Thursday Plenary Session

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Music of My Mind: Reflections on Leadership in a New Era

LeRoi S. Hicks, MD, MPH, FACP
2022–2023 SGIM President 

Dr. Hicks graduated from Howard University in 1991 with a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology. He completed his Doctor of Medicine degree at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1995 and earned a Master’s of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2001. Dr. Hicks completed his Internal Medicine (primary care) residency and was chief resident at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Following chief residency, he completed a fellowship in general medicine and faculty development at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he served as a hospitalist from 1999-2011. He became the chief of Hospital Medicine at the University of Massachusetts, in 2011, where his team won four Champions of Excellence Awards for growth, financial sustainability (x2) and high quality care.

In 2014, Dr. Hicks was appointed to serve as Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine and Section Chief of General Internal Medicine at Christiana Care Health System.   As Section Chief, Dr. Hicks supervised the Divisions of Hospital Medicine and Ambulatory Medicine.  His work with both divisions included educational, clinical and quality initiatives such as interdisciplinary rounding and process redesign. In January, 2017 Dr. Hicks became the Hugh R. Sharp, Jr. Chair of the Department of Medicine.

Dr. Hicks is the recipient of numerous clinical and research awards and is nationally known for his research on health care disparities. His research has been related to three areas: (1) The effects of patients’ racial and cultural background on the treatment and clinical outcomes of chronic disease; (2) the development and assessment of interventions aimed at improving quality of medical care and the reduction of disparities in care; and (3) community-based participatory research to identify and address healthcare disparities.

General Internal Medicine: Meeting the Climate of Tomorrow

Howard Frumkin, MD, MPH, DrPH
Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington; Senior Vice President of Trust for Public Land

Howard Frumkin, MD, MPH, DrPH, a general internist and epidemiologist, currently wears two hats. He is Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, where he served as Dean from 2010-2016; and he is Senior Vice President of Trust for Public Land, where he leads the Land and People Lab. Previously he was head of the Our Planet, Our Health initiative at the Wellcome Trust (2018-19), Director of the National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005-10), and Professor and Chair of Environmental and Occupational Health, and Professor of Medicine, at Emory University (1990-2005). His career has focused on health aspects of climate change, the built environment, nature contact, and sustainability.
He is the author or co-author of over 300 scientific journal articles and chapters, and his ten books include Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-Being, and Sustainability (Island Press, 2011 and 2022), Environmental Health: From Global to Local (Jossey-Bass, 3rd Edition 2016), Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves (Island Press, 2020), and Planetary Health: Safeguarding Human Health and the Environment in the Anthropocene (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He was educated at Brown (A.B.), the University of Pennsylvania (M.D.), and Harvard (M.P.H. and Dr.P.H.). He is an elected member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences and of the National Academy of Medicine, and is a Hagler Fellow at Texas A&M University.

Friday Plenary Session

Malcolm L. Peterson Honor Lecture
Advancing Health Impact through Patient- and Stakeholder-Engaged Research

Nakela L. Cook, MD, MPH
Executive Director at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Nakela L. Cook, MD, MPH, is Executive Director at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She is a cardiologist and health services researcher with a distinguished career leading key scientific initiatives engaging patients, clinicians, and other healthcare stakeholders at one of the nation’s largest public health research funders.
Cook leads PCORI’s research, dissemination and implementation, and engagement work as the organization enters its second decade of service to the nation. She also provides strategic and day-to-day oversight of ongoing programs as well as new initiatives designed to create a healthcare system that is more efficient, effective, and patient centered.
Prior to her current role, Cook served as Senior Scientific Officer and Chief of Staff at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). There she spearheaded the development and implementation of NHLBI’s strategic plan and initiatives in precision medicine, data science, sickle cell disease, and women’s health with meaningful engagement of stakeholder groups.
Preceding her position as Chief of Staff, Cook was a Clinical Medical Officer in NHLBI’s Division of Cardiovascular Sciences and an attending cardiologist at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. She earned her medical degree and master of public health in health care policy and management from Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, respectively; and completed her clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Cook is also an alumna of the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy.
Throughout her career, Cook has worked to enhance diversity and equity in research and care delivery and been a leader in efforts to reduce disparities in health access and outcomes. She has received numerous awards for her excellence in clinical teaching and mentorship as well as her leadership of complex scientific initiatives and programs..

Saturday Plenary Session

Finding Joy in Medicine through Adversity, Creativity, and Community

Rabih Geha, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSF, Director of Education, Emergency Department

Rabih Geha, MD is based at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and is the Director of Education for the ED overseeing the education of Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine residents.
Clinically, he splits his time between the emergency room and the inpatient teaching wards. Dr, Geha is also the co-founder of the Clinical Problem Solvers, a multimodal medical education venture run by a global (& incredibly diverse!) team that hosts a weekly podcast (Dx reasoning, Anti-Racism, Women in Medicine, Queer Rounds), live virtual morning report, and other medical education content.

Reza Manesh, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine

Reza Manesh, MD is a hospitalist at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is co-founder of the Clinical Problem Solvers.
He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency training at the University of California San Francisco, where he received the Jeffrey Weingarten Award for exemplifying the personal and professional qualities of a UCSF physician. His first faculty position was at Johns Hopkins University where he was awarded the Osler House Staff Faculty Teaching Award.