Building Partnerships: Lessons from the Field

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 Michael Walsh, MHA, FACHE

Michael T. Walsh, Jr. is Director of Texas Children’s Global Health Initiative. Mr. Walsh leads strategy, governance, operations and finance for Texas Children’s global health portfolio, including programs in patient care, education, research, and vaccine development. Mr. Walsh has served as lead administrator for the global health programs of Texas Children’s for the past 9 years and has 13 years of experience in global health, public policy, partnership development, strategy, governance, health systems strengthening, and community development.

Mr. Walsh has designed and implemented pediatric and maternal health programs in more than 20 countries with a focus on health systems strengthening and health professional capacity building. His work has also developed local institutional capacity in board governance, administration, finance, program evaluation, and fund development. Mr. Walsh serves as board officer for NGOs based in Uganda and Malawi.

Mr. Walsh is core faculty of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He also lectures at Rice University and University of St. Thomas Houston.

Mr. Walsh holds a master’s degree in health policy and public health from University of Pittsburgh and bachelor of science from the University of Notre Dame. His academic interests include global health policy and global health diplomacy.

The Architecture of a Shared Leadership Model for Health Systems Strengthening Initiatives Led by a U.S.-based Academic Hospital

Recognizing that a changing global landscape has shaped the evolution of Texas Children’s Hospital’s mission, redefined program impact beyond its immediate geographic location, and that international capabilities enhance domestic strategy and operations, Texas Children’s has collaborated with its academic partner, Baylor College of Medicine, to develop core competencies in global health leading to enhanced impact in resource-limited settings. In 2007, following more than two decades of work globally, Texas Children’s began implementing innovative, system-wide solutions to assure maximum impact of global health investments, on an individual program basis and as a collective portfolio.

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Lee Bar-Eli, MD

Dr. Bar-Eli is a family medicine physician at Kelsey-Seybold and volunteer faculty at UT Houston Medical School. She earned her medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, before going on to complete her internship and residency there. She is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. In her spare time, Dr. Bar-Eli enjoys traveling internationally, skiing, yoga, reading and spending time with friends and family.

 

 

Claire Bocchini, MD

Claire Bocchini, MD is a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. She also serves as President of Doctors for Change, a local non-profit that works to improve the health of all Houstonians, and is involved with the major child advocacy organization CHILDREN AT RISK as a member of the Public Policy Advisory Board and the Board of Directors. She is very passionate about child health advocacy issues such as improving access to both primary and specialty care for kids, obesity prevention, and immunization awareness and education. Dr. Bocchini received her medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine in 2005.

 

Wilson Lam, MD

Dr. Wilson W Lam has been part of the Baylor College of Medicine family since medical school in 1999, completing his combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency, combined adult and pediatric cardiology fellowship, and clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship under the BCM umbrella. He has been involved with medical education for medical students, internal medicine and general pediatrics residents, and adult and pediatric cardiology fellows from didactic lectures, clinical services, and journal clubs. He also coaches the highly accomplished internal medicine Medical Jeopardy team and serves as an associate program director for the BCM internal medicine residency program.

Dr. Lam’s clinical and research interests include clinical outcomes of complex congenital heart disease, particularly device and arrhythmia management. He is also interested in using older technology in novel arenas and demographic predictors in medical education.

He is a native Houstonian and an avid Rice baseball fan.

Doctors for Change: Improving Health Outcomes in Texas

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 Maria Jimenez, BA

Maria Jimenez has been a community organizer /advocate for social justice for fifty years. From 1987-2002, she worked documenting human rights violations in the enforcement of immigration laws with local coalitions in five targeted areas of the US/Mexico border. She has experience in human rights monitoring, documentation and training; publishing articles on international migration; and testifying before Congressional committees. She facilitated the community response to the shooting of Ezequiel Hernandez, Jr. by a covert Marine operation in Redford, Texas. She authored the report Humanitarian Crisis: Migrant Deaths at the US-Mexico Border for the National Commission for Human Rights of Mexico and the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego/Imperial Counties. Three years ago, she became a co-participant in efforts to reduce migrant deaths in South Texas with Houston United, the Prevention of Migrant Deaths Working Group, Los Angeles Del Desierto, South Texas Human Rights Center, Water Stations and the Texas Civil Rights Project. Jimenez’s work has received numerous awards, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Matt Garcia Public Service Award (1998), City of Houston Proclamations of ‘Maria Jimenez Day’ (20002, 2005, 2010), Petra Foundation Fellowship (2010) and the National Hispanic Professional Organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2013).

Migrant Fatalities on the US/Mexico Border: Partnership-Building to Reduce Disparities in Prevention, DNA Sampling and Database Tracking

In 2012, county authorities in Brooks County, Texas recovered the remains of 129 unauthorized border crossers. They were unaware of state law requiring the processing and taking of DNA samples of unidentified human remains. Many decedents were buried without taking DNA samples. Family members were unable to submit reference samples to identify missing loved ones. Turning to community-based organizations, the families’ search began a process of alliance-building locally, nationally and internationally to challenge the structural inequities in the recovery, processing and burial of unidentified human remains, the disparities of health and law enforcement databases and the conditions of migrant deaths.

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 Gary Eagleton, BS

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 Andre Ilbawi, MD

Dr. Ilbawi attended the University of Pennsylvania where he studied bioengineering, chemistry, and religious studies. He then matriculated to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha with a Certificate in Global Health and received the Marian Stegemoeller Fellowship for Clinical Work at Princess Marina Hospital in Botswana. He worked as the chief fundraiser for the Guatemala Health Initiative, an organization that he helped establish while in medical school and one that continues to address the health care needs of a community in rural Guatemala.

Dr. Ilbawi then completed his training in general surgery at the University of Washington where he founded and led the General Surgery Resident Interest Group in Global Health. He is currently a surgical oncology fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and is a member of the Global Academic Program sub-committee on Africa. He and his wife are planning to relocate to sub-Saharan Africa where they will function as clinicians, trainers, and collaborative researchers.

Cancer Care in Low-Income Countries: the Current State & the Way Forward

Each year, there are over 5 million deaths from cancer in low- and middle-income countries, exceeding the total number of deaths from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria combined. Only 5% of global resources for cancer are spent in LMICs, where there are widespread disparities in service provision. Significant obstacles to service delivery exists along the spectrum of cancer care – from prevention and early detection to treatment and palliations – and are compounded by health infrastructure deficits and inadequate basic services.

The global knowledge exists today to take effective action and improve cancer outcomes in LMICs. The challenge confronting global stakeholders is how to apply that knowledge. Implementation of effective programs requires the formulation of evidence-based policies, the mobilization and appropriate allocation of resources, the active participation of all stakeholders, and international collaboration in support of cancer control. With these efforts, global cancer partnerships have the capacity to bridge the cancer gap worldwide.

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 Mac McClendon

Mac McClendon joined Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services (HCPHES) in November 2005 as the Emergency Management Coordinator. In August 2006 he was named Chief, Office of Public Health Preparedness and in March 2007 was named Director, Office of Public Health Preparedness. Mac is responsible for all hazard planning and response to public health emergencies. He is also experienced in developing and implementing emergency preparedness plans within the all hazards framework and represents Public Health on many local, state and federal planning committees.

Mac was formerly the Emergency Response Chief for a major chemical manufacturer and has over 26 years’ experience in emergency response and management including Fire, Heavy Rescue, Hazardous Materials and EMS. Mac currently chairs the NACCHO Preparedness Policy Advisory Group and serves on the NACCHO Incident Management working group. Mac also serves on the ASTHO/NACCHO national Health Security Preparedness Index steering committee.

Mac is a member of the Texas Task Force One Urban Search and Rescue Team where he serves as a Task Force Safety Officer and is also a member of the State of Texas Region 2 Type 3 Incident Management Team. Mac also served on the State of Texas Incident Management Team (IMT) Steering committee representing ESF 8. Mac is also a guest instructor for the Texas A&M Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX).

Local Public Health Planning, Response, Recovery: “The Big Picture”

Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services (HCPHES) is responsible for the all hazards planning, response and recovery for public health emergencies within Harris County excluding the City of Houston. This session will address some of the complexities involved with bringing multiple partners, stakeholders, NGOs, and private sector to the table. HCPHES must ensure or coordinate many activities during emergency events. We will discuss many of these aspects during this presentation.

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Oral Abstracts