MAC 2022 Conference

Enjoy a dinner buffet, bar, and live jazz music. 

Land acknowledgement
Meeting logistics

CDR Maria Said is a physician, board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. She
first became interested in medicine and public health after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer
in Eritrea from 1996–1998. She earned a Masters of Health Science in international health
(MHS) from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2001 and an MD from
Harvard Medical School in 2005. She completed her residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins
from 2005–2011. After completing her medical training, she served as a CDC Epidemic
Intelligence Service officer, based at the Maryland Department of Health. She then worked as a
medical officer at the NIH Fogarty International Center and at the FDA Division of Epidemiology
at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. During the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic in
West Africa, CDR Said deployed for two months to Liberia as a physician in the US Public
Health Service Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU). CDR Said joined the NPS in May 2017 as the
epidemiology branch chief for Office of Public Health, where she works on disease prevention,
detection, and response.

LGBTQIA+ Discussion Panelist sponsored by the MAC Diversity and Inclusion Committee



Panelists include: 

Katie Bekkeli, PsyD, LCP, ABPP
Katie is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in college student mental health. She has been employed at 5 different university counseling centers across her career, most recently landing at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Student Counseling Center. She is particularly passionate about working with students identifying as LGBTQIA+, supporting clients in identity exploration and development, and providing Safe Zone training to faculty and staff.

Amy Coffin
Amy Coffin (they/them) is a rising 3rd year medical student and one of the many leaders in VCU's chapter of Medicine with Pride. They are also currently working in VCU Health’s Emergency Department while on a short leave. Amy has worked alongside peers to promote LGBTQIA+ inclusive patient panels, curriculum changes, and community events at VCU School of Medicine. They have also worked through VCU's chapter of the Do No Harm Coalition to cultivate broader anti-racism and anti-oppression frameworks amongst medical students. In their free time, Amy enjoys concerts, camping, and complicated board games.

Steve Crossman, MD
Steve Crossman is a cis-gender, white, gay, male family physician who has worked in both in academic and community settings. Currently he is a primary care physician at Central State Hospital. Steve is married to a fellow physician and together he and husband are raising two wonderful daughters and a super cute bernedoodle!

Ted Heck
Ted Heck has a B.A. in Psychology from The American University and an M.S. in Criminal Justice from California State University at Sacramento, where his thesis was on prevention services and services for victims of hate crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. He works at the Virginia Dept. of Health in the Division of Disease Prevention, where he serves as Transgender Health Services Specialist. Current activities at VDH include maintaining the Virginia Transgender Resource and Referral List and offering provider trainings and technical assistance on transgender issues. He often facilitates the Richmond Transformers transmasculine support group as a peer member.

Session moderator:
April Wright
April Wright is Outreach Librarian in Environmental Health & Justice with the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM). She joined NNLM in 2018 as an NNLM/All of Us Community Engagement Coordinator. April earned her BA in English from Morgan State University and MLS from The Catholic University of America. She has worked both in and on behalf of a variety of libraries during the course of her career. Her background includes public libraries management, programming and outreach, and grants management. She is interested in environmental justice and addressing social determinants of health through citizen/community science and community-engaged research.

Awards are recognized at the business meeting

Marcie S. Wright, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an associate professor, Department of Health Behavior and Policy, and the Associate Director of the VCU Center on Health Disparities. She earned a bachelor’s degree in genetics (University of Georgia), a master’s degree in public health (University of South Carolina), and a doctoral degree in health promotion, education and behavior (University of South Carolina).   
 
As a community engaged health disparities researcher, Dr. Wright specializes in coalition building and capacity building for research through Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approaches. She has contributed to peer-reviewed journals articles, written abstracts, and garnered funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and nonfederal entities in the areas of CBPR, health disparities and maternal and child health.

Her specific research interest includes examining the relationships between specific cultural and environmental influences and health behaviors/outcomes among African Americans.

Steve Barkley will host the vendor and scholarship raffles.
Hear from the MAC/MLA 2023 Co-Chairs
Thank you and closing remarks from the 2022 Planning Committee
Grab and go snacks provided