SPEAKERS

Chuck is the Chief Executive Officer, American Diabetes Association®. He joined the ADA in January 2020 after spending 24-plus years in for-profit sectors and volunteering in the non-profit sector. Chuck comes to the ADA from Champion Life Safety Solutions where he was CEO and President. His professional skill set and success, coupled with his passion and desire to give back, make this a perfect time to lead a non-profit organization. He is passionate about spending the balance of his career in a space that will make a significant impact on the lives of millions across the country. Chuck is skilled in building trusted and collegial working relationships, relationship selling/fundraising, driving productivity, leading, and supporting change-management initiatives. A native Texan, Chuck has a strong commitment to his family, community, and church. An avid golfer, Chuck is also involved with his alma mater, Texas A&M where he serves on boards and leverages his professional skills to raise money for the school in different capacities.

Terri is the Senior Vice President of Health Equity at American Diabetes Association®. Terri is a visionary executive committed to mission-driven work, specifically achieving equitable health for all. At the American Diabetes Association, she brings her expertise from the nonprofit and global public sectors, integrating applied and transformative approaches to health equity across the enterprise. She leads a team that develops and implements people-first, community- centered interventions. They collaborate with community-based organizations striving to eliminate social barriers and promote positive health outcomes for the 38 million people in the U.S. living with diabetes, the 98 million adults diagnosed with prediabetes, and those with other chronic diseases in resource-limited communities. Terri holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.S. in information systems from Drexel University School of Computing and Informatics.

Dr. Ananta Addala is a pediatric endocrinologist and physician-scientist at Stanford University who addresses disparities in pediatric type 1 diabetes management and outcomes. She aims to build an evidence-based approach to addressing T1D disparities by systematically evaluating youth-, family-, provider-, and system-level barriers to optimal diabetes care in minoritized youth.

Kolawole Bankole, MD, MS, MBA is an executive healthcare leader with over two and a half decades of healthcare industry experience with a rich, diverse professional background covering clinical, public health, policy & program management. He is currently the Health Department Director for Rio Grande County, Colorado, and has exercised successful and effective healthcare leadership as an altruist physician, municipal government health director, and health officer.

Dr. Bryan O. Buckley is the Head of Public Health at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, where he leads CareFirst’s strategy for advancing and achieving better health outcomes for the people and communities in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Virginia regions. He is a Board Member of the American Public Health Association, Creating Healthier Communities, American Heart Association Greater Washington, DC Region, and Food & Friends.

Bola, a public health expert with an MSPH from Harvard, has led global health equity projects and driven innovation at institutions like Beth Israel Deaconess and Boston Children’s Hospital. She is a passionate advocate for creating equitable healthcare systems.

Dion Dawson is the Founder & Chief Dreamer of Dion’s Chicago Dream, a nonprofit social enterprise combating food insecurity through logistics & last-mile delivery in the U.S. Midwest region. His system provides fresh produce to the doorsteps of food insecure recipients, providing millions of pounds of fresh produce annually to the Chicago region food system, with numerous community jobs created and one powerful movement.

Dr. Carla Demeterco-Berggren, MD, PhD, is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. She works as a pediatric endocrinologist at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, where she serves as the Director of the Diabetes Program and as a Physician Advisor to the Division of Population Health and Complex Care.

Billy Dering is a Research Fellow at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. At CHIR, his research areas include access and affordability related to diabetes care.

Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS, FAAP, is a Professor of Pediatrics, clinical epidemiologist, and Head of the Section of Nutrition at the University of Colorado. Dr. Eneli is nationally recognized for her clinical and research expertise in childhood obesity. She is a co-author of the 2023 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Clinical Practice Guideline on Childhood Obesity.

Juan Espinoza, MD, is the Chief Research Informatics Officer at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Associate Director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Data Science at Northwestern University. He is also the Director and Principal Investigator of the Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics, an FDA-funded pediatric medical device accelerator. His work on diabetes device data and data integration standards is rooted in collaboration and has been critical to advancing the field.

Dr. Farrokhi completed her Endocrinology fellowship at Emory University, where she later served as faculty and developed an interest in diabetes. Now, as the Director of Endocrinology at Sutter East Bay Medical Group in California, she specializes in diabetes management during pregnancy and actively engages in clinical research.

Matthew Garza is the dStigmatize Director at the diaTribe Foundation. He helped launch the program in 2022 and currently leads the organization’s efforts to address diabetes stigma and discrimination, including the Pledge to End Diabetes Stigma and the Spoonful of Laughter campaign.

James R. Gavin III, MD, PhD, is a clinical professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of Healing Our Village, Inc. and Senior Consultant for Chronic Disease, Centers for Health Promotion, LLC. Dr. Gavin is a past president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). He was named a “Living Legend in Diabetes” by AADE in 2009 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Diabetes Research from ADA in 2015.

Dr. Nana-Hawa Yayah Jones, an Associate Professor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, specializes in quality improvement to achieve health equity. As a pediatric endocrinologist, she initiated social determinants of health screening in her clinic and expanded it institution-wide. She advocates for equitable healthcare, emphasizing vulnerable populations and type 1 diabetes at all levels – locally, nationally, and globally.

Joshua J. Joseph, MD, MPH, FAHA, is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism and founder and medical director for The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Healthy Community Center. Dr. Joseph is recognized for his work on academic, community, government, and industry partnerships to advance health through community-based interventions. He has received several awards for his science, community engagement, and clinical impact.

David Kerr MBChB, D.M., FRCP, FRCPE, a U.K.-trained endocrinologist, is a Senior Investigator in Diabetes and Digital Health Equity at the Sutter Health Center for Health Systems Research in Santa Barbara, California. David also has an adjunct position in the Dept of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas, a member of the research committee of the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, and recently co-chair of an NIDDK working group looking at the impact of innovation on furthering research into the heterogeneity of diabetes.

Amy Killelea, J.D. is an Assistant Research Professor at CHIR. Their research focuses on access to affordable, adequate health coverage for people with insulin-requiring diabetes. Amy has over 15 years of experience in public health law and policy. Amy began their career providing legal services to people living with HIV who faced access challenges to healthcare. Amy is the owner of Killelea Consulting. Amy received their B.A. from Smith College and J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Shideh Majidi is the Director of Diabetes Services at Children’s National Hospital. She has a strong interest in building and improving diabetes clinical programs to ensure all diabetes patients receive complete and individualized diabetes care. She is leading or involved in several projects focusing on psychosocial aspects of diabetes care, health equity, social determinants of health, and increasing diabetes autoantibody screening.

Grace Nelson is a Pediatric Endocrinologist and the Clinical Director of Diabetes at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital/University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. Her own diagnosis of type 1 diabetes has been a driving force in her mission to provide equitable care for all children.

Dr. Ochoa-Maya is a Board-Certified Endocrinologist and Internal Medicine physician, currently serving as Senior Medical Director of Rare Disease at Amgen and a board member at T1D Exchange. She brings extensive leadership experience across academia, private practice, industry, and clinical and real-world research. Dr. Ochoa-Maya has led scientific studies from phases II to IV, collaborating extensively on regulatory compliance, pharmacovigilance, clinical development, and patient advocacy.

Dr. Janine Sanchez is the Director of Pediatric Diabetes at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She is on the Health Equity Advancement Lab, Hybrid Loop, and Clinical Leadership committees of T1D Exchange. She has participated in diabetes studies, including quality improvement management, prevention, psychological interventions, neonatal diabetes, and school care.

Dr. Kimberly Spiro is a pediatric psychologist at Oregon Health and Science University. In 2011, Dr. Spiro and Dr. Michael Harris developed Novel Interventions in Children’s Healthcare (NICH), targeting the quintuple aim of healthcare reform in youth with complex and chronic medical conditions who experience significant social burdens. She has spent her career in medical and community mental health settings, developing and researching programs that reduce health disparities and improve equity.

Tainayah W. Thomas, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Population Health. Dr. Thomas’s research focuses on primary and community care improvement in diabetes prevention and management among racially and ethnically diverse populations.

Eva Marie Vivian, PharmD, PhD, CDCES, is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. She works with members of under-resourced communities to identify health issues that are important to their community, with the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change to improve health outcomes and eliminate health disparities.

Dr. Wells serves as Chief Physician Executive Officer for Patient Experience for Novant Health. She has served as president of two community hospitals in North Carolina and Vice President of Post Acute Services for a previous health system. Dr. Wells serves on several boards and advisory committees at the local, state, and national levels. She is a gifted communicator and spokesperson who has appeared as a healthcare expert in media, print, and before the NC General Assembly.

Dr. Jenise Wong is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco and the Director of Quality and Safety for Pediatric Endocrinology at Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, where she focuses on optimizing the use of technology in youth with diabetes.

Dr. Eugene E. Wright, Jr. is a Consulting Associate at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Wright has over 40 years of experience as a private practitioner, academic clinician and educator, medical administrator, rural physician in southeastern NC, and volunteer physician. From 2000 to 2013, he held roles within the Cape Fear Valley Health System, including Medical Director for Primary Care and Specialty Services, and Chief Medical Officer. He currently works with the South Piedmont AHEC in Performance Improvement.