Health Leadership Forum

Salem Academy & College's Health Leadership Forum

Salem Academy and College will hold its fourth Health Leadership Forum on Friday, October 18, 2024.

Salem’s Health Leadership Forum features a selection of women in health leadership roles from around the nation. This conference offers an opportunity for discussion of current trends in health and networking while hearing from some of the nation’s most widely recognized experts and innovators in their fields.

Come join us in October for a fantastic day of discussion and connection centered around the topics of leadership in the healthcare industry.

Katherine Graham Howard A'1913, C'1917 Keynote Address

Charlene Wong, MD MSHP serves as the Senior Advisor for Health Strategy in the Office of the Director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this role, she is coordinating a collaborative approach to protecting health that brings public health alongside efforts in health care and social supports. This work spans CDC’s priority areas of supporting young families, mental health and overdose, and readiness and response. She previously served as the inaugural Assistant Secretary for Children and Families and the Chief Health Policy Officer for COVID-19 in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).

Dr. Wong was faculty at Duke University and served as the Executive Director of North Carolina Integrated Care for Kids (NC InCK), an innovative model serving ~100,000 Medicaid-insured children in central North Carolina. She is a primary care pediatrician, specializing in adolescent and young adult medicine. She completed her medical, research and policy training at Emory University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Washington, and University of Pennsylvania.

HLF Agenda

For the Health Leadership Forum on October 18, 2024 at Salem Academy & College, the agenda is as follows:

8:30 to 9:00 am – Check-in
9:00 to 9:10 am – Welcome
9:10 to 9:40 am – Keynote Address: Protecting Health as a Team Sport
9:40 to 9:55 am – Break
9:55 to 10:35 am – Panel One: Diverse Perspectives on Maternal and Child Health
10:35 to 10:50 am – Break
10:50 to 11:30 am – Panel Two: Addressing Equity for Homeless Populations: National And Local Perspectives
11:30 to 11:45 am – Break
11:45 am to 12:25 pm – Leadership Roundtable: Pathways to Success
12:30 to 1:30 pm – Networking Luncheon in the Refectory Dining Hall

Panels

Panel One: Diverse Perspectives on Maternal and Child Health

Anastasia Gage, PhD – Professor, Tulane University School of Public Health (Global Maternal and Child Health), New Orleans
Natalie Hernandez, PhD, MPH – Executive Director, Center for Maternal Health Equity, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta
Esther Leerkes, PhD – Jefferson-Pilot Excellence Professor of Human Development and Family Studies & Associate Dean of Research, UNC Greensboro

Panel Two: Addressing Equity for Homeless Populations: National And Local Perspectives

Siya Hegde, JD – Staff Attorney for Housing Not Handcuffs, National Homelessness Law Center, Washington, DC
Jan Corpening Kelly A’85 – Executive Director at Samaritan Ministries, Winston-Salem
Keshia Pollack Porter, PhD, MPH – Bloomberg Centennial Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Meet The Panelists

Credit Statement

2.5 Contact Hours from Northwest AHEC

Nurses: This educational activity (2.5 contact hours) can be applied toward your continuing competence plan for maintaining your current licensure with the North Carolina Board of Nursing.

Northwest AHEC is recognized by the North Carolina Psychology Board as an approved provider of (Category A) Continuing Education for North Carolina Licensed Psychologists. This program will provide 2.5 contact hours of (Category A) continuing education for North Carolina psychologists. No partial credit will be given.

Meet The Panelists

Charlene Wong, MD MSHP

Katherine Graham Howard A’1913, C’1917 Keynote Speaker

Charlene Wong, MD MSHP serves as the Senior Advisor for Health Strategy in the Office of the Director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this role, she is coordinating a collaborative approach to protecting health that brings public health alongside efforts in health care and social supports. This work spans CDC’s priority areas of supporting young families, mental health and overdose, and readiness and response. She previously served as the inaugural Assistant Secretary for Children and Families and the Chief Health Policy Officer for COVID-19 in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS). Dr. Wong was faculty at Duke University and served as the Executive Director of North Carolina Integrated Care for Kids (NC InCK), an innovative model serving ~100,000 Medicaid-insured children in central North Carolina. She is a primary care pediatrician, specializing in adolescent and young adult medicine. She completed her medical, research and policy training at Emory University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Washington, and University of Pennsylvania.

Natalie D. Hernandez, PhD, MPH

Dr. Hernandez is an Associate Professor in Obstetrics & Gynecology and Executive Director of the Center for Maternal Health Equity at Morehouse School of Medicine. She received her BA in Anthropology from Stony Brook University, an MPH from Emory University, and a Ph.D. in public health from the University of South Florida.

Dr. Hernandez’s research uses community engagement to advance health equity through rigorous methodology. With over 17 years of experience, she has developed community partnerships and implemented health initiatives involving diverse stakeholders. Her interests include women’s health, reproductive health, STIs, health disparities, community-based participatory research, and reproductive social justice. She is a member of Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, PRAMS Steering Committee, and Improving Postpartum Care Affinity Group. Nationally, she is involved with the American Public Health Association Committee on Health Equity and the Health Disparities Taskforce of the National Preeclampsia Foundation. She has presented her work at many conferences.

Anastasia J. Gage, PhD

Anastasia J. Gage is a distinguished professor at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, with over 30 years of experience in international health. Her career spans work with NGOs, the United Nations, and USAID. Gage’s research focuses on adolescent, reproductive, and maternal health, as well as gender issues in sub-Saharan Africa. She has provided technical assistance globally and co-designed capacity strengthening programs with African universities.

Gage made history as the first African President of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. She currently serves on several prestigious boards, including the UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. With numerous publications to her name, Gage holds degrees from the University of Sierra Leone, University of Ghana, and a Ph.D. in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania.

Siya Hedge, JD

Siya Hegde (she/her, @SiyaHegde) is a Staff Attorney at the National Homelessness Law Center in Manhattan. As a first-generation immigrant from India, she uses legal and policy tools to combat poverty, homelessness, and systemic oppression. Formerly at The Bronx Defenders, she served as a Civil Public Defender and Housing Policy Counsel, focusing on eviction defense and housing justice. Siya led advocacy and litigation efforts that addressed the civil impacts of legal system involvement, collaborating with grassroots movements and impacted communities across New York City to advance housing reform.

Her work and insights have appeared in outlets like the New York Times, New York Daily News, and Bloomberg CityLab. Siya’s international experience includes roles at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and advocacy at U.N. human rights forums in Geneva on homelessness criminalization. She holds a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Colby College.

Jan Kelly

Jan Kelly is the executive director of Samaritan Ministries in Winston-Salem, NC, a role she has held since July 2020. With Samaritan since 2011, initially as capital campaign director, she oversees operations aimed at providing food, shelter, and hope through Christian love. During the Covid pandemic, Jan ensured uninterrupted services and implemented a strategic plan featuring trauma-resilience training, nutrition initiatives, and a behavioral health program at the Soup Kitchen. Her leadership fosters a culture of hospitality, empathy, collaboration, and stewardship.

Previously, Jan held various positions at Second Harvest Food Bank and served as Alumnae Director at Salem Academy. Jan is a Salem Academy graduate and a cum laude graduate of Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. She is dedicated to Samaritan’s vision of helping guests achieve sustained positive life changes. Jan and her husband Mike have been married for 30 years and have three adult children.

Keshia Pollack Porter, PhD, MPH

Keshia Pollack Porter is a Bloomberg Centennial Professor and the Bloomberg Centennial Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Pollack Porter is a health equity scholar who promotes Health in All Policies to address the structural drivers of health. Her scholarship informs the development of policies that create safe and healthy environments where people live, work, play, and travel. Dr. Pollack Porter is a co-author of the recently published book Policy Engagement (APHA Press, 2023) and in 2023 was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Esther Leerkes, PhD

Dr. Esther Leerkes is the Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and the Associate Dean for Research in the School of Health and Human Sciences at UNC Greensboro. She trained as a developmental psychologist at the University of Vermont under Dr. Susan Crockenberg. Leerkes has published over 100 empirical papers and 10 chapters on maternal well-being, sensitivity, mother-infant attachment, and infant temperament, focusing on their implications for child emotion regulation, behavior problems, school outcomes, and obesity.

A central theme in her work is how mothers’ childhood experiences affect their parenting. She has shown that childhood maltreatment, harsh parenting, and adversity impact maternal sensitivity and child well-being through their effects on maternal mental health, emotion regulation, parenting efficacy, and partner relationships. She also identified positive factors that break this cycle, offering insights for intervention programs. Her research has been funded by the NICHD, and she has been recognized for excellence in teaching, mentoring, and research. Leerkes has served on editorial boards and as a grant reviewer for NIH and NSF.

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Salem Academy & College's Health Leadership Forum