speakers

Natabhona Mabachi, PhD, MPH was formerly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). She recently became the Director of Evaluation and Research Investigator at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Dr. Mabachi works in Public health both in academic and community settings using her expertise in Health Communication, Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), qualitative research methods, and evaluation to address a variety of topics both in Kansas City and East Africa. Dr. Mabachi employs an Equity, Empowerment and Social Accountability framework in her work. She works in partnership with communities and organizations to address health issues in ways that are most meaningful and ultimately sustainable for them. Areas of focus include: Community level Sexual Assault Prevention and Policy change, prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) and ways to engage male partners and improving Cervical Cancer screening and treatment. Dr. Mabachi is involved in medical education efforts designed to address health inequities arising from implicit biases, and systemic racism in care provision and decision making. She provides implicit bias and anti-racism and other isms training to students, faculty and partner organizations with the goal of empowering individuals and organizations to move towards structural competence and be accountable for structural change.

Maria Alonso Luaces, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) and the Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the School of Medicine. Dr. Alonso’s work primarily focuses on the intersection of Education and Health. She works closely with communities and urban schools in Kansas to develop a strong pipeline to the health professions, serving more than 1000 students per year. In the School of Medicine, she leads multiple efforts focused on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students into the school. Dr. Alonso is also heavily involved in medical education. She serves as the Diversity Thread head for the curriculum, leads the Medical Spanish program and provides numerous educational sessions focused on language barriers, how to work effectively with medical interpreters and the effects of racism and bias in access and quality of care. The development of The Global Scholars Distinction Program and a summer Study Abroad Program in Spain focused on Medical Spanish and Public Health are just two examples of Dr. Alonso’s efforts to provide the KUMC community with opportunities to seek new perspectives, foster collaboration and graduate students who are prepared to serve ALL patients.

Susan Havercamp, PhD explores physical and mental health issues in people with intellectual and other disabilities. Her research contributions lie in three areas: building a health surveillance evidence base, developing and evaluating health promotion interventions, and training healthcare providers to improve healthcare for patients with disabilities. She strongly believes that education is the solution to many health inequities people with disabilities face.  She is the Principal Investigator of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded Ohio Disability and Health Program, a partnership with the Ohio Department of Health to improve the health of Ohioans with disabilities. Through this program, Dr. Havercamp led the development of core disability competencies for disability in health care education and developed disability training programs for interdisciplinary healthcare professionals.  Dr. Havercamp is also the Principal Investigator of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on the assessment and treatment of behavioral health conditions in adults with intellectual disability funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.  Dr. Havercamp is a consulting editor for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the Disability and Health Journal, and Inclusion. Dr. Havercamp is a founding member of the Student and Early Career Professional Committee and is past president of both the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Board of Directors and the Alliance on Disability in Health Care Education.

Andrea L. Pfeifle, EdD, PT, FNAP is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Interprofessional Practice and Education at the Ohio State University and Wexner Medical Center and Professor of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Pfeifle has had the privilege of serving as the inaugural leader and formative development of three university level interprofessional practice and education initiatives – the University Kentucky, Indiana University, and Ohio State. She serves on the Executive Committee and Board of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative, is the Incoming President of the National Academies of Practice, member of the National Academies of Practice Physical Therapy Academy, and part of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, Leveraging the IPEC Competency Framework to Transform Health Professions Education.