Faculty

Panel 1 - Prioritizing Patients' Mental Well-Being and the Healthcare Workforce that Serves Them

Panelists

Aday Adetosoye, Ph.D., is a seasoned public health leader with nearly 25 years of experience spanning program management, leadership development, and organizational transformation. With a career rooted in humane and ethical leadership, Dr. Adetosoye has provided executive-level oversight to public health initiatives in over 40 countries, collaborating with USG agencies, multilateral bodies, host country governments, and other national actors. She has successfully led diverse teams, built sustainable partnerships, and managed critical health programs among underserved populations around the world. As the founder of 1099 Impact Street, LLC, a woman-owned consulting firm, Dr. Adetosoye empowers leaders and organizations to achieve measurable and sustainable results through empathetic leadership. A Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach and Trainer, she is passionate about training teams and leaders, inspiring them to achieve their goals with purpose and integrity. Dr. Adetosoye regularly addresses current affairs and topics such as strengthening systems in healthcare, equity in global health, and effective leadership. She is committed to creating lasting impact by empowering leaders to make a difference where it matters most.

Gary Taylor, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Three-Time Published Author, Speaker and Facilitator, Assistant Professor, Doctoral Student (University of Kentucky: College of Social Work), and Deacon. He is from and resides in Caroline County, Virginia, with his wife, daughter, and son. He has twelve years of experience in Mental Health and formerly provided individual therapy to Black men and women. His research includes exploring cultural-specific strategies to address suicide prevention among Black men and supporting their mental health. He also consults businesses and community agencies about racial equity initiatives and is an Assistant Professor in the Social Work Department at Virginia State University. He blends his clinical expertise with lived experience to meet people where they are, via a social and racial justice lens. Trey is also a podcaster, sneakerhead, car enthusiast and coffee lover!

Janet Stickmon is a professor, author, and wellness consultant who has been an educator for over 26 years. Stickmon is a professor of Ethnic Studies and Humanities at Napa Valley College where she has been teaching for 19 years. She is also the founding Program Coordinator of the Humanities, Ethnic Studies, and Philosophy Departments and the founding Program Coordinator of The Cultural Center at Napa Valley College. Stickmon is the author of Crushing Soft Rubies—A Memoir, Midnight Peaches, Two O’clock Patience—A Collection of Essays, Poems, and Short Stories on Womanhood and the Spirit, and To Black Parents Visiting Earth: Raising Black Children in the 21st Century. Stickmon’s essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Mutha Magazine, The Sage Encyclopedia of Filipina/x/o American Studies, Read to Write Stories, Positively Filipino, and Red and Yellow, Black and Brown: Decentering Whiteness in Mixed Race Studies (Rutgers University Press, 2017). She also has over 26 years experience practicing meditation and integrating mindfulness practices throughout all her courses. Janet Stickmon is the founder of CenterJoyPWR®: Strategies for Healing Racial Battle Fatigue—an online experience for professionals of color who want to heal their racial battle fatigue and center joy in their lives.

G. Rumay Alexander, EdD, RN, FAAN, is the American Nurses Association Senior Advisor. She also is a professor in the School of Nursing, Assistant Dean of Relational Excellence at the Adams School of Dentistry and formerly the Associate Vice -Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion/ Chief Diversity Officer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At the end of 2019, she completed her presidency of the National League for Nursing, the national voice for nursing education which has over 40,000 nurse educators and 1200 schools of nursing. In February of 2021, she became the American Nurses Association’s Scholar-In-Residence and advises the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. Additionally, Dr. Alexander is a board member of The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog organization that serves as a voice for health care consumers and purchasers and the nation’s premier advocate of transparency in health care. Included in her nursing career are appointments to several transformative healthcare initiatives including the Commission of Workforce for Hospitals and Health Systems of the American Hospital Association the Tri-Council of Nursing, and the National Quality Forum’s steering committee which developed the first national voluntary consensus standards for nursing-sensitive care. Dr. Alexander is a first-generation college graduate and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, a Master of Science in Nursing /Family Nurse Practitioner Program from Vanderbilt University and a Doctorate in Education, Administration and Supervision from Tennessee State University-Nashville.

Moderator/Discussant

Kirsten Kathryn Meisinger, MD, MHCDS, is an international expert in healthcare system transformation, with a focus on patient-centered care. She was National Faculty Co-Chair for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) “Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative” (TCPi), which transformed over 140,000 U.S. practices to value-based, patient-centered care. She also co-chaired the National Health Equity Collaborative and served on the expert panel for the Health Care Homes initiative in Australia. Currently, she is working with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to design and implement a national Primary Care transformation pilot in Brazil. As the Director of System Transformation and Leadership at the Harvard Center for Primary Care, Dr. Meisinger leads the Quality Improvement arm of the HRSA grant “Technology Enabled Education for Community Health” and directs the Medical Director Leadership Institute. She has faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School, Tufts University, and the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and she leads global partnerships with organizations like Upstream USA and Oak Street Health.

Weitzman Institute Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of the Weitzman Institute to ensure that Continuing Education (CE) activities are independent and free of commercial bias. To ensure educational content is objective, balanced, and guarantee content presented is in the best interest of its learners' and the public, the Weitzman Institute requires that everyone in a position to control educational content disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. An ineligible company is one whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. Examples can be found at accme.org.

Faculty participating in a Weitzman Institute-sponsored activity must disclose to the planning committee and audience all financial or other relationship(s) with ineligible companies.