PEER SUPPORTERS

MUYIBAT ADELANI, MD

Dr. Adelani is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon in Saint Louis, Missouri and has been in practice for six years. She completed her residency at Washington University and her fellowship in joint replacement at Stanford University. In addition to her clinical practice, she works as a coach to support other physicians in their personal and professional development. Outside of work, she enjoys sports, photography, and interior design.

NATASHA ANUSHRI ANANDARAJA, MD MPH

Anu was born in New Zealand where she earned her medical degree. She worked with international NGOs on child health and disaster relief before coming to New York City in 2002, where she trained in Pediatrics, Global Health and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  Anu was the Director of Global Health Education at Mount Sinai from 2008 until 2015.  In this role she partnered with NGOs, government agencies and under-resourced communities to establish maternal and child health programs in low-income settings. In 2016, Anu founded Women Together Global Inc. (www.womentogetherglobal.com) to invest in peer education and co-empowerment of grassroots women’s groups in Malawi. After filing a federal case against Mount Sinai for sex, age and race discrimination in 2019, Anu and her 7 co-plaintiffs formed Equity Now (www.equitynowatmountsinai.com), providing a platform for women to speak about discrimination in the healthcare system, and advocating for gender equity in healthcare. Anu is also the Co-founder of Covid Courage, (www.covidcourage.is) a not-for-profit organization created in March 2020 to provide PPE to frontline healthcare workers and address inequities in Covid19 response in NYC.

AMY ANSTEAD, MD FARS

Dr. Anstead is currently the Rhinologist and Endoscopic Skull Base surgeon at Puget Sound ENT in Edmonds, WA. She is the only Fellowship trained Rhinologist and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgeon in the world who also has formal education in both Functional and Integrative Medicine. Completed fellowship in Rhinology and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery at the University of Miami, FL and is a Fellow of the American Rhinologic Society. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Otolaryngology and completed Residency in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her MD was obtained at the University of Miami, FL, with honors and AOA membership. She earned two concurrent B.S. degrees in Microbiology and Psychology. Currently she is a Member of the Institute for Functional Medicine and trained with Dr. Andrew Weil at the Center for Integrative Medicine, University of AZ. Dr. Anstead has been voted Best Doctor in Seattle by her peers in the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine 6 times.

URSULA BARGHOUTH, DO MHA MSPH

Dr. Barghouth is a resident physician in Family Medicine with a special interest in advocacy, equity and health policy. Prior to matriculation in her current position, Ursula completed a Health Policy Fellowship through the AOA’s Training in Policy Studies Program, a Trauma Research Fellowship, and internships focusing on healthcare management and global research. Ursula holds a Master of Science in Public Health focusing in Tropical Medicine and a Master of Health Administration. She is active in professional and community organizations and hopes to utilize her background to promote equity, diversity, and equality throughout the medical profession and to eliminate hostile work environments.

MARGUERITE BARNETT, MD FACS

Dr. Barnett is a mixed race ex-military brat who graduated from the Joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program in 1979. She supported herself through the military scholarship program, spending over a decade on active duty as a trauma surgeon. She did both general surgery residency and a plastic surgery fellowship as well as a hand fellowship. She has experienced the ultimates of socialized medicine and academic medicine and has now reincarnated as a dinosaur in private practice in Florida where she specializes in reconstruction for women with problems stemming from breast implants. In her other life she is a professional dancer. She has a passion for helping others in any way that she can through her various arts and experiences.

MELISSA BLAKER, DO

Melissa Baker, DO is a board certified pediatrician and an active duty Lieutenant Colonel in the military. She received her medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her Pediatrics training at the University of Florida. After serving in Germany as the Director of Pediatrics, she returned to training in Cardiothoracic Surgery. Throughout her career endeavors, she has traveled to over 30 countries and has provided medical care to the underserved in these areas. Her passions extend to her five children, whom she tirelessly educates at home, instilling in them a drive to counter social injustice. She uses her personal experience to educate and empower those experiencing disparate treatment in a professionally competitive workplace to expose injustice and usher in a culture where diversity can be celebrated and used to catapult innovation and collaboration.

KARYN BUTLER, MD FACS FCCM

Dr. Butler was born in NYC, received her B.S. from Tuskegee University and her M.D. from Morehouse School of Medicine. She completed her surgical training at Howard University Hospital and fellowship in Trauma/Critical Care at UMD-New Jersey Medical School and a NIH Trauma Research Fellowship at the University of Colorado. She is currently Medical Director of Surgical Critical Care at Abington Jefferson-Health and Professor of Surgery at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Butler has won many awards for teaching and research, has served on multiple study sections for the NIH and military, and has over 100 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts and media reports. Dr. Butler is a member of many societies, has served on numerous national committees and has mentored trainees who have pursued academic careers in Acute Care Surgery. She is a leader in the integration of teams to improve ICU quality of care.

JEROME BYAM, MD FACS SECRETARY

Dr. Byam is a general surgeon at United Medical Center, the only public hospital in Washington DC. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, attended medical school at Meharry Medical College, and completed residency at the University of Louisville and a fellowship in abdominal transplant surgery at the University of Chicago. He is a proud member of the American College of Surgeons.

LESLIE DEANE, MBBS MS FRCSC FACS

Dr. Leslie Deane is a minimally invasive robotic surgeon and endourologist on faculty at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and an attending urologist at University of Miami Health System, Jackson Memorial Hospital, and the Bruce W. Carter Miami Veterans Affairs Hospital. He is Professor of Urology at the University of Miami and Section Chief for Urology at the Miami VA.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Urology, a Diplomate of the American Board of Urology and holds Florida and California medical licensure. Dr. Deane also holds a master’s degree in clinical research. Dr. Deane specializes in the minimally invasive management of urologic malignancies including cancers of the prostate, bladder, ureter, and kidney and has extensive experience in robotic surgery for these conditions. He also treats complex kidney stone disease and obstructions of the urinary tract. Dr. Deane has been a mentor for medical students and residents of minority backgrounds throughout his career.

ARIANNA GIANAKOS, MD

Dr. Arianna Gianakos is a foot and ankle orthopedic surgery fellow at Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and will be completing her surgical training internationally as the first IONA and Sports Medicine International Travel Fellow. She is completing her Ph.D. at the University of Amsterdam with her area of focus on Gender Studies Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Gianakos is one of the founding members of #SpeakUpOrtho where she is leading a SpeakUp Coalition Call to Action Initiative with leaders in various medical specialties across the country aiming to improve the culture of residency training to effect policy change. Dr. Gianakos is actively involved in leading several collaborative research projects regarding residency education and improving the medical work environment and has given numerous lectures on the topics of gender discrimination, bullying in medicine, and residency education. She has recently been awarded the first ever Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society Courage award for her work. She serves as a leader in mentorship programs including the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society Professional Development Committee, and the AOFAS Humanitarian Committee and is a member in both the Women in Orthopaedics Worldwide group and the International Orthopaedic Diversity Alliance.

MONA FLORES, MD MBA FACS TREASURER

Dr. Flores is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon with additional training in heart and lung transplantation and ventricular assist devices. Dr. Flores is a proponent of justice and equal opportunity, and she hopes to help bring these to medicine and particularly to cardiac surgery. She is disheartened by the repeated tragedies of talents squandered, careers lost, and dreams smashed because of gender, racial and other biases. She would love to help physicians transcend these obstacles and realize their full potential as a healer.

ROBERTA GEBHARD, DO

Dr. Gebhard is a family practice physician living in Grand Island, NY and currently a volunteer faculty member at SUNY Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She is the 2019-2020 president of the American Medical Women’s Association and founder of the AMWA Gender Equity Task Force. Dr. Gebhard is on the Advisory Board for TIME’S UP Healthcare, and currently serves as the AMWA representative to the American Medical Association Women Physician’s Section Governing Council. Her passion is gender equity in medicine, and ensuring that ALL women physicians have equal pay, equal access to resources, and equal opportunity for advancement and promotion. Receiving her BS in Biology and BA in Psychology, Dr Gebhard graduated from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and completed her family medicine residency at the Mid-Hudson Family Medicine Residency Program.

CHRISTINE HEISLER, MD MS FACS

Dr. Heisler is a fellowship trained, board certified Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgeon. She earned her medical doctorate at the University of North Dakota and completed residency at Michigan State University. Dr. Heisler then completed a 3-year fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she also obtained a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Science from Mayo Graduate School. She is currently an assistant professor with dual appointments in Obstetrics & Gynecology and Urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH). She holds multiple educational roles, including the FPMRS fellowship program director, resident rotation supervisor and medical student clerkship director. Dr. Heisler has direct professional experiences with gender bias, as well as having served as a resource for learners and colleagues. Abiding interest in gender issues in surgery, she continues to identify barriers and solutions for gender equity.

BRENT IZU, MD FACS

Dr. Izu is a general surgeon in Antioch, California. Originally from San Jose, CA, he attended Brigham Young University in Provo, UT as an undergraduate student. He completed medical school at the Uniformed University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD and attended the combined Wright-Patterson/Wright State University general surgery residency in Dayton, OH. He served in the United States Air Force until 2019, being stationed in Misawa, Japan, Lakenheath, England, and Fairfield, CA. He is married and has six children.

LOUISE KING, MD JD

Dr. King is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School and a Surgeon within the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at Brigham and Women's. She is the Director of Reproductive Bioethics at the HMS Center for Bioethics. Dr. King completed her juris doctorate at Tulane Law School before attending medical school at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Parkland Hospital in Dallas Texas and her fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery at Stanford University. Her areas of interest in medical ethics focus on questions of informed decision making and assisted reproduction as well as equitable access to advanced gynecologic surgery.

SANDY KLEIN, MD

Dr. Klein is an orthopedic surgeon in St. Louis, MO specializing in foot and ankle surgery. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. After working several years as an engineer, she attended medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. She completed an orthopedic residency at Washington University in St. Louis and fellowship training in Houston, Texas at the Texas Medical Center. Dr. Klein spent the first 14 years of her career in academic medicine and has now moved on to new opportunities outside of academics.

PRINGL MILLER, MD FACS CHAIR & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dr. Miller is a board-certified general surgeon and hospice & palliative medicine specialist with additional fellowship training in clinical medical ethics. The intersectional inequities that she has faced during her 20-year career, have inspired and informed Physician Just Equity advocacy work. Dr. Miller believes it is imperative that physicians and surgeons who experience bias, bullying, harassment and discrimination be supported when navigating difficult workplace conflicts in toxic workplace environments. A thriving diverse workforce is critical to achieving optimal population health. If countless physicians and surgeons are encountering unjustified obstacles and personal attacks on the basis of who they are - as competent and beloved clinicians - we will never realize the delivery of excellent healthcare without persistent healthcare disparities.

ERICA MITCHELL, MD MED SE FACS DFSVS

Dr. Mitchell is a board certified Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon. Originally from Zimbabwe, she attended the Colorado School of Mines followed by medical school at the University of Colorado. After completing training in general surgery, vascular surgery, and interventional radiology she served as Professor of Surgery, Program Director for Vascular Surgery, and Vice-Chair for Quality for the Department of Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University until 2018. Her academic focus was surgical competence. Dr. Mitchell practices vascular and endovascular surgery while advocating for gender, equity and inclusion in academic medicine/surgery. She has served on the American Board of Surgery-Vascular Surgery Board, and Society for Vascular Surgery Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force Executive Committee, and is co-author for “Vascular Decision Making: Medical, Endovascular & Surgical”. In her free time, Dr. Mitchell is an artist, avid cook, Portland enthusiast, world traveler, and wife to Jon of “Hoss off the Grid”.

SELINA POON, MD MPH

I am a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon who is very passionate about improving the circumstances and work environment of those around me. During my surgical training, I felt very isolated. At the time, I did not realize that I was not alone. As I progress through my career, I am realizing the importance of peer support in the good times and bad times. It is important to realize that we are not alone, that others may have gone thru similar experiences and sometimes a different perspective may change how we see things. By coming together. we can navigate and create positive change in our profession. I want to volunteer my time to become a peer supporter. I am hope to become part of the support system and impart my experiences for other physicians and surgeons who are going thru difficult times.

MICHAEL SINHA, MD JD MPH

Dr. Sinha is a nationally recognized speaker on gender equity in law and medicine and has published extensively in legal and medical journals. He has published and lectured on topics related to gender equity, shepherding the passage of comprehensive gender equity policy at the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) while working with stakeholders in other state medical societies to pass similar gender equity policy. He is a member of the American Medical Women's Association, the AMA Women Physicians Section, the MMS Women Physicians Section Executive Committee, and the HMS Joint Committee on the Status of Women. You can also find Dr. Sinha on Twitter supporting #PhysicianJustEquity @EquityDocs #HeForShe #WomenInMedicine: @DrSinhaEsq.

SONYA SLOAN, MD

Dr. Sloan better known as #OrthoDoc, has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the male-dominated field of Orthopedic Surgery. Licensed to practice medicine in several states, she travels the country to extend the impact of her unique approach to patient care, including locum tenens and telemedicine one of the first ventures of its kind. Dr. Sloan is the quintessential fusion of her love for medicine and her passion to help others. Her work in medicine, and as an entrepreneur in the community and internationally, is demonstrated through her Medical Clinic in Haiti, two non-profits ME&WE Inc. (Motivating and Empowering Women to Excel where she has mentored nearly 100 women to become entrepreneurs) and SLOAN STEM+Arts (a summer camp to expose and ensure the future of minorities fiscal sustainability). Dr. Sloan is also a founder of #NBWPD National Black Women Physicians Day. Dr. Sloan believes in paying it forward which is a direct example of her book: The Rules of Medicine a Medical Professionals Guide to Success an Amazon Best Seller in Medical Education and Training. She is the First Lady to Dr. Timothy Sloan of The Luke Church and Super Mom to her three favorite people, her children!

EDWARD TANNER, MD MBA

Dr. Tanner is a gynecologic oncologist in Chicago, IL. He completed his undergraduate degree at Davidson College and medical degree at the University of Alabama. He completed OB/GYN residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and gynecologic oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is currently an Associate Professor and Chief of gynecologic oncology at Prentice Women’s Hospital (Northwestern University). Dr. Tanner is a fervent believer in racial and gender equity in healthcare. He is committed to amplifying the voices of colleagues impacted by a system that does not always value diversity and helping to contribute to creating environments where physicians can thrive.

DEBORAH VERRAN, MbChB MHSM FRACS

Dr. Verran is a Transplant Surgeon who believes that equity and diversity remain two of the significant unmet challenges for many healthcare systems globally including within the United States (US). Dr. Verran qualified as a General Surgeon in New Zealand, then completed Transplant Fellowships both within the US and Canada prior to establishing her career within Australia. Despite there being some differences in how the health systems in each of these particular countries are both structured and resourced, they have much in common. She was recently an associate editor of a book containing chapters from around the world on gender equity in the medical profession, where it became evident that there was much commonality of the underlying system type issues. Hence her ongoing focus on addressing the root causes.

JENNIFER WEISS, MD FAOA FAAOS

Dr. Weiss is an Orthopaedic Surgeon specializing in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine. Growing up as the daughter of an Orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Weiss saw first-hand how male-dominated the world of medicine is. Throughout medical school, she encountered few female students and fewer women that were aspiring Orthopaedic surgeons. Dr. Weiss actively writes and speaks on the topic of women in medicine. She has served on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Board of Directors and is currently the Communications Cabinet Chair. She teaches communication skills to physicians, surgeons, and other health care clinicians both within her large integrated health care system in Southern California and within Orthopaedic surgery societies. Her research is widely published and she is an active leader and speaker within the medical community both nationally and internationally.

KASANDRA WHITE, MD

Dr. White is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist. Dr. White earned her medical doctorate from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine followed by completion of residency training at Kaiser Permanente East Bay Medical Center in Oakland, California where she was born and raised. Her clinical practice focuses on general and preventative health of women, gynecologic surgery and preconception and pregnancy. Her skill in gynecologic minimally invasive surgery has earned her award recognition from professional medical societies and networks. Dr. White was inducted into Gold Humanism Honor Society, where placing dignity and value are placed at the core of patient care and medical teaching. She currently serves on a national medical advisory board engaged in developing patient centered care in efforts to eliminate health disparities. Her role has extended to serving as advisory council for health and wellness equity while also serving as a mentor and physician advisor to students from underinvested communities fostering and supporting the pipeline to medicine. Her educational contributions and partnerships with community organizations are important focuses in her practice and community engagement. She enjoys family time, traveling, kayaking and enjoying all aspects of life and opportunities.