ABC - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• IT / Operations Consultant

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Immediate past President
• Member of the Executive Committee

Job Titles:

• Chairman of the Executive Committee
• Member and President of the Central Arkansas American Heart Association
• President, Bylaws Chair

Dr. Fletcher is currently an active member and president of the Central Arkansas American Heart Association, and past co-chair of the "Go Red for Women" health expo and luncheon. He also is past president of the Heartland Affiliate and was the first president of the South Central Affiliate of the National American Heart Association. Dr. Fletcher is an active member in the Arkansas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association (The state chapter of the National Medical Association), and has served as its President and COO. Dr. Fletcher is an active member and a fellow of the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Intervention.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Committee
• Immediate past Board Chair / Bowie
• Immediate past Board Chair / Executive Committee / Bowie

Barbara A. Hutchinson, MD, PhD is a renowned cardiologist who is the President of Chesapeake Cardiac Care, an adult cardiology practice, headquartered in Bowie, Maryland. Patients from all over the world seek her out; they'll get on a plane in the morning, have an appointment with her that includes expedited one-day test results, and then get back on a plane later that evening. One of the few doctors in the United States who is board certified in both cardiovascular disease and sleep medicine, Dr. Hutchinson is also a noted speaker on heart disease in women and how sleep affects heart health. Born in Trinidad & Tobago, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at the University of the West Indies. Upon graduation, she moved to the United States, and earned a Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Pharmacology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Not one to rest on her laurels, she followed up her Ph.D. by earning her M.D. and completing a Fellowship in Cardiology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland. Aside from her credentials and expertise, Dr Hutchinson brings compassion and warmth into every exam room for the benefit of patients. Her reputation for extraordinary care is a result of taking time to educate patients on their medical condition, explain test results, and detail the follow-up care that is needed. Among her many awards and recognitions, Dr. Hutchinson is one of the Top 50 Women to watch in Maryland, Top 100 Women in Maryland 2014, 2016, and 2020, Brava Award winner, an Enterprising Woman of the Year Award Winner, member of the Enterprising Women Advisory Board, member of Women Presidents Organization and Past President of the Association of Black Cardiologists. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and she was appointed to the Cardiovascular Examination Writing Committee for the American Board of Internal Medicine. As a way of giving back, Dr. Hutchinson mentors students and residents considering a specialty in cardiology by having them spend time gaining firsthand experience in her practice. She serves on several nonprofit boards including Girl Scouts of Central Maryland and Heart Health Foundation.

Job Titles:

• Director of Community Programs

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Member of the Executive Committee
• Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc
• Chief Executive Officer / Executive Committee / Washington, DC
• Chief Executive Officer / Washington, DC
• Member of the Board of Directors for the National Health Council

Cassandra McCullough is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. (ABC), and was appointed to this position in 2014. The ABC is a nonprofit, international organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease in Blacks and other minorities and achieving health equity for all through the elimination of disparities. ABC's inclusive membership of community health advocates, physicians, scientists, researchers, and other health professionals promote understanding of cardiovascular and associated diseases through education, research, and advocacy. Cassandra has more than 30 years of experience in the health industry. She joined the staff at the ABC in 1996 and served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Continuing Medical Education prior to accepting the CEO position. She was employed in the Continuing Medical Education Division at Morehouse School of Medicine from 1993-96, and in medical office management at Kaiser Foundation Health Plans of Georgia from 1987-1993. Cassandra's early career work was in the energy industry at The Southern Company. Since 2017, Cassandra has been a member of the board of directors for the National Health Council (NHC) and currently serves as Chair of the Audit Committee. At NHC, she also served as Chair of the Finance Committee and Treasurer and Co-Chair of the 2020 CEO Affinity Group/Health Leadership Conference (HLC) Task Force. Cassandra is also a member of the board of directors for the Preparedness and Treatment Equity Coalition. Other volunteer work includes honorary board member of the Open My Heart Foundation. Cassandra is listed among multi-authored publications, including "Physician and Learning in the 21st Century" in ABC Digest of Urban Cardiology; "Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials: Overcoming Barriers" in Current Problems in Cardiology; and "The Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) Cardiovascular Implementation Study (CVIS): A Research Registry Integrating Social Determinants to Support Care for Underserved Patients," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The University of Phoenix is where Cassandra received her MBA with a concentration in Health Care Management. Undergraduate coursework in Business Administration (Management) was completed at St. Leo University.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Operations Project Manager

Job Titles:

• Principal Investigator
• Master Physician With the Division of Cardiology

Dr. Modele Ogunniyi is a Professor of Medicine and Master Physician with the Division of Cardiology at Emory University. She also serves as the Associate Medical Director of the Grady Heart Failure Program. Dr. Ogunniyi serves as Principal Investigator for several clinical trials and is on the advisory board for the Metro Atlanta Heart Failure Collaborative and the editorial board of Clinical Cardiology. She is an active member and volunteer of many professional organizations including the Association of Black Cardiologists, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American College of Cardiology, and American Heart Association.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Committee
• Board Chair / Executive Committee / Phoenix, AZ
• Board Chair / Phoenix, AZ

Dr. Paul Underwood is an interventional cardiologist with 4 decades' experience in cardiovascular medicine. Having grown up in Tennessee, on the Knoxville College campus, he believes higher education is critical for Blacks to achieve parity in America. A graduate of Morehouse College, he completed medical school at Mayo Clinic-Rochester followed by cardiology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. Whie serving as the ED and ICU director at St. Croix Hospital he instituted thrombolytic therapy for STEMI and procured the islands first cardiac treadmill. After settling in Phoenix, AZ he started Eclipse Clinical Research Associates to combine research with his clinical practice. This collaboration spawned a medtech software firm during the infancy of mobile technology. He joined Boston Scientifics's clinical team in 2009. At BSC he supported clinical trials, regulatory submissions and product launches for interventional cardiology and structural heart devices. He was also medical director for Close the Gap, BSC's data-driven initiative empowering patients and providers toward their health equity goals. In 2023 Paul left BSC to launch Cardio MedSci LLC, a life sciences consulting firm specializing in medical technology. Paul joined ABC as a cardiology fellow. He co-chaired the CME Committee during the initial ACCME accreditation. His first clinical trial as primary investigator was a heart failure study obtained through the Research Committee. He sat on the ABC Board of Directors in 1999, was vice-president in 2002 and elected president in 2004. In 2009 he was appointed co-chair of the Community Programs Committee and a member of the Health and Public Policy Committee. Dr. Underwood is a Life Member and a staunch advocate for equitable access to evidence-based treatment to eliminate the disparate health outcomes experienced by African Americans. He has also worked with the American Heart Association to legislate installation of AEDs in public places and eliminate indoor tobacco use in Arizona, while nationally he sat on the Power to End Stroke steering committee and was the Women and Children's Committee liaison to the Scientific Advisory Coordinating Council. He was a founding member of the Center for African American Health - AZ and is a longstanding member of the Arizona Latin-American Medical Association. He and his wife reside in Phoenix, sharing time with their 5 adult children. While away from his desk he enjoys travel, gardening, and music.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Health Education Coordinator

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Director / Boston
• Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at Google Health / YouTube
• Member of the National Academy of Medicine

A cardiologist, researcher and public health expert, Garth is the Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at Google Health/YouTube. He previously served in two US administrations as US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and was Assistant Dean for Health Policy and Chief of Health Services Research in the department of medicine at the University of Florida School of Medicine. He also served as President of the Aetna Foundation as well as Vice President & Chief Community Health Officer at CVS Health. He currently sits on several boards, including the Advisory Council to the Director of the NIH, the National Academy of Medicine Board on Health Policy, and the board of the National Quality Forum. He previously served on the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Council. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Garth obtained his MD at Yale University School of Medicine, MPH at Yale School of Public Health, Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins. He holds three board certifications including internal medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology. He also holds an honorary doctorate of laws from Regis College and an honorary degree from the Eastern Virginia Medical School. In 2021, the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine inaugurated the Garth N. Graham Distinguished Lectureship Award, which spotlights trail blazers who are leading the creation and advancement of health equity.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Director / Jackson
• Member of Her Local Jackson
• Member of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc

Mrs. Joyce Gwendolyn Bartley Taylor is a Mississippi native born in Crystal Springs, MS to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bartley, Sr. She did her undergraduate work in Mathematics at historic Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi and her graduate work in Computer Based Information Systems at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Taylor's professional work history includes working as a Computer Systems Analyst for the U.S. Veterans Administration at their Central Data Processing Center in Austin, Texas, the Jamaica Plains Veterans Hospital Laboratory Automation Team in Boston, MA, the Veterans Administration Central Office Computer Systems Analyst Staff, The U.S. Department of Justice Technical Assistance Staff, and Applied Urbanetics, Inc. all in Washington, D.C. After moving to Mississippi, Mrs. Taylor taught computer science and mathematics at Jackson State University and Tougaloo College before joining her brother, George Bartley Jr. in opening Innovative Systems, LLC, a private Computer Software Development and Consulting Company. While working actively in the computer-based data processing business, Mrs. Taylor was appointed to serve on the Mississippi State Data Processing Board which overseed all data processing equipment and software RFPs and acquisitions by state agencies. After retiring from the computer software development business, she has worked as a Real Estate Broker. Mrs. Taylor has always been engaged in improving the lives of people in her community. She served on the Board of the Community Foundation for Greater Jackson as Grants Chairperson involved in supporting non-profits organizations doing good work helping Mississippians. Mrs. Taylor, being the wife of a cardiologist and the daughter of a stroke victim, has also dedicated her energies to reducing and preventing the occurrence of the major risk factors that cause heart disease and stroke. In the late 1990's she began by personally conducting a seven-month program at her church using the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. "7 Steps to a Healthy Heart " This program included screenings, exercise, nutrition, and workshops presented by medical experts in the areas of Hypertension, Diabetes, Weight Control, Cholesterol Control, Smoking Cessation, and Mental Health. Mrs. Taylor has also hosted and coordinated several Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. "Spirit of the Heart" Weekends for the Jackson, Mississippi Community. She also hosted segments of the filming of the ABC ‘s Generations Video In her home in Mississippi. Mrs. Taylor later developed a program called "For A Happy Healthy Heart", which she used to teach elementary age students to "Eat Smart", "Play Smart" and develop "Healthy Heart Habits". She also started a Double Dutch Jump Rope Program for these students to encourage an affordable and fun way to exercise at school or at home. Mrs. Taylor chaired an after-school health program in Mid Town Jackson for middle school students to address childhood obesity by teaching them about good nutrition, how to read food label to choose the healthiest snacks and foods and the importance of exercise. These school programs were presented in collaboration with her Jackson Links Chapter and the Mid-Town Jackson Initiative. This school-based program also included screenings and workshops for teachers and parents. She continues to work as a Community Health Advocate in the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area. Mrs. Taylor has been an active member of her local Jackson, MS, and Mississippi State Medical Auxiliaries since 1979. She has served in the office of president and financial secretary. She is also a member of the Auxiliary to the National Medical Association (ANMA) where she has served two terms as chair of the ANMA Health and Health Education Committee and one term as Second Vice President, a member of the ANMA Board of Directors and a member of the ANMA Awards Committee. Mrs. Taylor is a member of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. (ABC) where she is currently a member of the Community Programs Committee and previously served on the now defunct ABC Women's Health Board, which was chaired many years ago by cardiologist, Dr. Ann Taylor. Mrs. Taylor most recently helped to coordinate the virtual training of 29 new Mississippi ABC Community Health Advocates and is working to help ABC spread it cardiovascular disease prevention message to more area of Mississippi. She is an active member of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Madison, MS, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. a charter member of the Madison County Graduate Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a member of the Jackson, MS Chapter of The Links Inc. and the Jackson, MS United Way Women's Council. Mrs. Taylor is married to Dr. Malcolm P. Taylor and has four children, Khary Malcolm (Toya) and Keith Taylor (Chante}, both Cardiovascular Pacemaker Sales Representatives, Dr. Kimberli Taylor Lambert (Jay), a cardiologist, and Mrs. Kellee Taylor Perry (Rubeen), a Fashion Merchandise Buyer. She has fourteen beautiful grandchildren, Ashley, Chaz, Deion, Parris, Chauncey, Kiarrah, Chase, Jalen, Chloe, Taylor, Malcolm, Kamryn, Jackson, and Layla. Mrs. Taylor loves to read, travel, and enjoy leisure time with her husband, children, grandchildren, family, and friends.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Fellows Representative / Pittsburgh, PA

Kathryn Harris, MD is currently a second-year cardiology fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She obtained her Bachelor of Science and Engineering (B.S.E) in Nuclear Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, she served as co-chair of the Black Women's Alliance, which fostered community amongst women of the diaspora on campus and organized outreach programs. On campus, she was an EMT and a freshman physics tutor. She has a passion for teaching, and still spends time tutoring in high school physics through her church's tutorial ministry. She later obtained her MD at Meharry Medical College. While in medical school, she volunteered with Project Dream, providing mentorship to minority high school students. She spent a year during medical school at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda MD studying the relationship between mitochondrial health and inflammation through the Robert Woods Johnson Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP). She went on to complete her internal medicine residency at University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD. As a cardiology fellow, her interests include exploring and addressing cardiovascular health disparities. She is currently working to identify racial and ethnic disparities in quality improvement metrics across the Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC. She also has a strong interest in translational research related to the development of catheter-based therapies within the field of interventional cardiology. She will complete an interventional cardiology fellowship after general cardiovascular training with a focus on high risk percutaneous coronary intervention. Kathryn was the 1st recipient of the Dr Richard Allen Williams and Genita Evangelista Johnson / Association of Black Cardiologists Scholarship in 2014. She is a member of the Association of Black Cardiologists.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Committee
• Secretary / Executive Committee / Hanover, NH
• Secretary / Hanover, NH

Kevin Kwaku, MD is Co-chair of the Association of Black Cardiologist's Fellows' Committee. He holds a BSc in Physiology from McGill University and combined MD-PhD degrees from Columbia University. He completed residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and fellowships in Cardiovascular Medicine and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) under the mentorship of the late EP pioneer Mark Josephson, MD. Dr. Kwaku served as junior faculty at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School until moving to Honolulu, Hawaii as Director of Electrophysiology for Kaiser Permanente. From 2014 to 2017 he served as Chief of Cardiology for the Hawaii Region. In 2015 was elected to the Board of Governors of the American College of Cardiology. In 2017, Kevin returned to the Northeast serving as Director of Electrophysiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Dr. Kwaku is the author/co-author of numerous peer-reviewed papers in translational and clinical EP and of three book chapters. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American College of CardiologyClinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. When not treating cardiac arrhythmias, Kevin enjoys hiking, international travel (pre-COVID -19!), following local sports teams and listening to jazz.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Director / Cleveland, OH
• Member of the Association of Black Cardiologists

Lee Kirksey MD, MBA is a board certified vascular surgeon. He joined the Department of Vascular Surgery in the Sydell and Arnold Miller Heart and Vascular Institute at The Cleveland Clinic in 2011. The Cleveland Clinic is entering its 29th year as the U.S. World and News top ranked Heart and Vascular hospital in the Nation. The vascular surgery department composed of 24 practice partners, 20 vascular surgical trainees and 20 midlevel providers is the largest academic practice and training program in the nation. Dr. Kirksey holds the Walter W. Buckley Endowed Vice Chairman position. He is the Chief Health Equity and Community engagement officer in the Heart and Vascular Institute and sits on the Board of Governors physician advancement committee. His clinical areas of interest include minimally invasive and hybrid approaches to complex and re-operative vascular disease. He has numerous publications and book chapters related to these topics and a book entitled The Optimal Guide to Wellness. Dr. Kirksey additional research areas include the investigation of the origins and novel models to address healthcare disparities in low income and minority groups and value-based economics of healthcare delivery. Dr. Kirksey is an active member of the Association of Black Cardiologists, The Society of Vascular Surgeons, The Society of Black Vascular Surgeons and The American Heart Association. He resides in Solon, Ohio with his wife Seema and two sons, Shyar and Nikash.

Job Titles:

• Chief Operating Officer

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• Member of the Founding

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• Member of the Founding

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• Member of the Board
• Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Director / Baltimore

Dr. Marlene Stephanie Williams is an Associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on coronary atherosclerosis and platelet function, and her particular focus is on platelet function as it relates to the acute coronary syndrome. Dr. Williams has examined platelet function and its correlation to platelet functional genomics and runs a platelet physiology laboratory on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. The goal for her cardiovascular platelet laboratory has been to identify the etiology of platelet dysfunction in many disease states and apply methods that may improve this dysfunction that may eventually be translated to therapies for patients with cardiovascular disease. She is a prior recipient of an NIH career mentored award (K23) examining platelet functional genomics and an NIH RO1 award addressing platelet serotonin signaling in depression and heart disease. Dr. Williams has several publications covering platelet functional changes in settings of interventional cardiology, acute coronary syndrome, and heart disease and depression. She has participated in several NHLBI advisory committees, review groups, and study sections. Dr. Williams has been the Course Director, of the advanced clinical clerkship in coronary intensive care at the Bayview Medical center and has mentored many medical residents and cardiology fellows. Dr. Williams received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry from McGill University. She earned a medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and completed a residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After completing a residency, Dr. Williams was a cardiology fellow at Mount Sinai Hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Executive Committee
• Treasurer / Atlanta, GA
• Treasurer / Executive Committee / Atlanta, GA

Melissa Burroughs is a noninvasive cardiologist at Wellstar Health System With a clinical emphasis on heart failure and inherited cardiomyopathies, Melissa also has expertise in global health, health inequality and environmental health. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Association of Black Cardiologists and the board of Duke University Cooperative Cardiovascular Society. Melissa is an active member of the American Heart Association, serving on the Scientific Sessions Programming Committee. She is an advocate for environmental justice for communities of color and is on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Environmental Protection Agency. Melissa has conducted clinical research in the United States, Puerto Rico, Peru and Brazil and has co-authored 23 scientific publications. She is an associate editor at the American Heart Journal. Melissa has a passion for mentorship. She has mentored college students, medical students, medical residents and cardiology fellows in clinical research and clinical medicine. She also is committed to promoting innovation in health care, and has served as a medical advisor to Lantheus, Aeon Global Health Clinical Laboratory and Simple Health Kit. Melissa was born in St. Louis, MO and raised in Atlanta, GA. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Human Biology from Emory University. Melissa graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School. She trained in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and completed cardiovascular medicine training at Duke University where she also received a Master of Science in Global Health.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Nominating Committe Chair

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

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• Member of the Founding

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• Special Projects Coordinator

Job Titles:

• Founder
• Member of the Board
• Member of the Founding
• Founder / Encino, CA

Dr. Richard Allen Williams was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, the youngest of eight children. Upon graduating from Howard High School at the top of his class with a 4.0 grade-point average, he was awarded a full scholarship to Harvard University from which he graduated with honors as the first African American student at Harvard from Delaware. He received the M.D. degree from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, performed his internship at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, Internal Medicine residency at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, and Cardiology fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was an instructor in Cardiology at Harvard Medical School, and while in this position he founded and directed the Central Recruitment Council of Boston Hospitals, which recruited significant numbers of Black medical trainees to Boston hospitals for the first time in their history. He then served for three years as the inaugural Assistant Medical Director at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital in Watts, California, and was charged with the responsibility of opening the hospital. During this time he and Dr. David Satcher collaborated on writing the grant proposal which was awarded $2.5 million by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to establish the King-Drew Sickle Cell Center, of which he became the Director. Following this appointment, he took a position as Chief of the Heart Station and Coronary Care Unit at the West Los Angeles VA Hospital, eventually becoming head of Cardiology at that institution as well as the first Black full Professor in the history of the Department of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Williams has numerous publications and awards to his credit and is the author of The Textbook of Black-related Diseases published by McGraw-Hill in 1975. This is a 900-page book which detailed medical conditions peculiar to African Americans; no other book of its kind has been written before or since, and it is widely considered the classic seminal work on the medical status of Blacks. It is on the shelves of libraries and in medical schools around the world, including the Library of Congress. Other recent books are The Athlete and Heart Disease: Diagnosis, Evaluation and Management, and Humane Medicine: A New Paradigm in Medical Education and Health Care Delivery. Both of these books were published in 1999 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Two other books by Dr. Williams are in preparation: The Textbook of Ethnic Medicine, and The History of Blacks in Medicine. In 2000 he also published volume II of Humane Medicine. He was funded by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals to write a book on healthcare disparities, a topic on which he is one of the nation's leading experts. Dr. Williams founded the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) in 1974 and served as its president for 10 years. He also became the first chairman of the Board of Directors and started the ABC Newsletter. The ABC established the endowed Dr. Richard Allen Williams Scholarship for Black Medical Students in his honor in 1980. Dr. Williams then founded the Minority Health Institute (MHI) in 1987; he is President and CEO of the latter organization. Recently, he served as President of the Charles R. Drew Medical Society in Los Angeles, and was previously a member of the Board of Directors of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. He has been active as a long-time member of the American Heart Association (AHA) and served for over 25 years on the Board of Directors of the Greater Los Angeles Affiliate. He served as Chairman of the "Search Your Heart" Program sponsored by the AHA in Los Angeles in November 2000. Part of that program included the establishment of the Tommy LaSorda Heart Institute at Centinela Hospital. Dr. Williams is the current president of the National Medical Association.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor
• Member of the Board
• Director / Baltimore

Sabra C. Lewsey, MD, MPH is an assistant professor of medicine and an advanced heart failure cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD. Prior to her medical training she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia in Human Biology with Highest Honors. While at UVA, she was named to Phi Beta Kappa and was bestowed the Gray-Carrington Award, the highest university honor awarded to an undergraduate student. She attended medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons as a J.F. Bohmfalk Scholar. During her time at Columbia, she served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Student National Medical Association as the National Premedical Board Member. She graduated Columbia with the Aura E. Severinghaus Award and the distinction of Alpha Omega Alpha. While in medical school, she dual-enrolled and obtained a Master of Public Health degree at the Harvard School of Public Health with a focus in Health Policy and Management. She completed her internship and residency in the Johns Hopkins Osler Medical Residency Program. She also completed clinical and research fellowships in cardiovascular disease and advanced heart failure at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She has been recognized with the Fellows Teaching Award from the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Dr. Lewsey has been named a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and has recently received the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Black Cardiologists. She has received national commendation for her academic contributions and was recognized as a 2020 Butler-Williams Scholar. Her research interests include factors contributing to exercise intolerance, sarcopenia, frailty, and debilitation in aging, particularly in those with heart failure and in patients with HIV. She is also interested in quality initiatives in improving heart failure care, including access, utilization, and outcomes in diverse and aging populations.

Job Titles:

• Director of Research Strategy and Programs

Job Titles:

• Director
• Member of the Board

Sue Peschin, MHS, is president and CEO of the Alliance for Aging Research, a non-profit organization leading the way to a healthier, more dignified aging experience for all. The

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• Senior Manager ( Continuing Medical Education / Special Projects )

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• Marketing and Communications Manager

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• Member Engagement Manager

Job Titles:

• Member of the Founding