Jeral Self is the Head of Community Engagement at Panacea Financial where she executes the organization’s mission and goal of providing ongoing support, both financially and through mentorship, to under-represented minorities within the physician workforce. Jeral has over nine years of experience in health policy research, with much of it focused on building and using integrated data from multiple public service systems for the purposes of evaluation. Recently Dr. Self has been involved in a number of evaluation projects for the State of Arkansas and their healthcare financing reform initiative. The results of this work have informed the development of Arkansas’ episodes of care payment models, as well as behavioral health and long-term service health home models. Most importantly, her work on the Arkansas Section 1115 demonstration waiver evaluation has been used in steering the national conversation about the future of state-led Medicaid expansion effort. Dr. Self has a PhD from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a Masters in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health.

Dr. Javier Baez is of Puerto Rican descent and from Cleveland, OH. He is a proud alumnus of St. Ignatius High School and advocate in the Jesuit teaching “Men for Others.” For undergraduate studies he attended The Ohio State University. He completed a master’s degree in Medical Sciences with a focus on Anatomy at the University of South Florida. He obtained his medical degree from New York Medical College. He attended internal medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati, where he was selected chief medicine resident. During residency he was awarded the “Herbert C. Flessa, MD Physician’s Physician Award” and “Resident as Teacher Award.” Currently, he is an primary care physician with UC Health, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine and Associate Program Director with the University of Cincinnati internal medicine residency program with a special interest in resident recruitment and medical education.

Dr. Francillon is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist in private practice in Birmingham, AL. He is originally from Haiti and his family relocated to the United States when he was a child eventually settling down in Montgomery, AL. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Alabama. Prior to pursuing a career in medicine, he worked in banking and sales. Later he went on to graduate from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, where he also completed my residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology. After completing his residency, he moved back to Alabama and joined a private practice OB/GYN group in Birmingham.

Dr. Gunn is an Internal Medicine physician in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Medicine, Health and Society from Vanderbilt University and completed her medical degree at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She then ventured to the City of Brotherly Love to complete her residency in Internal Medicine at Temple University Hospital. While there she served as a chief resident. She later earned her Masters of Arts in Urban Bioethics at Lewis Katz School of Medicine. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in the division of Hospital Medicine and affiliated faculty with the Urban Bioethics Department. She currently serves as core faculty with the Internal Medicine residency program where she leads the urban bioethics track. She is passionate about social determinants of health and health equity issues. She enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and one-year-old son.

Dr. Payne, an Associate Professor of Medicine and a cardiovascular physician-scientist, earned his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Yale University in 2005, followed by a combined MD and PhD in cardiovascular physiology from Indiana University School of Medicine in 2011. During his clinical training, he received notable recognition, serving as the 2015 UAB Chief Cardiology Fellow and receiving the Northwestern Cardiology Young Investigator Award in 2016. In 2018, he joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) faculty, excelling in his role as a physician-scientist.

He holds a crucial position as the Chair-Elect of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Early Career Committee, actively championing research diversity. Dr. Payne’s research focuses on atherosclerosis and vascular biology, earning national acclaim and support, including the inaugural AHA / Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program Career Development Award and the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Investigation. His research is generously supported by the NIH and VA Merit Award. Lastly, he plays a vital role in mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists as an assistant director of the UAB MSTP.

Bi Awosika, MD, FACP, SFHM is an academic hospitalist and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, recently transitioning as the Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

As a first-generation Cameroonian born in Chicago, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology at Stanford University and matriculated at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine, earning her Doctor of Medicine. Dr. Awosika then pursued her residency training in Internal Medicine at Boston University Medical Center, where she was appointed to serve as Chief Medical Resident. After starting her career at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, she ultimately transitioned as faculty at UC.

Her work has expanded to serving nationally as a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Physicians in Training Committee and as leadership of the American Medical Association-UC Resident Diversity Leadership Program. She has been awarded honors ranging from the Excellence in Mentorship Award, the Richard Vilter Award for teaching, to being inducted into both the Cincinnati Business Courier and the National Minority Quality Forum “Forty under 40” cohorts. Her interests include competency-based medical education, coaching, and recruitment and retention efforts that foster diverse, inclusive work and learning environments.

Dr. Carlos (Tony) Casillas is originally from Northern California. He completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Psychology at California State University, Fresno. He then attended the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA for medical school. During medical school, he also attended the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA and obtained his MPH. For residency, he trained at University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics.

He is currently an Internal Medicine & Pediatric hospital medicine fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati Medical Center. His passions include creating a more diverse and inclusive medical workforce and improved access to care for Latinx communities. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Hannah, and almost 2-year-old son, Zayn.