Black Health Matters Series

Black HIS/HERStory Month events  in partnership with Geisinger’s Black Outreach Leadership Development (BOLD) Employee Resource Group

Geisinger’s BOLD ERG and Black Scranton Project have developed Black Health Matters Series in response to the COVID pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. It is important to take advantage of our community resources to understand and combat racial and ethnic health inequalities. We have invited Black health care professionals from Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Maryland,to share important information focused on educating and empowering the community to take ownership of their health journeys.

Black Health Matters is a three-part series in which Black Scranton Project and BOLD ERG aim to expand the knowledge base of learners, educators and our communities by inviting health care professionals that look like us to engage in community based conversations on topics that are rarely discussed. 

It is our collective responsibility as healthcare providers, researchers, and scholars to recognize our role in upholding systems that remain inequitable and inaccessible to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) across the country. Black Health Matters is just one BOLD ERG initiative in partnership with BSP. We plan to expand in an attempt to address anti-Black racism and a lack of representation in healthcare. We hope that this is one of many efforts that will encourage a sustainable shift in culture and practice to create safer healthcare environments for Black communities.

This series will be moderated by Dr. Vicki T. Sapp, Black Scranton Project’s Board Director for Community Health Initiatives 

Friday, February 5, 2021 at 6pm

Dr. Swathi Gowtham, MD

Dr. Swathi Gowtham is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases specialist with Geisinger’s Janet Weis Children’s hospital and is an Assistant professor of Pediatrics in Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. She completed her medical training at Rutgers Medical School in NJ and went on to complete a general pediatrics residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in NJ. She then completed her Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr Gowtham is the director of Pediatric Infection Prevention and is the only Pediatric HIV provider at Geisinger. Her clinical interests include public health, prevention of hospital acquired infections, and virology. The current COVID pandemic with its challenges melds all her interests in virology, public health, and infection prevention.

Friday, February 12, 2021 at 6pm

Dr. Earlexia Norwood, MD

"Find solutions, not excuses" is the mantra of Dr. Earlexia M. Norwood. Dr. Norwood is a board-certified Family Medicine physician, who has practiced at Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) since 1993. She seeks partnerships and alliances to make Detroit the healthiest city in the country, as well as opportunities to educate communities and organizations on health and wellness. She is currently the Service Chief of Family Medicine for Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, Director of Practice Development and Community Health Education, Ambassador for Healthcare Equity, and Global Health Ambassador for the Breaking Walls organization.

Earlexia M. Norwood, MD
President
Jackson State University National Alumni Association, Inc.
AND
Service Chief, Family Medicine, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital Director, Practice Development, HFMG
Director, Community Health Education, HFMG
Assistant Clinical Professor, Wayne State University School of Medicine Organization of Physicians, Academicians, and Executive Leaders (OPAL)

Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 6pm

Dr. Diana Callender, MBBS, DM

Dr Diana Callender is a graduate of the University of the West Indies with a medical degree and postgraduate training in Clinical Hematology. She completed a Clinical Oncology Fellowship as a Visiting Scientist at the National Cancer Institute in 1988 and returned to the National Cancer Institute as a Senior Staff Fellow from 1996-1998. Dr Callender has served as a hematologist/oncologist in Barbados and then in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Dr Callender has been a medical educator for over twenty-five years and most recently held leadership and teaching positions at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Former Chair of Clinical Medical Education Department and Associate Dean of UME Simulation & Simulation-based Assessment at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine

Zoom link will be sent 24hrs before each virtual event