Course Directors & Faculty
Meet Our Keynote Speaker
21st Surgeon General of the United States in Washington, DC
Vivek H Murthy, MD
Dr. Vivek H. Murthy served as the 19th Surgeon General of the United States from December 15, 2014, to April 21, 2017, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 23, 2021, as the 21st Surgeon General of the United States.
In his first term as America’s Doctor, Dr. Murthy created initiatives to tackle our country’s most urgent public health issues. He chose areas of focus that were raised by people across America during his inaugural listening tour. Highlights included:
- Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health – the nation’s first Surgeon General’s Report presenting the latest scientific data on addiction and issuing a call to action to the nation to recognize addiction as a chronic illness and not a moral failing.
- TurnTheTideRx: The Surgeon General’s Call to End the Opioid Crisis – In 2016, Dr. Murthy sent a letter to 2.3 million health care professionals urging them join a movement to tackle the opioid epidemic. This was first time in the history of the office that a Surgeon General had issued a letter calling the medical profession to action.
- Surgeon General’s Report on E-cigarette Use Among Youth – First federal report on e-cigarettes, highlighting the health risks of e-cigarette use for youth
- Step It Up! The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities – Launched efforts to increase physical activity in communities across the country, including a two-week public-private partnership with Fitbit that engaged over 600,000 people to take an industry record-setting 60 billion steps.
- Get Vaccinated with the Surgeon General and Elmo: Partnered with Elmo in a popular video that demystifies vaccines for parents and children
In 2017, Dr. Murthy focused his attention on chronic stress and isolation as prevalent problems that have profound implications for health, productivity, and happiness. Partnering with the Veterans Health Administration, he led a convening that brought together leading thinkers, researchers, and practitioners to identify scientifically proven ways we can cultivate emotional well-being and fitness to help us thrive among the most challenging circumstances.
In addition to his role as America’s Doctor, as the Vice Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Dr. Murthy commanded a uniformed service of 6,600 public health officers, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations in over 800 locations domestically and abroad. He worked with thousands of Commissioned Corps officers to strengthen the Corps and protect the nation from Ebola and Zika and to respond to the Flint water crisis, major hurricanes, and frequent health care shortages in rural communities.
Dr. Murthy’s commitment to medicine and health began early in life. The son of immigrants from India, he discovered the art of healing watching his parents – Hallegere and Myetriae Murthy – treat patients like family in his father’s medical clinic in Miami, Florida. Prior to becoming Surgeon General, his accomplishments included:
- VISIONS: Co-founded with his sister, Rashmi, a peer-to-peer HIV/AIDS education program in India and the United States that reached tens of thousands of students.
- Swasthya Project: Co-founded a community health partnership that trained women to defy the odds in their patriarchal villages and become health care providers and educators.
- TrialNetworks: Co-founded a software technology company that improves research collaboration in clinical trials and is powering research studies around the world.
- Doctors for America: Co-founded a nonprofit with more than 18,000 physician and medical student members from all 50 states dedicated to creating a high quality, affordable health care system for all.
- Medical care and education: Cared for thousands of patients and trained hundreds of medical students and residents.
- Research: Conducted basic science research on vaccines and health care services research focused on the participation of women and minorities in clinical trials. His research and perspectives have been published in the nation’s top medical journals.
In 2020, Dr. Murthy authored the New York Times Bestselling Book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.
Dr. Murthy received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Yale. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and later joined Harvard Medical School as faculty in internal medicine.
Dr. Murthy resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Alice Chen, and their two young children.
Course Directors
Sammamish, WA
Hala Sabry DO, MBA
Hala Sabry D.O., M.B.A, has over four years of experience in the field of Emergency Medicine. Currently, she works for the California emergency Physicians of America, which is located in Southern California.
In November of 2014, Hala founded PMG in an effort to create a platform where other women physicians, who are also actively raising families, can share information, exchange expertise, and provide resources in a collaborative fashion.
Hala earned her degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2007. She is also the mother to five children: ages 5, twins who are 3 years old, and new born twins who are 1 month old. After struggling with infertility for five years, she is grateful to have been able to have her children via in-vitro fertilization (IVF), as they have been her motivation for finding a good work life balance, which ultimately inspired the creation of PMG.
2021 Faculty
Baltimore, MD
Heidi Abdelhady, MD
I’m a board certified IM, Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician who wears many hats. This includes recently standing up Women in Medicine Gender Equity Standing Committee at my hospital and currently working to expand in our health system that includes 150 comprehensive hospitals. Additionally, I severe as our nation wide physician lead on our ABIDE (Appreciation, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity) Collaborative where our organization is looking to dismantle practices and policies that lead to inequity rooted in race, racism and systemic racism.
I would like to speak about gender and gender equity in medicine among physicians specifically so that others can take these ideas to their institutions to assess their environments and begin the journey that is unique to them.
Bellingham, WA
Kelly Casperson, MD
Dr. Casperson is a urologist in private practice who is interested in the power of the mind and science to change our views of sexuality. After many years in practice she had a life changing patient that made her curious to learn everything she could about female sexual wellness.
This inspired her to create a podcast You Are Not Broken
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-not-broken/id1495710329
From that she has created online courses teaching women the fundamentals of their anatomy and physiology, discussing their limiting beliefs, and normalizing their normal female sexual function, to empower them to live their best love lives.
Through pursuit of certification through the Life Coach School, she now combines her medical knowledge with mind-work to help women with surgical precision, using urology and sex-coaching to change lives.
Find her at www.kellycaspersonmd.com
Website:https://www.kellycaspersonmd.com/about-me
Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-not-broken/id1495710329
Blue Ash, OH
Heather Dlugosz, MD
Dr. Dlugosz, Associate Medical Director of the Cincinnati location of Eating Recovery Center Pathlight Behavioral Health, has experience with the treatment of eating disorder and psychiatric conditions in children, adolescents and adults. She has been with Eating Recovery Center since 2015, when the Ohio facility was opened. Dr. Dlugosz is board certified in Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry and is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS). She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Academy of Eating Disorders where she serves on the medical standards committee, and International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. She serves as a volunteer Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Dr. Dlugosz grew up in Northeast Ohio and received her Bachelor’s degree from Albion College. She earned her M.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, completed her adult psychiatric residency at University Hospital in Cincinnati, now the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center where she served as Chief Resident.
Dr. Dlugosz embraces a collaborative, patient centered approach to the assessment and treatment of patients and her broad experience in a variety of settings is a solid foundation for providing compassionate care to patients at all levels. She was featured as one of Cincinnati Magazine’s Top Doctors in 2020.
When she is not supporting patients in getting back to the life they want to live in line with their values, she spends time with her husband, 2 daughters and 2 dogs. She enjoys travelling and has a special love for all things Disney.
Aurora, CO
Sue Gu, MD
I was born in Wuhan, China but spent most of my life growing up in Ohio. I have felt personally impacted by the recent rise in Anti Asian racism and the rhetoric of former president Trump referring to the Coronavirus as “Wuhan Virus.” I’m passionate about understanding and helping others understand anti-Asian racism in historical context. I presented this topic at National Jewish Health recently and the video is available on Youtube (link made public in my profile) if you would like to see a version of this talk.
Louisville, KY
SarahBeth Hartlage, MD
University of Alabama. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Tulane University and her MD from the University of South Alabama. She completed a residency in anesthesiology at the University of Louisville, where she served as chief resident. Today she serves as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Louisville, where she pursues her passion for educating residents and medical students. Dr. Hartlage lives in Louisville with her husband, daughter, and an excitable corgi.
Lancaster, CA
Mitika Kanabar, MD, MPH, FASAM
Dr. Mitika Kanabar MD MPH FASAM is an Addiction Medicine physician helping patients with substance use disorders in rural California. Dr. Kanabar did her Addiction Medicine fellowship from Stanford University. She is triple boarded in Addiction Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine and Family Medicine. Dr. Kanabar serves as voluntary Clinical Faculty with University of Southern California. As a member of the NEXT committee of the International Society of Addiction Medicine, Dr. Kanabar is involved in international networking, collaboration and mentorship for early career addiction professionals. As a part of her outreach efforts in the Indian subcontinent, Dr. Kanabar has spoken in public forums of the harms of process addictions and problematic internet use. Dr. Kanabar is a part of the working committee to address international challenges for treatment of gaming disorder. She has a keen interest in lifestyle modification for chronic diseases and application of the same in patients with substance use disorders.
Hudson, OH
Manjinder Kaur, DO
I am a board certified Endocrinologist and Obesity medicine diplomate. I have dedicated my entire career and practice to serving patients with obesity . During the journey I was shocked and embarrassed to find out about biases related to weight can impact the care we provide . Obesity bias is as prevalent is as racial or gender discrimination. My goal over the years has been to provide best possible care to patient suffering with obesity to reach their health goals as well to train my fellow colleagues, physician residents to be mindful of implicit biases related to weight that may impact patient care negatively and hence the health outcomes for our patients .
Houston, TX
Rashmi Kudesia, MD, MSc
Rashmi Kudesia, M.D., M.Sc., is a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist & infertility specialist at CCRM Fertility Houston in Houston, Texas, where she serves as the Director of Patient Education and Sugar Land Site Director. She is also Assistant Clinical Professor of OB/GYN at Houston Methodist Hospital, author of Understanding Fertility Awareness Methods: Gaining Control of Your Fertility, Medical Director for women’s health startup Simple Health, and member of the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast.
Dr. Kudesia has held many national leadership roles in organized medicine, allowing her to advance and advocate for women’s health through positions within the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the American Medical Association, and more. She has received multiple grants and awards for her scientific research, which she has published and presented widely. Her research and advocacy focus on access to fertility knowledge, counseling and care, lifestyle medicine approaches to infertility and polycystic ovary syndrome, and LGBT fertility. She promotes reproductive health and empowerment through various advisory board appointments, community outreach and social media.
Dallas, TX
Binh-Minh “Jade” Le, MD
Dr. Le is board-certified in infectious disease and is a former Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon where she helped with the Ebola outbreak and vaccination campaigns for people in remote villages. Dr. Le received her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and completed her internship and residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where she was also chief resident. She completed her Infectious Diseases fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to joining Access Physicians, Dr. Le served as the Infectious Diseases Clinical Director at William P. Clements, Jr. University Hospital in Dallas, specializing in transplant infections. She was also a recipient of both the Internal Medicine Residency Teaching Award and twice the Infectious Diseases Fellows Teaching Award. Dr. Le also worked at North Texas-based Texas Health Resources, where she expanded the Infectious Care Clinic’s outpatient services while receiving top-rated patient satisfaction scores. Dr. Le also serves on Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Task Force for Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response.
Nashville, TN
Adele Lewis, MD
Adele Lewis, MD grew up in Alabama and received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at Bowdoin College. She received her MD from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and proceeded slightly northward to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she trained in general surgery and surgical critical care for five years. She then left the surgical realm on her thirtieth birthday and stayed at Vanderbilt for anatomic pathology residency, followed by a forensic pathology fellowship at the Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County medical examiner’s office. During her time there, she performed approximately 4000 autopsies in Tennessee and Mississippi. In 2016, she accepted the newly-created job of Deputy State Chief Medical Examiner with the Tennessee Department of Health and was promoted to State Chief Medical Examiner in 2019. Her office is responsible for keeping and distributing reports of medicolegal death investigations across Tennessee, assisting with mass fatalities and threats to public health, and training county medical examiners and their investigators. Her husband Rodney and she adopted twin girls born in China in June 2005 and a son born in Guatemala in July 2005, just as they were entering a new residency and fellowship, respectively. Her children are 17 years olds born in China 3/2004 and boy born in Guatemala 7/2004
West Hartford, CT
Mariela Podolski, MD
Originally from Costa Rica, attended medical school at Universidad de Costa Rica. Completed residency in psychiatry at Institute of Living, and fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. I have worked with eating disorder patients for the past 14 years , making it the focus of my career. Currently work at my private practice, and as a consultant for Walden Behavioral Care.
Santa Clara, CA
Sheryl L Recinos, MD
Sheryl Recinos, MD is a Family Medicine trained physician that works as a hospitalist in Los Angeles, CA. She is a mother of three, and she went through training while raising her kids. She is also the author of numerous books, including her memoir about her experiences as a homeless teen. She wants to see a world where children are protected and adults provide them with a safe, nurturing community where they can grow.
Long Beach, NY
Andrea Sciberras, DO, AAHIVS, FACOI, FACP
I have been an osteopathic internist since 2003. However, I have several subspecialty areas. My passion is in HIV medicine, and I noticed there were no lecture topics on this last year. I would love to lecture on this! I am also a transgender specialist and do hospice work as well. I was a program director for many years and am also an outpatient preceptor for our IM residency. I also owned my own practice for 12 years. I have many different knowledge areas and multiple topics I can lecture on! Finally, I am a single mother by choice and my daughter will be turning 4 in June!
Seattle, WA
Tanmeet Sethi, MD
Tanmeet Sethi, MD is an Integrative Family Physician, writer, and TEDx speaker (Watch “Two Words That Can Change Your Life” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHTmiHB6aXk) who has dedicated her career to care for the most marginalized patients including Seattle’s refugee, uninsured and homeless populations as well as global communities traumatized by manmade and natural disasters as Senior Faculty for the Center for Mind Body Medicine. She has been Core Faculty in residency medical education for the last two decades focusing on inpatient and outpatient family medicine, integrative medicine, and anti-racism in medicine. She is certified in Functional Medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine and fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine from the University of Arizona and has gone on to found and direct an Integrative Medicine fellowship at Swedish Hospital Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, WA. Currently, she is also pursuing certificate training in psychedelic medicine, bringing together her passion for plant medicine and social justice. She is one of the original co-founders of APIChaya, an organization dedicated to supporting survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking in the Asian/South Asian community. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and three children and is currently working on her first book.
Denver, CO
Kamleh Shaban, MD
I grew up in Denver Colorado in a second generation Arab American household with expectations that I’d be a doctor. I went to CU medicine and scrambled into a psychiatry residency where I really thrived. I’ve been working as an outpatient child psychiatrist for the past four years. I teach medical students, residents, and fellows. I have created an anti-racism psychiatry curriculum. I have one daughter, and am happily married to a very supportive partner. I love learning about racism, anti-racism efforts, and mental health.
Evesham, NJ
Angela Skrzynski, DO
Dr. Angela Skrzynski is board certified in Family Medicine and Sleep Medicine, having completed her training at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Michigan. She serves as the Clinical Lead for the Remote Practice at Virtua Health in Southern New Jersey. She has been instrumental in developing the Urgent Care Telehealth, ED and Inpatient Remote Patient Monitoring, and Care After COVID programs within the practice. She has been with the team since its inception and is responsible for clinician oversight and training, maintaining quality and safety, and direct patient care via telemedicine. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and 2 little girls.
New Orleans, LA
Nilong Vyas, MD
Dr. Nilong Vyas is a pediatrician, public health specialist, and board-certified sleep expert. Getting your baby to sleep is one of the most controversial, contradictory, and confusing aspects of parenting and Dr. Vyas takes your personal parenting goals into consideration. She is knowledgeable not only of the common sleep approaches but more importantly, has a pediatric medical knowledge base. Her patients and clients adore their sleep doctor because she considers everything when giving advice knowing that sleep is not a solitary issue but intimately involved with the rest of the child’s holistic wellbeing, diet, development, behavior and day-to-day schedule.
Lawrence, NJ
Denise Wunderler, DO, FAOASM
Dr. Wunderler is a sports medicine physician, who graduated from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Missouri, and then completed her family medicine residency and sports medicine fellowship within the Cleveland Clinic Health System in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to her medical training, she graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, where she played collegiate basketball for 4 years and was Team Captain. She then worked as a research scientist at Merck in New Jersey for 6 years, before attending medical school in Kansas City, Missouri. She currently works in private practice in Freehold, NJ.
She is a mom of 3, including her youngest Vienna, who died at age 2.8 years, without explanation on 11-12-17.
She is the Founder and President of her family’s 501c3 nonprofit Team Vienna 4 SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood) Awareness Inc. (in honor of her daughter) and a Co-Founder of The SUDC Coalition. She is also the Founder of Vienna’s Day of International SUDC Awareness.
Dr. Wunderler has been a Team Physician with USA Volleyball and FIVB for the past 12 years and travels internationally to support Team USA.
She was honored as one of the top 10 inspiring women in osteopathic medicine in a national publication in 2020. She was a nominee for the International ATHENA Award for 2020.
She is a national speaker, published author in peer-reviewed journals, has been interviewed dozens of times by the media, co-wrote a song for her deceased daughter Vienna, co-designed the Vienna Collection of designer handbags, and designed the “V halo” logo in honor of Vienna.
Because of her family’s tragedy and that SUDC is rarely known among physicians, Dr. Wunderler works tirelessly educating the medical community and the general public world-wide about Vienna’s story and SUDC. She is very passionate about finding causes for SUDC, and is currently working directly with medical schools to incorporate SUDC into the yearly permanent curriculum and presenting Grand Rounds presentations to hospital medical staff.
Pittsburgh, PA
Elizabeth Zona, DO
Dr Zona comes to us from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; where she completed her Anesthesiology residency through the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at Mercy Hospital in 2010. She is double boarded in Anesthesiology and Addiction Medicine. She is the Medical Director of Anesthesia Services for Perioperative Anesthesia Consultants, while also volunteering within her local community, where she has spent the last four years offering a free public speaking series and serving as a mentor for premedical high school students.
She is also the founder and benefactor of the IMPACT scholarship program at her alma mater, Moon Area High School and is passionate about substance abuse prevention in adolescence.