petros has worked closely with many undergraduate student groups and advisors. Petros regularly presents workshops on all aspects of the admissions process by delivering featured Personal Statement, Interview Skills, and application skills seminars, during which students supplement the skills necessary for success both in the application process and in the future. He enjoys inspiring students to reach their maximum potential and their ultimate goal of working in the Health professions and of one day wearing a white coat.

Bio Coming Soon!

Bio Coming Soon!

Ken Patterson is the Director of Grassroots Impact for RESULTS. As Director he provides coaching, training, and support to a national network of RESULTS chapters advocating for equitable access to health, education, and economic opportunity in the U.S. and around the globe.

Prior to RESULTS, Ken was an organizational development consultant. He also worked for 5 years in urban economic development in underinvested communities in Cleveland, OH with Shorebank Enterprise Group. He has over 7 years of international development experience working with the Peace Corps in West Africa as a volunteer, regional leader, training consultant, and as the Associate Director for Agriculture & Training Manager.

Ken has a master’s degree in Organizational Change Management from New School University, a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Minnesota, and a BA in English from Cornell College in IA.

Richard Peng is the Senior Training Specialist on the ERAS Team. Richard Peng joined the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in 2015 as a member of ERAS Client Technical Support. Since then, he has transitioned into the external facing side of the ERAS team as the Senior Training Specialist. He has extensive experience working with multiple constituent types including applicants, schools, and programs navigating through ERAS and has helped to produce many webinars or learning resources that ERAS hosts.

Linda Prine is a professor of Family and Community Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is a practicing family physician and the Director of Women’s Health at the Institute for Family Health, a large FQHC network in New York State. She is a co-founder of the Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) and the Access list, a lively list serve and safe space for discussing reproductive health issues. In these capacities, she has been a leader for full-spectrum women’s health care: the integration of abortion, miscarriage and contraceptive care into family medicine teaching and services. She has been honored with teaching awards and mentoring awards from a range of professional societies.  With RHAP and the Institute she founded a Reproductive Health and Advocacy Fellowship which has now expanded to four sites around the country and has graduated more than 20 fellows.

Dr. Prine maintains an active practice in which she provides and teaches to her fellows and residents this full scope of care, including medication and manual vacuum aspiration abortion. She helped found the AAFP’s Reproductive Health Care Member Interest Group (MIG) and through the Reproductive Health Access Project heads up a national network of clusters of activist medical practitioners who meet locally to advance the struggle for access to abortion.  She also actively advocates for single payer health care reform, which must include coverage for abortion services, and for livable streets with protected bike lanes.

Timothy E. Quill, MD is Distinguished Professor in Palliative Care at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) where his is also Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, Medical Humanities and Nursing.  He was the Founding Director of the URMC Palliative Care Division and a Past President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is Acting Director of the URMC Schyve Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Dr. Quill has published and lectured widely about various aspects of the doctor-patient relationship, with special focus on end-of-life decision making, including delivering bad news, nonabandonment, discussing palliative care earlier, and exploring last-resort options.  He is the author of several books on end-of life care and over 150 articles published in major medical journals.  Dr. Quill was the lead physician plaintiff in the New York State legal case challenging the law prohibiting physician-assisted death that was heard in 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court (Quill v. Vacco).

Dr. Quill received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College (1971), and his M.D. from the University of Rochester (1976).  He completed his Internal Medicine Residency in 1979 and a Fellowship in Medicine/Psychiatry Liaison in 1981, both from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.  Dr. Quill is a Fellow in the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, a Master in the American College of Physicians and an ABMS certified palliative care consultant.

Sujay Ratna is a junior at Rutgers University majoring in biology and minoring in sociology and chemistry. His future plans include a career that combines medicine and clinical research, after being an Academic Associate in Clinical Research Program in Emergency Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Sujay currently researches methods to detect glioblastoma mutations at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, in the Department of Radiation Oncology. He is the President of Rutgers University SAATH (South Asian Appreciation for Tradition & Heritage), a cultural club and a member of the Honors College. In addition, Sujay is also an active Civic Scholar for the Office of Civic Engagement and volunteers at Cooper Hospital University Emergency Department as a Health Outreach Associate.

Mattie Renn is a third-year medical student at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in the Columbia-Bassett track, a specialized program oriented towards training future healthcare professionals in health systems leadership and trauma-informed care. She graduated with a BA in Cellular and Molecular Biology with a minor in Human Rights from the University of Chicago in 2016. Mattie joined AMSA in 2018, serving as co-founder and co-chair of AMSA’s Medical Students for Gun Safety campaign, along with Vishnu Muppala. She is also a national leader of Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic, and developed Columbia’s inaugural Gun Violence Action Week. She has also developed curricula and programming as Columbia’s Interprofessional Education Fellow.
Mattie has an interest in primary care, and is a passionate advocate for health rights for native populations, gun violence prevention, access to mental health resources, and immigrant rights. She plans to pursue a career in health equity and in providing ethical care to underserved communities.

Gary Rose, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University.  As a former Chairman of the Admissions Committee of the Regional Campus of the University of Miami School of Medicine, in Boca Raton, and as a longtime member of the Admissions Committee of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine in Boca Raton, Florida, Dr. Rose has evaluated and interviewed hundreds of medical school applicants He recognizes the skills, characteristics, and attitudes expected of a successful med school applicant. He is the author of The Medical School Coach in which he teaches the reader how to develop the qualities and traits that are most desirable and necessary to be accepted into medical school. He is also the Director of the BS/MD Pipeline Program and Director of the Post Baccalaureate Program at The College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University.

Mark Ryan, MD, FAAFP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health of the VCU School of Medicine. Dr. Ryan completed his medical training at VCU in 2000 and his family medicine residency at the Blackstone Family Practice in 2003. Dr. Ryan served Board of Directors for the National Physicians Alliance as the VP of Communications, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Richmond Academy of Medicine’s AccessNow program and of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Ryan is the medical director of the VCU School of Medicine’s International/Inner City/Rural Preceptorship (I²CRP) program and is course director for the school’s “Patient, Physician and Society” pre-clinical curriculum. Dr. Ryan sustains a clinical practice and is medical director at the VCU Health Hayes E. Willis Health Center in South Richmond, where he cares for medically underserved members of the Richmond community and where he and the team teach students health professions students in an interprofessional practice setting.

Dr. Sakran is an assistant professor of surgery, director of emergency general surgery, and associate Chief of the Division of Acute Care Surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. After a comprehensive general surgery training at Inova Fairfax Hospital, Joe completed his fellowship in traumatology, surgical critical care, and emergency general surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His past experience is in resource-poor settings, working with underprivileged and minority high school students, and has a public health background that has provided him with the skill-set needed to take on the challenges of improving care among vulnerable populations both domestically and abroad. As a former victim of gun violence, Joe spends a significant portion of his time as a clinician, researcher, and advocate with a primary goal of reducing firearm death and disability in America. To this end, he recently founded the organization @ThisIsOurLane, a platform to help unite healthcare providers and deliver one strong voice in ending gun violence. Dr. Sakran completed a one-year educational sabbatical at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he developed a unique skill set within public policy, economics, and leadership development. During the most recent Presidential Campaign, he founded Doctors for Hillary, bringing to the forefront through a grassroots effort healthcare issues important to Americans all across this country. He was recognized by Secretary Clinton for his work and advocacy specifically on Gun Violence. In 2017, Joe was selected by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of Healthcare’s Leaders under 40. Joe has been a powerful advocate on behalf of gun violence prevention, and helped bring together the healthcare community under the platform @ThisIsOurLane. He has testified in front of Congress numerous times and is a sought after national and international speaker, and holds numerous national roles in surgical organizations most recently serving as Chair of the Resident and Associate Society for the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and Chair of the Injury Control and Violence Prevention Committee for the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST). Joe currently serves on the Young Fellows Association Governing Council, and is the Vice-Chair of the International Sub-Committee for Operation Giving Back of the American College of Surgeons. Beyond medicine, Joe recently served as a Board Director for the Brady Campaign and also selected to the Presidential Leadership Scholars program. Currently he is on sabbatical after being selected by the National Academy of Medicine to serve as the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow on Capitol Hill.

Dr. Satin completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics following his residency at the University’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, medical school at the University of Western Ontario (Canada), a Robert Jones Scholarship in Philosophy to the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), a philosophy degree from the University of Western Ontario, and a health sciences degree from Marianopolis College in his home town of Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Satin is a practicing, academic physician, in the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Within the medical school, he directs the core courses in Ethics, Law, Policy, Healthcare Finance, and Quality Improvement. He currently serves on the University of Minnesota Medical Center’s Medical Executive, as well as on the Boards of the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine, Stratis Health, and the Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety. He was recently appointed to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Statewide Quality Reporting System Framework Project Steering Team.

Dr. Satin’s research interests span the field of health systems science, with publications on quality improvement, public health, behavioral economics, shared decision-making, and topics in bioethics.

Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein is Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement and Professor of the Practice in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also the Director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. He is the author of the Public Health Crisis Survival Guide: Leadership and Management in Trying Times​, published by the Oxford University Press. He is also co-author of the recently released book, ​The Opioid Epidemic: What Everyone Needs to Know​.

Previously, Dr. Sharfstein served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene from January 2011 to December 2014. In this position, he led efforts to align Maryland’s health care system with improved health outcomes, culminating in the adoption of a revised payment model for all hospital care for Maryland residents. He also oversaw the development of a statewide health improvement process with 18 local public-private coalitions and the reshaping of state’s approach to health information exchange, long-term care, and behavioral health.

Former AMSA Region 3 Trustee and co-creator of the AMSA Regional Conference “The Call Beyond Call”

Anishaa Sivakumar is a senior at the University of Central Florida and the 2019/20 AMSA AIDS Advocacy Network (AAN) Chair. Having been a member of AMSA for the past three years, her interest in healthcare advocacy stemmed from her involvement in the AAN Steering Committee and AMSA’s Advocacy Day experience. As Chair, Anishaa has had the opportunity to collaborate on and lead multiple AIDS-related advocacy efforts, including Harm Reduction in Medical Training and Syringe Access Programs. Aside from her work with AMSA, Anishaa also serves as an MCAT Prep Instructor for Kaplan, Inc. and works in a lab setting studying the molecular basis of Parkinson’s Disease.

Perry Tsai has been a proud member and leader with AMSA since 2009, having served on the Sexual Health Scholars Program, Gender & Sexuality Action Committee, Board of Trustees, and, in the immediate past, as National President. Born and raised in New Orleans, he received his BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and his MD and PhD from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. There, he enjoyed directing the MedUNCedoos a cappella group, and he performed HIV cure research. Currently, he is starting his psychiatry residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago on a research track.

Bio Coming Soon!

Dr. Wasco is a career Emergency Physician, with 40 years of clinical and administrative experience in community and teaching hospitals in Massachusetts. He served as Emergency Department Director and Vice Chair of Board of Directors, North Shore Medical Center, and retired as Senior Vice Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, a teaching hospital of the Tufts University School of Medicine. He was Assistant to the Director of the Office of Emergency Medical Services in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and EMT/Paramedic Instructor and Medical Director for regional Emergency Medical Service providers. With a strong interest in medical communications, he served for 10 years as  Contributing Editor and Health Columnist for Woman’s Day Magazine, and medical reporter/on-air television commentator for Westinghouse Broadcasting with a 100 station national syndication on the program PM Magazine. Dr. Wasco has served as medical advisor for several start-up companies and is currently Senior Medical Advisor for vCases, an NIH supported web-based physical examination teaching and evaluation tool for medical students and physicians using virtual patients.

After serving a term as national president of the University of Michigan Medical Center Alumni Society, Dr Wasco became interested in medical school admissions and was invited to join the Medical Center’s Admissions Committee. A current active committee member for 15 years, he has reviewed applications and interviewed hundreds of medical school candidates. Recognizing the strong competencies of college student athletes who are also high performing scholars, he founded and now directs “The Doctor Is In”, a counseling program at the Career Center in the University of Michigan Athletic Department.  In the past 6 years, the program has assisted over 200 undergraduate student athletes in preparation for medical school and other postgraduate health careers with in-office, on-line and telephone counseling sessions including resume and personal statement review, medical career information, time management and leadership training, volunteer, research and clinical experiences to supplement their applications. Dr. Wasco’s work with these two programs is a volunteer effort, but enables him to follow his medical admissions passion by helping prospective medical students to understand and communicate their strengths and find the right fit for their future education.

Ashley S. Weitz is a victim advocate and trauma-informed care educator, lecturer, and consultant in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Bio Coming Soon!

Bio Coming Soon!