Speakers
Alev Atalay, MD
General Internist and Addiction Medicine Provider | Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Instructor of Medicine | Harvard Medical School
Director of the Ambulatory Education, BWH Medicine Residency
Dr. Atalay is a primary care physician and clinician educator in the Division of General Internal Medicine and also practices at the Brigham Health Bridge Clinic. She is the Director of Ambulatory Education for the BWH internal medicine residency and recent Clinical Education Research Scholar through the Department of Medicine. Her clinical interests include the care of patients with substance use disorders in the primary care setting. Her research interest include the development of meaningful and longitudinal patient relationships during medical training.
Cheri Blauwet, MD
Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R)
Attending Physician, Orthopedic Sports Medicine Service
BH COVID Equity Response Team
Cheri Blauwet, MD is an Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She serves as Director of the Kelley Adaptive Sports Research Institute at Spaulding. Dr. Blauwet is also a former Paralympic athlete in the sport of wheelchair racing, competing for the United States Team in three Paralypmic Games (Sydney ’00, Athens ’04, Beijing ’08) and bringing home a total of seven Paralympic medals. She is also a two-time winner of both the Boston and New York City Marathons.
Translating her background as an athlete to the clinic setting, Dr. Blauwet now serves as a Member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Medical Committee and serves on the Board of Directors for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as well as numerous other leadership roles throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Movement. In 2016, she was the recipient of the Harvard Medical School Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award and was named one Boston’s “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders” by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. In 2019 she was named by the Boston Business Journal as one of the “40 under 40” community leaders. She has become a global advocate for the use of sport and physical activity to promote healthy lifestyles for all individuals with disabilities. She was a guest at the White House as well as the keynote speaker at the Boston celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Jennifer Goldsmith
Director of Administration and Programs, Division of Global Health Equity, Director of Health Equity Strategy and Implementation, Department of Medicine
Jennifer has worked in the Division of Global Health Equity since 2014 while supporting health equity efforts within the Department of Medicine. Among her responsibilities is facilitating the DOM’s Health Equity Innovation Program, a matching grant program that has funded 18 projects to-date. This effort advances research and improves care addressing structural inequities while creating a connected community with a shared commitment to health equity and racial justice .
Bernie Jones
Chief of Staff, Office of the EVP/COO and Vice President, Public Policy
Bernard “Bernie” Jones is the vice president of Public Policy and serves as chief of staff to the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brigham Health. He leads government and community relations and policy development and analysis — supporting, advancing and implementing Mass General Brigham’s strategies and policy positions on behalf of Brigham Health. He also oversees the activities of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, helping to further align and integrate clinical operations, academic support, space allocation, administrative leadership, human resources, and operational and financial performance across Brigham Health.
Karthik Sivashanker, MD, MPH, CPPS
BH Medical Director for Quality, Safety and Equity, DQS/DI&E
Dr. Karthik Sivashanker is the Medical Director of Quality, Safety, and Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a psychiatrist at Justice Resource Institute. He is focused on advancing a culturally competent health care system capable of delivering the highest-quality and safest care available to every patient regardless of race, ethnicity, social class, culture, ability to pay, or language proficiency. He attended both college and medical school at Northwestern University in Illinois. He completed his psychiatry residency at NYP Weill Cornell in New York, a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a Harvard Medical School Fellowship in Patient Safety and Quality. He received his MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and VA Under Secretary for Health Diffusion of Excellence Gold Fellow. He has published on topics including quality and safety, equity, opioid use disorders, and mental health.