Health Policy and Ethics Speakers

Catherine Trosi, PhD

Cathy Troisi is an Associate Professor in the Divisions of Management, Policy, and Community Health and Epidemiology at University of Texas (UTHealth) School of Public Health and coordinator for the Leadership Studies Concentration.  She teaches courses in public health and leadership and her research interests are in infectious disease epidemiology.  She holds a BA in Chemistry from the University of Rochester, an MS in Biochemistry from Michigan State University, and a PhD in Epidemiologic Sciences from the University of Michigan.  She completed the National Public Health Leadership Training in February 2011 and received the UTHealth School of Public Health Community Service Award in 2013 and the Excellence in Teaching award in 2017.  Cathy received the American Public Health Association Advocacy award in 2015 and was elected to the APHA Executive Board in 2017.  She is active with the Texas affiliate as well, receiving the TPHA award for outstanding service in 2010.  She is a member of the National Association of County and City Health Officials epidemiology workgroup as well as many local and state public health advisory boards.  She is the recipient of the 2018 ASPPH Academic Public Health Practice Excellence Award.  In the past three years, she has had 16 op-eds published in Texas newspapers and given over 120 media interviews on public health issues. Cathy is co-chair of the Houston Viral Hepatitis Task Force.

Peter Navario, PhD, MPH

Peter Navario is the Executive Director of HealthRight International, a global health NGO dedicated to empowering marginalized communities to live healthy lives. Peter is also the Director of Global Health Strategy and Clinical Associate Professor at NYU’s College of Global Public Health. Current areas of interest include cost-effectiveness of community based health interventions, global health financing, global mental health, and HIV risk among marginalized populations. Peter was previously a Technical Advisor at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in New York, and a Fellow in Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Undergirding his more recent work on policy and thought leadership is ten years in the field implementing and evaluating HIV prevention, care and treatment programs across sub-Saharan Africa. Peter is on the editorial board of the journal Global Health Governance, and has written on AIDS policy and other global health issues in various publications including the Lancet, Nutrition, the Huffington Post, cfr.org, and Global Health Magazine. Peter holds a BA from Lehigh University, an MPH in Global Health from Yale University, and a PhD in Health Economics from the University of Cape Town.

Cedric Dark, MD, MPH, FACEP, FAAEM

Cedric Dark is the Founder and Executive Editor of Policy Prescriptions. A summa cum laude graduate of Morehouse College, where he received a B.S. in biology, Dr. Dark earned his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. He holds a master’s degree from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He completed his residency training at George Washington University where he served as Chief Resident. Currently, Dr. Dark is an Assistant Professor in the Henry J. N. Taub Department of Emergency Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Dark’s policy experience includes work for the United States House of Representatives and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Dr. Dark’s policy interests include the study of health reform at the intersection with international health systems and teaching health policy to clinicians. His personal mission is our vision: that all Americans possess health security through a universal health care system focused on continuity, affordability, and access to quality health care. Dr. Dark’s research portfolio focuses heavily on freestanding emergency departments and their impact on the health care system including health care costs, quality, and efficiency. He has spoken on this topic locally, nationwide, and internationally.