2022 Black Health & Racial Equity Symposium Planning Committee

Winona Bynum, RDN, Community Co-Chair, is currently the executive director of the Detroit Food Policy Council, an education, advocacy   and policy organization led by Detroiters committed to creating a sustainable, local food system that promotes food   security, food justice and food sovereignty in the city of Detroit. Winona is a registered dietitian/nutritionist (RDN) and a graduate of Wayne State University Coordinated Program in Dietetics. Winona studied Public Health at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She is the chair of the National Organization of Blacks and Dietetics (NOBIDAN) for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. She served as president-elect/president of the Southeastern Michigan Dietetic Association 2018-2020.

Rhonda Dailey, MD, Faculty Co-Chair, is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences (DFMPHS) in the School of Medicine and Scientific Director to the Office of Community Engaged Research (OCEnR), within the Office of the Vice President of Research, at Wayne State University. Formally trained in medicine, Dr. Dailey has over 20 years of experience in behavioral and health-disparities research and expertise in the recruitment   and retention of minority populations and the engagement of medical professionals and community stakeholders in research. Her research work includes projects focused on community engaged research, perinatal health, health equity and disparities related to systemic racism and chronic disease (particularly asthma and cardiovascular disease), patient attitudes and beliefs about health, and healthcare quality.

Donna M. Coulter, PhD, works full-time for the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network where she is the Member Engagement Administrator. She has more than 40 years of service to communities of color and people with disabilities. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with a BS in Sociology. Dr. Donna has both her Master's and Ph.D. from Wayne State University in Educational Evaluation and Research. Donna was educated in the Savannah Public School System. Shortly after graduating from Georgia Southern University in 1989, she moved to Detroit, MI where she continues to work. Donna Coulter grew up in Savannah, GA. Her mother was a baker and cook. Her father worked at a local plant. Her parents, who are now deceased, had six children, three boys and three girls. Donna is the fourth child and the middle girl. Her hero is Former President Jimmy and his wife, Roslynn Carter. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity, the couple has spent nearly 50 years building and renovating homes for low-income Americans to have an affordable place to stay.Donna is married to Branson Coulter. She has one daughter, three bonus children, and eight grandchildren. Her interests include doing home improvement, walking, and travelling. She has visited Senegal and The Gambia in West Africa, Paris, France, and several Mexican and Caribbean countries.

Lisa Rutledge is a long-time community health improvement professional and active volunteer with over 40 years of experience.  A graduate of Michigan State University, Lisa has experience starting in specialty gynecology practices in patient care/health education and clinical research in the area of HPV.   Next at Oakwood Healthcare, she oversaw programs for immunizations, school-based health, child passenger safety, domestic violence awareness, arts in health care, fitness and wellness services, access to care and other community benefit programs.   Since 2012, she has been the Special Projects Manager at Western Wayne Family Health Centers, a community health center organization. There she works with community partners to create collaborations to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the area as well as doing public relations, grassroots advocacy, outreach, and other activities to help the health centers thrive.  She is also an active community volunteer, serving on boards and committees for agencies such as The Information Center, Camp Fire Southeast Michigan, Everybody Ready, Personalized Nursing LightHouse. Western Wayne Cancer Action Council and others.  Her specialty is bringing together people and organizations to maximize results and making connections.

Lisa Saigh is the Wellness Clinic Manager at St. Patrick Senior Center (SPSC) in Midtown Detroit and a clinical instructor for undergraduate nursing students at Madonna University. She has been a nurse for 25 years, including over 10 years of clinical research experience.  She earned a BSN at University of Detroit Mercy and she is working on a DNP in adult-gerontology primary care at Wayne State University.  Lisa works with community-dwelling older adults, ages 55 through over 100 years old, focusing on healthy lifestyle promotion and maintaining independent living. Currently, Lisa is collaborating with SPSC, the Detroit Parks & Recreation Department and Perry Outreach Center to expand senior support services and improve food security for older adults living in Southwest Detroit.  Lisa is also seeking new opportunities to connect SPSC's older adults with academic and community organizations, in order to promote community-oriented research and develop innovative senior programs.

Cheryl Thompson Marsh has provided servant leadership as a healthcare advocate since the late 1980's. Since 1988, She has provided consultative services at the federal level to the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) and the Center for Disease Control & Prevention, as a Federal Contract Reviewer of grant funded national health facilities throughout the United States. Cheryl and her husband, Victor, were Founding Directors, and both served as Board Chair, of the Southeastern Michigan HIV/AIDS Council (SEMHAC). They led the fight against HIV/AIDS and for implementation of Ryan White CARE Act funding for a six-county member federal planning council. Cheryl has served as a leader in her children's school Parent Teacher Associations; and has also served as a Sunday School Teacher for more than 30 years in the African Methodist Episcopal Church including Oak Grove AME Church. Cheryl and her husband are proud parents of two adult sons and two grandchildren; son Victor II, served the Obama Administration as a U.S. Diplomat and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rotman School of Management, The University of Toronto. Son John is a three-time Emmy-winning writer & sports producer. Cheryl remains active in her community through her membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, where she serves on the Social Action and Outreach Committees. She also serves as the volunteer Statewide Representative for the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN) as the liaison for local county health coalitions with state and national networks serving as the national advocacy point-person, focused on integrating oral health into an equitable, accessible, and affordable health care system throughout the State of Michigan. In 2021, Cheryl accepted the assignment to provide consultative services for the Faith Based Genetic Research Institute (FBGRI), Wayne State University and the Karmanos Cancer Institute, which comprises the Faith Community Research Network (FCRN). She serves as the liaison between the FCRN and the Church community. Her academic preparation incudes a Fellowship in Executive Healthcare Management sponsored by the Johnson & Johnson Anderson School of Management, a certification from the University of South Florida in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and a bachelor's from Eastern Michigan University.

Jason Carbone, PhD, MSW, joined the Wayne State University School of Social Work faculty in 2019. He is the director of the Joint MSW/MPH program and his research and teaching interests center on community-level social determinants of mental health.  He received his PhD from the School of Social Work within the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University.  Carbone has nearly a decade of professional social work experience working in community-based organizations. He is a former not-for-profit executive director with practice experience in community and economic development, community engagement and community building, and organizational management and development.

Lauren M. Hamel, PhD, is Associate Professor of Oncology and Co-Program Leader of the Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. She is also the faculty director of KCI's Medical Interaction Research Archive (MIRA). Dr. Hamel is an expert in patient-physician communication, cancer treatment disparities, and in building and testing interventions to improve patient-physician communication. She was PI of two recently completed NIH-funded studies assessing nonverbal synchrony and nonverbal communication that occurs between Black patients with cancer and their oncologists during clinical interactions. She is investigating aspects of nonverbal communication as potential markers of racial attitudes (e.g., physician unconscious bias, patient suspicion of medical care) and predictors of interaction outcomes (R21MD011766; R03CA195147). Currently, Dr. Hamel is PI of an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Health Equity Grant (R01 equivalent; RSG-20-026-01-CPHPS) to test the effectiveness of a patient-focused intervention, the Discussions of Cost (DISCO) App, on patient-provider treatment cost discussions and other patient financial toxicity-related outcomes. She has published her work in 50+ articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals including Cancer, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and JCO Oncology Practice, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries.

Dr. Angulique Y. Outlaw Dr. Angulique Y. Outlaw is the Interim Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs at the Wayne State University (WSU) Graduate School. Additionally, she is an Associate Professor (Research) in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Division of Behavioral Health, at the WSU Medical School. Dr. Outlaw is a pediatric psychologist with significant expertise in designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions for high-risk youth utilizing community-based participatory research (CBPR) practices. She has extensive CBPR expertise and experience with at-risk and youth living with HIV, authoring a book chapter about community-based intervention research with sexual and gender minority young men. Dr. Outlaw also has experience with multi-site evaluation studies via NIH-funded clinical trials, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and HRSA Special Projects of National Significance. She was also the lead for the National Youth Community Advisory Board (NYCAB) for the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN), as well as the lead for Community Engagement and Site PI for the NIH site grant to Florida State University for the ATN. Dr. Outlaw was the evaluator for a comprehensive service provision project for sexual minority men at risk for and living with HIV to improve the coordination of service providers, services, and trainers and technical assistance providers to ensure culturally, developmentally, and linguistically competent service provision. Finally, she is the director of a grant-funded, comprehensive continuum of prevention care program for at-risk adolescents and young adults and has several locally funded projects focusing on HIV prevention (testing, PrEP education, referral and linkage); group-level, skills building HIV prevention programming (primary and secondary prevention); and health promotion for adolescents and young adults living with HIV (tobacco reduction and/or cessation).

Wael Sakr, MD, is the dean of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, and chair of the WSU Department of Pathology. Dr. Sakr oversees the Office of Medical Education, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the recruitment and evaluation of department chairs, the recruitment and evaluation of School of Medicine-based center directors, and the development and implementation of compensation models for faculty. Dr. Sakr is a nationally recognized academic pathologist with a track record of independent and collaborative National Institutes of Health funding and with seminal contributions in the field of genitourinary neoplasia, prostate cancer in particular. He has also assumed leadership roles in professional and community-based organizations, including the National Arab American Medical Association and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services. He has been interested in the histopathological and biological traits of preneoplastic changes of the prostate. His work contributed to a current consensus that high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasm is a precursor of prostate adenocarcinoma. Dr. Sakr has been involved in numerous clinical trials as an expert pathologist. In other clinical studies, he is evaluating genetic changes and expression profiling as markers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. In addition, Dr. Sakr is an active investigator on several funded basic research projects on the underlying molecular mechanism of prostate tumor progression and metastasis.