HIV Awareness Forum Participant Bios

 

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Dr. Virginia D. Banks

Dr. Virginia D. Banks known to friends as “DEE” is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina.  She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Western College for Women (now The Western College of Miami University) Oxford, Ohio, graduated from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio and completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and two years of residency and an infectious disease fellowship at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Dr. Banks holds an MBA from the Williamson School of Business at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.

Dr. Banks is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She is a fellow in the Infectious Disease Society of America and an active member of the National Medical Association.  Dr. Banks is presently with Northeast Ohio Infectious Disease Associates in Youngstown, Ohio. She recently completed fifteen years as head of Infectious Disease at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Horizon Campus in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. While there she was named Clinician of the Year in 2014. Dr. Banks has been involved in medical education for many years.  In that capacity she has mentored numerous incoming medical students and served as a preceptor for many residents rotating on the Infectious Disease Service.   Dr Banks was the National Chair of the The Links, Inc. initiative on HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. While in this position the Links collaborated with the Center for Disease Control to bring a Sexual Health Curriculum to some of the historically Black Colleges. During that time over 5000 incoming freshmen were instructed in this curriculum.

In 2019 Dr Banks received the Watanakunakorn Clinician Award. This award in memory of Dr. Chatrchai Watanakunakorn is presented annually to a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America who spends at least seventy-five percent of his or her time in direct patient care. Furthermore, the recipient must demonstrate their commitment to the field through excellence in clinical care, patient or community education, patient advocacy, general community service, and service to a national or state infectious diseases society.

Dr. Banks is also the new chair of the George Counts Interest Group of the Infectious Disease Society of America.  The mission of this group is to advocate for the elimination of disparities in healthcare in general and infectious diseases in particular.  This group also seeks to play a role in IDSA/HIVMA’s ongoing effort toward inclusion and diversity.

Dr. Banks is the mother of four children: Todd Payne, Mark Banks, Matthew Banks Esquire, and Dr. Mary Branch.  She is the grandmother of Olivia Virginia Branch and Grayden Kane Payne.

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Aloha Powell MPA

Location: Bronx, NY 10455

Summary:  Aloha is a Public Health Professional who is able to work in ANY Borough except Staten Island. She has OPEN availability with schedule as well. She has extensive healthcare Experience to include site leadership.

Multifaceted and goal-oriented professional with extensive experience working w/For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Healthcare Systems. Thorough knowledge of Project/Program Administration, Practice Marketing incl; increasing Community Awareness & garnering Physician Alliances, Client Relations, Regulatory Compliance and Reporting, Executive-Level Support, and Staff Training / Development.  Successful at Grant Preparation and Administration, Credentialing/Physician Contract Management; and Financial Administration incl; Revenue Cycle Mgnt, Budgeting and Procurement. Proactive character with excellent interpersonal and communication skills that leads multi-level staff and executive leadership to work together successfully on multiple projects while managing multiple priorities.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Medical Practice Management Physician/Patient Relations HR & Administration Ops & Capital Equipment Budgets  Business Metric & Perform Measures  Charge Entry/Revenue Cycle Mgmt  Healthcare Marketing/Physician Alliances
• Quality Measures for Ops Improvements /Conversational Spanish

EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS

Master of Public Administration, John Jay College Bachelor of Arts; Binghamton University - Binghamton, NY

COMPUTER SKILLS

Microsoft Office Suite, ACT, PeopleSoft, QuickBooks, ICD-9 (ICD-10), CPT Coding, GE Centricity/Practice Manager), Electronic Health Records – Practicefusion

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE      

Specialist General Manager – Essen Medical: Bronx NY  09/2019 - 03/2020 (Laid Off)

Provides ops leadership/direct management of the delivery of services for Multiple Specialties:  Otolaryngology, Gastroenterology and Pulmonology Providers serving the under-served and unserved residents of Bronx County. Develop staff as needed to ensure provider productivity and revenue enhancement.  Monitor service delivery outcomes to ensure all approaches are patient-centered for successful patient satisfaction.  Assist/support with payroll management to minimizes overtime abuse.  Assist with recruiting, onboarding and site orientation processes.  Act as a Liaison in the community for Essen Specialist Providers to help generate business, maintaining community awareness of our Services, and solving all problems that might interfere with ambulatory procedures.

• Monitoring Provider Productivity to ensure visit goals are meet daily
• Created System-Wide Callout System
• Responsible for creating System-Wide Community Health Awareness Marketing Campaign             
• Direct Marketing: Strengthened alliances with Community Physicians to increase Incoming Referrals
• Direct Oversight/Assisted families with Medical Clearances for all Specialty Procedures

CARE MANAGER (Supervisor) – TriCounty Care: Brooklyn Square 10/2018 - 09/2019

Provides ops leadership/direct oversight in delivery of care coordination services for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.  Monitor/evaluate workflow of the Care Coordinators to ensure efficiency of services delivered to the Individuals.  Hire/develop staff as needed to ensure that they are familiar with TriCounty Care protocol.  Use reginal and state data to guarantee all services rendered are in compliance with OPWDD standards.  Monitor service delivery outcomes to ensure all approaches are patient-centered for successful patient satisfaction.  Assist/support with payroll management to minimizes overtime abuse.  Assist with recruiting, onboarding and site orientation processes.  Act as a representative for TriCounty Care to social service agencies, physicians, patients and contracted partners; solving all problems that might cause service interruption for the Individual.

• Immediately collaborated with other Supervisor’s to initiate Great Place to Work strategies @ 829 E. 15^th St.
• Actively directed background checks in search of the best talent in the Care Coordination Field
• Collaborated with the RD to ensure that the dissemination of information at meetings was organized, pragmatic and effective so that the Coordinators had the most up to date tools to manage their cases properly.
• Orientating families to the person-centeredness approach & the State’s new platform to assisting persons with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD).
• Introduce/assist families with getting Entitlement/Benefit Services that are available to persons with IDD.

PRACTICE ADMIN MANAGER (FPP) – Northwell Physician Partner – OB/GYN   07/2016 - 06/30/18

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Dr. Tanya K. Kearney

Director of the Virginia HIV/AIDS Resource & Consultation Center at EVMS

Preceptor for Students in the Master of Public Health Program

Education

• Capella University- PhD degree in General Human Services-
• Masters Degree of Public Administration, Graduate from Rutgers University, Newark, NJ -
• Bachelors of Arts Degree from Kean University, Union, NJ-

Activities/Community Organizations

• Member of the Lt. Governor J. Fairfax’s COVID-19 Racial Disparities Task Force
• Recipient of the 2019 Presidents award for Diversity & Inclusion
• Course Director for the Eastern Region HIV/AIDS Fall/Spring Conferences
• First Virginia Chapter of ANAC (Treasurer, 3 years), President (2017)
• Peer reviewed abstracts for APHA and grants for Ryan White Part A Programs
• Certified in REVIVE! (Opioid Overdose and Naloxone)
• Member of the American Public Health Association
• Active member in church, serving as Trustee, Secretary for the Annual Family & Friend Day, Women’s Usher Board, Social Justice Ministry and participates as an instructor for Vacation Bible School –Arts & Crafts committee
• Missionary work in Kenya Africa-2008 & 2011
• Board member for Teens with a Purpose (a non-profit organization for teens & youth)
• Enjoys the beach, reading, spending time with her granddaughters, and cooking gourmet meals

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Jenny Calhoun

Virginia Department of Health

109 Governor St. Richmond, VA 23219             

jenny.calhoun@vdh.virginia.gov

804-864-7328

Nurse Consultant, 9/2019 - present

Virginia Department of Health– Richmond, VA

• Nurse Consultant for Division of Disease Prevention for HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis prevention programs
• Clinical consultant for PrEP program

Public Health Nurse Supervisor, 10/2015 – 9/2019

Henrico Health Department– Henrico, VA

• Supervised STD/HIV/ADAP programs including Viral Hepatitis and Preadmission Screening Programs
• From Feb 2017 – Jan 2019, also served as Acting PHN Supervisor for Maternity, Family Planning and Immunizations programs
• Supervised all nursing programs and up to 17 employees based in our East office

Public Health Nurse Senior, 6/1996 – 10/2015

Henrico Health Department– Henrico, VA

• Coordinated district wide STD/HIV/ADAP program
• Coordinated multiple grant activities
• Coordinated STD clinic and follow up activities

Public Health Nurse, 10/1993 – 6/1996

Henrico Health Department– Henrico, VA

• Performed Nursing Home Screenings
• Coordinated family planning services
• Direct client care in clinic setting for all other programs – maternity, pediatrics, STD and immunizations

Clinician II RN, 6/1991 – 9/1993

MCV Hospitals – Richmond, VA

• Worked 20 months in Coronary Medical ICU
• Worked 6 months on Infant/Toddler Unit

Education        

Bachelor of Science: Nursing, 5/1991

Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Bachelor of Science: Marketing and Communications (Journalism), 6/1984 Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA 

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Clay Porter 

My name is Clay Porter and I am a multi-ethnic gay man living with HIV. I grew up in Petersburg, VA and graduated from Matoaca High School. I attended VCU and graduated with a degree in religious studies and anthropology. I moved to Norfolk in 2016 at attending EVMS. I recently graduated with Master’s in Public Health.

As a scholar with specific subject matter expertise in anthropology and public health, and as an individual living with HIV, a first generation college student, and queer man with history of substance abuse whose work and life are deeply intertwined, I have derived a lot of comfort and hope in bearing witness to the power of community coalitions while accompanying community leaders and advocates in mobilizing to take care of one another, to act, and to engage in necessary fights around issues that have long been in existence: universal and meaningful healthcare, abolition, housing rights, equal employment, gender equality, environmental justice, and rights of marginalized communities, displaced populations, migrants and immigrants.

I have worked alongside community leaders, activists, and health and social providers in the field of HIV and disease prevention who have long refused to accept the status quo, and have instead, created their own forms of care or reimagined the existing systems to meet emergent needs.  They have developed healthcare and support organizations, challenged, and changed how treatment and services are delivered, and demanded that society and the government pay attention and respond. They see this as a necessary, just, moral, and legitimate response to the ongoing precarity characterized by economic scarcity, civic inequality, market-based health care, and exclusionary policies. This also shows us how in the face of such precarity, people also find means of relating to each other, connecting to each other, and taking care of each other. It shows us how people are reimagining precarity and uncertainty as relational, generating circuits of social connections and belonging through the care of others. It is important to amplify these spaces and voices. This involves a deep commitment and sustained action; and in the truest since of the phrase: revolutionary love…

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Donald LaHuffman BSPH, MA

I am an expert in Public Health initiatives with 20 years of experiences in international, national, state and local health levels in West Africa, rural and urban areas of the United States . My expertise includes extensive operations analysis, program development, program implementation in Primary Care. These primary areas include HIV/AIDs, Ambulatory Care, Maternity and Child Health, Medicare Managed Care implementation for the greater New York area. Furthermore, I have written grants that have exceeded over $500,000.00, managed program budgets over $53,00,000.00 supervised a diversity of staff, clinicians, volunteer workers both domestically and internationally. My leadership has enabled me to be recognized by my peers in international organizations, local organizations in the United States, an as a undergraduate student at North Carolina Central University. Finally, I am a team player who is a self starter. Furthermore my educational and professional achievement has prepared me for leadership position.

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Victoria Vasques

Victoria Vasques, Owner & CEO, Tribal Tech, LLC, and Cowan & Associates, American Indian woman-owned small business, providing technical assistance and consulting management services to federal, state, tribal and corporate clients.

For more than 30 years, Ms. Vasques has been an advocate for American Indians, leading education reform and advancing energy initiatives.

Her career in public service includes serving as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Indian Education, U.S. Department of Education, where she was the principal point of contact within the federal government for Indian education across the nation. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy. She also served as executive director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities, as an education program specialist in the Office of Indian Education, on President's Commission on Indian Reservation Economics, and on President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic. Her experience with Indian issues outside the federal government includes serving as a technical assistant specialist at the National Congress of American Indians and as tribal liaison at The Committee for the 50th Presidential Inaugural.

She is Diegueno of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, Valley Center, California, and is a former American Indian Woman of the Year. Ms. Vasques has received numerous awards, including the NCAIED Native Woman Business Owner of the Year Award, SBA Small Businessperson of the Year, Inc 5000 (6 years in a row). She is also the recipient of the California State University at Fullerton Distinguished Alumni Award. She continues to work with national and local non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting and promoting literacy, health care, child safety, after-school enrichment and education.