Featured Speakers

Sorted Alphabetically by Last Name

Obie Austin

Obie Austin, MSN, ANP-BC is a product of the Kansas City Urban Core. He is dedicated to the advancement of his community through education and improvements in access to preventative health care. His nursing experiences include practice as a Critical Care nurse in various Metropolitan area Hospitals to practicing as a Primary Care Provider in the Urban core. His volunteer activities include the Kansas City Free Health clinic, Operation Breakthrough, Health Care Missions to many third world countries, Youth Basketball and many more. He has over 16 years of Military service to the United States ARMY and NAVY. He currently works as a Clinical Instructor in the Master’s program for the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Marcia Beck

Marcia S. Beck ACNS, BC; CLT-LANA is a Clinical Nurse Specialist certified in Medical Surgical Nursing, and a Certified Lymphedema Therapist. Currently, she is Women’s Breast Center Coordinator at Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, MO. Marcia received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Truman State University, Kirksville, MO in 1977, and a Master of Science in Nursing from University of Missouri Columbia in 1997. Trained in Lymphedema Therapy by the Academy of Lymphatic Studies in Florida in 1996, Marcia started one of the first nurse managed Lymphedema Clinics in Missouri at in Kirksville, MO later that year. Since 1996, Mrs. Beck has presented in-services on Breast Cancer and Lymphedema management at various hospitals and community groups. Marcia is an active member of the National Lymphedema Network’s Medical Advisory Committee, and editorial committee of the NLN Lymphlink, the Steering Committee for the American Lymphedema Framework Project, and the Oncology Nurses Society, participating in the Special Interest Group for Lymphedema.

David L. Bell

David L. Bell, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Population and Family Health in the Department of Pediatrics at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital (MSCHONY) and in the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH).

Dr. Bell received his medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He completed his pediatric residency, including a year as chief resident, at New York University/Bellevue Medical Center. He then completed a 3-year adolescent medicine specialty fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and earned an MPH, with a focus on adolescent issues, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Since 1999, Dr. Bell has been Medical Director of the Young Men’s Clinic, a unique adjunct to NYPH/MSPH’s Family Planning Clinic. Dr. Bell is a strong advocate for the right of young men to have access to respectful services that address health disparities associated with health care and sexual and reproductive health. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Guttmacher Institute for the past six years and serves as a consultant for the National Medical Committee for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Federal Office of Population Affairs. Dr. Bell has also appeared on MTV, BET, and CBS, promoting male health issues.

For 7 years, Dr. Bell served as Medical Director of NYPH/MSPH’s school-based health clinic program, which serves 7 New York City public schools. In that role, he supervised the work of medical providers who treated more than 6000 students who made a total of 33,000 visits a year. Dr. Bell has authored articles on adolescent male sexual and reproductive health and adolescent health cross-cultural issues. His research includes studies on the relationship of male support on female continuation of hormonal contraception, and trends in reproductive health care delivery for adolescent males.

Patricia A. Blackburn

Patricia A. Blackburn, MPH, is currently the Executive Director, CHT Resource Group and Center for Health Training and Vice President, James Bowman Associates. Pat has more than 30 years of management and supervisory experience.  She oversees the programmatic and financial management of all projects awarded to the Oakland office.  She also works closely with the Regional Managers in Seattle and Austin in these same areas as well as cross-office collaboration among staff.  Specific efforts currently include coordination of the Region IX Infertility Prevention Project including a special project with the Pacific Jurisdictions and leading an "Enhancing Clinic Efficiency" project.  Pat has excellent facilitation, fiscal and
contract/grant management skills and provides staff development and consultation to organizations on a variety of topics and systems issues.

Linda Creegan

Linda Creegan, MS, FNP, is a family nurse practitioner with over 25 years of clinical experience in the areas of STDs, women's health and HIV early intervention. She received her Master of Science in Nursing and her FNP, in 1983 from Pace University in Westchester, NY. She currently works as a clinician at City Clinic, San Francisco's categorical STD clinic, and for the California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center, as Clinical Nurse Liaison.

La Rhonda Crosby-Johnson

La Rhonda Crosby-Johnson, CEO of BARUTI Enterprises, trainer, educational program consultant, health educator, author and certified integral coach has been working in the field of health and family life education, reproductive and women’s health care and adolescent pregnancy prevention programs for over 25 years. She brings to the field a wealth of experience in agency and community collaboration, client services, counseling, staff development and public speaking.

La Rhonda has worked for Planned Parenthood (Alameda-San Francisco Affiliate) as a pregnancy options counselor, medical aid/contraceptive and family planning counselor, health educator and administrator. La Rhonda was employed as a Program Development Specialist and Office Manager for First African Methodist Episcopal Church (where she is a member) and has been employed by West Oakland Health Council, Inc. as a health educator, AIDS antibody test site pre and post test counselor and Program Director for West Oakland’s Healthy Start Program (a comprehensive family services program whose main goal was to reduce the rate of African American infant death.) La Rhonda was a member of the Summit Medical Center Health Education Advisory Board in Oakland, California for 10 years (1987-1997). She Served as its co-chairperson in her last year.

In 2004, La Rhonda partnered with Warm Spirit, Inc.(an award-winning and emerging wellness company) and added a self-care and wellness component to BARUTI Enterprises to bring spiritual, financial and time freedom to women through business ownership and is actively involved in coaching women in the successful development of their business enterprises. She also uses her knowledge of self-care and wellness in her work with professionals in public and private settings.

April 2009, saw the fulfillment of another dream come true as La Rhonda completed a year-long, intensive coaching program. This has allowed La Rhonda to better utilize her skill of inspiring others to reach their greatest potential. Currently she is providing integral coaching for individuals as well as organizations.

Katherine Curtis

Kathryn M. Curtis, PhD, is an epidemiologist with the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She began her career at CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in 1996, after receiving her PhD in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina. Her work focuses on contraceptive safety and efficacy, the development of evidence-based contraceptive guidelines, and the development and evaluation of interventions to prevent unintended pregnancy and increase contraceptive use. Dr. Curtis is a Fellow of CDC’s WHO Collaborating Center in Reproductive Health and leads the team that is responsible for providing the evidence base for WHO’s global family planning guidance. Most recently, Dr. Curtis has led the CDC effort to adapt the WHO Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use for use in the United States.

Jennifer Dailey-Vail

Jennifer Dailey-Vail, RN, WHNP, MS is currently an Instructor on the faculty of the College of Nursing, Clinical Resource Center, Division of Women and Child Services, University of Colorado Denver. Ms Vail works as both an instructor and also maintains a clinical practice focused on serving uninsured women. She has been a nurse practitioner in women’s health since 1995. Additionally, Ms Vail works as a national health care consultant for outpatient women’s health Title X practice sites. Her areas of expertise include assisting sites to decrease clinic chaos, improve operations and promote patient centered care through the use of open access scheduling, clinic redesign, and improving provider efficiency. Ms. Vail received her BSN from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas and her MS from Boston College in Massachusetts. 

Dr. Kevin Fenton

Kevin Fenton, M.D., Ph.D., FFPH, is the director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) at the Centers for Disease Control. He previously served as chief of CDC's National Syphilis Elimination Effort since January 2005. He has worked in research, epidemiology, and the prevention of HIV and other STDs since 1995 and was previously the Director of the HIV and STI Department at the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency. Dr. Fenton has spearheaded the development of a number of national HIV, STD and behavioral surveillance and research programs in the U.K. and Western Europe including the National Chlamydia Screening Program in England, the 2nd British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles and the European Surveillance of STI (ESSTI) Network. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom.

Sarah Freeman

Sarah B. Freeman, PhD, ARNP, FAANP, is the Betty Tigner Turner Clinical Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University.  Dr Sarah Freeman has over 35 years as a nurse practitioner. She is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She maintains a clinical practice in both women’s health and chronic disease management. Dr Freeman was on the board of National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health for 18 years and is still an active member of the organization.

Dr Freeman has many publication related to her two fields of expertise, women’s health and chronic disease management. She serves on the editorial board of Women’s Health: A Practical Journal for Nurse Practitioner. . She has been honored for her teaching ability on both a local and a national level. She was NPWH’s Nurse Practitioner of the year in education in 1991 and was the Teaching Scholar for the School of Nursing at Emory University School of Nursing from 1996-1997, a fellow in the Woodruff Leadership Academy of Emory’s Health Sciences Center, 2005, the Wysocki National Leadership Award in Women’ Health in 2007,and Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, Emory University 2008 and is a Distinguished Teaching Scholar for Emory University for 2009/2010.

Dr Freeman is the coordinator of both the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program and the combined Women’s Health and Adult Health Nurse Practitioner Program at Emory University. She teaches bioethics in both the MSN and PhD programs. Dr Freeman received BS in Nursing from Georgia State University, Masters in Community Health, Nursing and Family, and Nurse Practitioner from Arizona State University, and a PhD in Education from Georgia State University.

Caroline M. Hewitt

Caroline M. Hewitt is a dual certified women’s health and adult nurse practitioner with over ten years experience promoting the health of women through direct patient care, education and public health administration. Ms. Hewitt is the former Director of Clinical Education at Cicatelli Associates, a non-profit education organization which is the Title X Training Center for regions II & IV. Ms. Hewitt also served as the Director of the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program and Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing at Columbia University School of Nursing. Ms. Hewitt is the founder and continues to run New York Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, an organization committed to providing opportunities for professional development for nurse practitioners practicing in and around New York City.

Ms. Hewitt reluctantly left Cicatelli to allow her the time to complete her Doctoral Studies at the Graduate Center / CUNY and to continue her clinical practice providing comprehensive care to women. Currently, Ms. Hewitt has a faculty appointment at The New York University College of Nursing.

River Huston

River Huston is an international, award winning writer, performer, lecturer and activist. She speaks on issues related to sexuality, communication, overcoming challenges and change. River has been featured on Good Morning America, Showtime, Nightline, CNN and ABC: Up To The Minute. In 1995 Albright College honored her with a Doctorate of Humanities in recognition of her work in the community. In 1996, she was named Poet Laureate of Bucks County and is the author of three books of poetry, Jesus Never Lived Here, The Bone of Susan and In Which I Lost 1000 Pounds as well as The Goddess: A Guide to Feminine Wisdom. Her book, A Positive Life: Portraits of Women Living With HIV was the recipient of The Dorthea Lange/ Paul Taylor Award and has been used in classrooms around the world. She has written for the Chicago Tribune, many magazines including Elle, Bust and POZ magazine. River performed her one women show, Sex, Cellulite and Large Farm Equipment: One Girls Guide to Living and Dying, off-off Broadway and in theaters nationwide. She is currently blogging for the thebody.org, and working on her new solo show, SEXED. For more information about River you can go to www.riverhuston.com

Janet Lancaster

Janet Lancaster, WHNP-BC, began practicing as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner in 1984. Throughout her career she has worked in many different roles involved in family planning: Clinic Manager, Director of Quality/Risk management, and her favorite role a primary provider of services. Ms. Lancaster is currently a clinical preceptor for the University of Missouri-Kansas City, SON Nurse Practitioner Program and the University of Kansas Medical Center Nurse Practitioner/Midwifery Program.

Dr. Tieraona Low Dog

Tieraona Low Dog, MD has an extensive career in studying natural medicine which began more than twenty-five years ago. She studied midwifery, massage therapy, and was a highly respected herbalist, serving as President of the American Herbalist Guild and running a teaching clinic in Albuquerque, before going on to receive her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Tieraona currently serves as the Director of Education of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.

In addition to her work as a clinician and educator, Dr. Low Dog has been involved in national health policy and regulatory issues for more than a decade. In 2000, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the White House Commission of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and she recently completed her 3 year term as a member of the Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Tieraona has served as the elected Chair of the United States Pharmacopeia Dietary Supplements and Botanicals Expert Committee since 2000. Her many honors of distinction include the Martina de la Cruz medal for her work with indigenous medicines (1998), Time magazine's "Innovator in Complementary and Alternative Medicine" (2001), the Burt Kallman Scientific Award (2007) and NPR's People's Pharmacy award (2007).

Dr. Gerard Malnar

Gerard Malnar, MD, MBA, completed his undergraduate education, Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL in 1983. He received his Doctor of Medicine in 1987 from St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO and completed his residency training in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA in 1991.

After completing residency, Dr. Malnar founded a private practice in the St. Louis area and operated that business for 11 years. He is the current chief of the section of gynecology and director of the Breast Center at Truman Medical Center as well as an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City – School of Medicine. In 2008, Dr. Malnar completed his Masters of Business administration at the Bloch School of Business at UMKC. Dr. Malnar has an interest in general gynecology with an emphasis in office-based surgical procedures.

Susan B. Moskosky

Susan B. Moskosky, MS, RNC, is the Acting Director for the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She dually serves as Director of OPA’s Office of Family Planning. Since 2001, Ms. Moskosky has provided outstanding leadership in guiding the Title X Family Planning Program nationwide, and in collaboration with the ten HHS regional offices.

In that capacity, she oversees programs that provide access to contraceptive services, supplies, and information. In 2008, the Title X program provided services to more than five million individuals, 90 percent of whom had family incomes at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty level.

Her strong commitment to prevention has been instrumental in integrating HIV prevention services into Title X family planning clinics, enabling hundreds of thousands of individuals to know their status each year and ensuring that those who are found to be HIV positive are referred for needed care and treatment.

Ms. Moskosky began her federal career as a Regional Program Consultant for Family Planning in HHS Region VII, Kansas City, where she also served as the Region VII Women’s Health Coordinator. She is a certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner who spent the last 15 years of her professional career providing family planning, prenatal, and other preventive health services, as well as educating nurse practitioner students. She was the Director of one of the five original Title X-funded Women’s Health Care Advanced Nurse Practitioner programs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Michael Policar

Dr. Policar currently serves as Associate Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine and as Medical Director of UCSF Program Support and Evaluation for the Family PACT Program, the family planning and STI program of the CA State Office of Family Planning. Dr. Policar is a widely known speaker with particular interest in health delivery systems and women’s health issues, including menopause, family planning, female genital tract infections, and genital tract cancer screening. Currently, he is a member of both the HealthNet Committee on Evidence Based Medicine and the Quality/Utilization Advisory Committee of the Partnership HealthPlan of California. He is a former appointee to the California Women’s Health Council. He has authored a number of chapters in medical textbooks, including the current and past editions of Contraceptive Technology. Dr. Policar is active in a number of professional societies, including the American College of Physician Executives, the Association of Reproductive Health.

Hilary Reno

Hilary Reno, MD, PhD received her Doctor of Philosophy and medical degree from the University of Illinois-Urbana, Champaign in 2000 and 2002 respectively. After attending Internal Medicine residency at Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital, she completed a Fellowship in Infectious Disease in 2009. Dr. Reno currently serves as an Instructor of Medicine/Infectious Disease at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. She has written several published articles and book chapters as well as being an editor for the 32nd edition of The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics.

Cheryl Robbins

Cheryl L. Robbins, PhD, MS - Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA - received her PhD in Sociology, two Master of Science degrees (Sociology and Counseling) and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Florida State University. Cheryl began working at the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Division of Reproductive Health in 2005 and she is currently an epidemiologist on the Research and Evaluation Team in the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Robbins has 20 years of public health experience, all in women’s health issues. As a program administrator at the Florida Department of Health, she oversaw the Family Planning Program and several other statewide programs including the Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and the Rape Awareness Program. She was a co-founder of the Center for Health Equity, a non-profit organization focused on building communities’ capacity for eliminating racial disparities and was the first author on the "Women's Health Data Report, 2006," an inaugural report about the status of women's health in Florida. Her current research and presentation today focuses on the intersection of cardiovascular disease and reproductive health.

Sharon Myoji Schnare

Sharon Myoji Schnare, RN, FNP, CNM, MSN, is a clinician in women’s, adolescent, and family health care in private practice serving uninsured families in Port Orchard, WA. Ms. Schnare also works per diem for the Seattle King County Health Department in Seattle, Washington. She is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Family and Child Nursing at the University of Washington. Ms. Schnare earned a BS in nursing from Mount St. Mary’s College in California and an MS in nursing at California State University at Long Beach, California.

She has spent 24 years as a Family Nurse Practitioner, and is also certified as a Woman’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Midwife, colposcopist and clinical hypnotherapist. Ms. Schnare has authored and co-authored more than 25 articles and has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including Contemporary Obstetrics/Gynecology Nurse Practitioner, The Contraception Report, and the Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing.

Bradley Stoner

Bradley P. Stoner, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis MO, where he specializes in clinical epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Dr. Stoner serves as medical director of the CDC-funded St. Louis STD/HIV Prevention Training Center and also holds the title of Chief of STD Services for the St. Louis County Department of Health. Dr. Stoner studied anthropology at Harvard and McGill Universities before completing the MD / PhD program at Indiana University. Following internal medicine residency training at Duke University Medical Center, he undertook infectious disease fellowship training at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studied and conducted research on the clinical epidemiology of STDs. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Julie L. Strickland

Dr. Julie L. Strickland, MD, MPH received her medical degree and completed her residency in OB/GYN at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She also received a Masters of Public Health from University of Kansas. She has been a member of the Truman Medical Center/University of Missouri, Kansas City-School of Medicine OB/GYN faculty since 1983 presently holding the rank of Associate Professor. She most recently served as the department’s interim chair.

She has been recognized locally and nationally as a leader in the area of adolescent health and has published extensively in the area of adolescent gynecology and teen pregnancy prevention. She directs the Family Planning /Preventive Health Unit at Truman Medical Center and coordinates the minimally invasive curriculum for the OB/Gyn residency.

In addition to her roles within the OB/GYN department, she serves as the Division head for gynecology at Children’s Mercy Hospital and the Principle Investigator for the federally funded Teen MOM/Startright program at Truman Medical Center.

Jeffrey Wall

Jeffrey Wall, MD received his medical degree from the University of Missouri—Kansas City Medical School and performed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois in 1993.

After residency he served in the United States Navy, was in private practice and was the chief of division of OB/Gyn for Kaiser Permanente in KC. Currently Dr. Wall is an Assistant Professor and is the Director of Ambulatory Care in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Truman Medical Center/University of Missouri Kansas City – School of Medicine.

He is a member of the ACOG Prolog Task Force for Patient Management in the Office, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, and the National Vulvodynia Association.

Dr. Wall is the author of the articles pertaining to abnormal uterine bleeding and vulvar dysesthesia. He has spoken on topics such as trauma in pregnancy, migraines in women, Human Papillomavirus, myths of menopause, and preventing unintended pregnancy. His special interests include general ob/gyn, vulvar disease and colposcopy.

Dr. Thad Wilson

Dr. Wilson has been a certified family nurse practitioner since 1985. He has served on faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1995, first teaching in the FNP program and currently serving as Association Dean. He practices at in an inner city, nurse-managed clinic sponsored by the university. Dr. Wilson has been funded by the CDC, American Nurses Foundation and other organizations to conduct research on immunizations and school-based immunization programs. He was co-founder and is currently chair of the multidisciplinary Mid America Immunization Coalition.

In addition to working with Missouri Advanced Practice Nurses group, Dr. Wilson is President of the American College of Nurse Practitioners and previously served as a national board member and committee chair. He also chaired of a task force of nurse practitioner organizations that developed an information brochure on adolescent immunizations.

Dr. Wilson leads a group of student nurses and pharmacists to Honduras each year for an interdisciplinary, international healthcare experience. Students have the opportunity to practice in rural settings and urban hospitals, learning about the culture, people and healthcare system of another country.

Patrice Zink

Patrice Zink, MA, Director of Training and Curricula Development, worked on a consulting basis for JSI Research and Training Institute for six years, while being employed by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Ms. Zink has been employed with JSI Research and Training for over 12 years. Ms. Zink has provided over 200 various skills based trainings, focus group leadership, group facilitation, and technical support to family planning, community health centers, schools and adoption providers throughout the country. Ms. Zink has twenty years working directly in family planning including HIV prevention counseling, testing, training and integration and prenatal smoking cessation training design and development.

Currently Ms. Zink is the Director or Training for the Denver JSI office. Ms. Zink has also worked on several projects for the Office of Population Affairs including training selected sites in Region VIII with Family Planning Social Marketing training, conducting focus groups for HIV infected women and Ryan White care providers, Infant Adoption training and awareness for adoption grantees, Clinic Efficiency training and technical support for 30 clinic sites. She has also designed and delivered skills based training to providers regarding Parental Involvement and Sexual Coercion. Ms. Zink most recently became a certified trainer to deliver the nationally award recognized curricula “Bridges out of Poverty”.