2024 Speakers

Michael Dowling is one of healthcare’s most influential voices, taking a stand on societal issues such as gun violence and immigration that many health system CEOs shy away from. As president and CEO of Northwell Health, he leads a clinical, academic and research enterprise with a workforce of more than 83,000 and annual revenue of $16.5 billion. Northwell is the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State, caring for more than two million people annually through a vast network of more than 890 outpatient facilities, including 220 primary care practices, 52 urgent care centers, home care, rehabilitation and end-of-life programs, and 21 hospitals.

Northwell also pursues pioneering research at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and a visionary approach to medical education highlighted by the Zucker School of Medicine, the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies, and one of the nation’s largest medical residency and fellowship programs.

Mr. Dowling’s leadership has been invaluable to Northwell’s consistent expansion and prominence. In 2020, he successfully navigated the health system through the first COVID-19 epicenter in the US, detailing his experiences in Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Humanity, Innovation, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Crisis. Overall, Northwell has treated more than 350,000 COVID patients, and the health system utilized a strong innovative culture to expand hospital bed capacity (adding 2,000 beds in two weeks), 3D-print nasal swabs for COVID testing, convert bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machines into mechanical ventilators and take advantage of its large, integrated health system to “load balance” and transport 810 patients from overrun hospitals to those that had bed capacity. Northwell also kept employees safe, investing in critical personal protective equipment to help those working the front lines, one of whom—Sandra Lindsay—was the first person in the US to receive the historic COVID vaccine in December 2020.

Prior to becoming president and CEO in 2002, Mr. Dowling was the health system’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. Before joining Northwell Health in 1995, he was a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Mr. Dowling served in New York State government for 12 years, including seven years as state director of Health, Education and Human Services and deputy secretary to the governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services.

Before his public service career, Mr. Dowling was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services, and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County.

Mr. Dowling has been honored with many awards over the years. In 2020, he received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, which recognizes individuals for their contributions to Ireland and to Irish communities abroad, presented by the President of Ireland. He has received an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and is a board member of the Foreign Policy Association. In 2017, he was selected as the Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City; received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for Irish Abroad and was inducted to the Irish America Hall of Fame. He also has received the 2012 B’nai B’rith National Healthcare Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2011 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. In 2020, Mr. Dowling received the Deming Cup from the Columbia School of Business.

In 2011, Modern Healthcare magazine awarded Mr. Dowling with the CEO Information Technology Award. He also was ranked first in Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare list in 2022, a list on which he has appeared 16 times.  

Additional awards include the National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of New York State, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, the Alfred E. Smith Award from the American Society for Public Administration, the Gold Medal from the American Irish Historical Society and the Foreign Policy Association Medal, which is the highest honor bestowed by the organization. He was also ranked No. 44 among large company CEOs in the US and was the nation’s top-ranking health care/hospital CEO on Glassdoor’s Top CEOs in 2019 list.

Mr. Dowling is past chair of the Healthcare Institute and the current chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland. He also serves as a board member of the Long Island Association. He is past chair and a current board member of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and the League of Voluntary Hospitals of New York. Mr. Dowling was an instructor at the Center for Continuing Professional Education at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Mr. Dowling grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He earned his undergraduate degree from University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and his master’s degree from Fordham University. He also has honorary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, Hofstra University, Dowling College and Fordham University.

As director of Northwell Health’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention, Chethan Sathya, MD, oversees the health system’s expansive approach to firearm injury and mortality prevention. Northwell, which established the center as the first of its kind in 2019, has taken a public health approach to gun violence, focusing on key areas such as research, education (health care workers, nurses, medical students, residents), advocacy and community engagement.

Dr. Sathya is a powerful voice and advocate for firearm injury prevention. His role as a pediatric trauma surgeon exposed him to the dramatic and irresponsible results of gun violence, which has fueled his passion to find solutions to the national issue. Among his goals, Dr. Sathya is leveraging Northwell’s diverse patient population and wide reach to implement preventative strategies and perform high-level research. He has presented on gun violence prevention in various forums and in top media outlets such as CNN, Scientific American, The Washington Post, CBC and Huffington Post, among others.

Dr. Sathya also serves as associate trauma director at Cohen Children’s and he’s an assistant professor of surgery and pediatrics at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He completed medical school and general surgery training at the University of Toronto, followed by Pediatric Surgery Fellowship at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. He also holds a master’s in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto, in addition to completing a fellowship in global journalism at the Munk School of Global Affairs in Toronto. He is active in trauma research and works closely with the American College of Surgeons on trauma quality improvement initiatives.

During his clinical training in Chicago, he treated numerous children and babies with firearm injuries and now continues to do the same in New York. As a surgeon-journalist with firsthand experience pulling bullets out of children – many of who die – Dr. Sathya has a unique perspective and deep routed passion in telling the stories of children affected by gun violence.

He has been an invited speaker at a number of prestigious events, including the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit on Violence Prevention and the Healthcare Association of New York State symposium on best practices in gun violence prevention, where he was the keynote speaker. He’s also a consultant to the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, serving as a core member of the Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) taskforce and the national firearm injury data collection initiative. Dr. Sathya also serves as a member of the Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns Executive Committee.

David Battinelli, MD, is transitioning from his role as senior vice president and chief medical officer where he was responsible for the overall professional management of clinical, education, research and operational issues related to medical and clinical affairs. He is assuming the role of physician-in-chief in the coming weeks as Northwell Health’s senior physician on all clinical, research and education issues.

While CMO he also served as the chief operating officer for the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research where he oversaw all operational and budgetary issues for Northwell’s research enterprise growing extramural funding and endowments while improving overall efficiency and research productivity.

Previously, he also served as the health system’s chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs, in charge of all undergraduate and graduate educational programs, all continuing medical education, and academic affairs and institutional relationships. Dr. Battinelli is also vice dean and the Betsey Cushing Whitney Professor of Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine and will be assuming the role of Dean this summer. A founding member of the SOM he previously he served as the dean for medical education and chaired the committee charged with developing the curriculum for the new medical school.

A board-certified internist, Dr. Battinelli came to Northwell Health from Boston Medical Center (BMC), where he served as vice chair for education, program director, internal medicine residency program and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. He was also an active staff physician at BMC and the Boston Veterans Administration.

Dr. Battinelli is a past president of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine. He has worked closely with and served on numerous committees for a variety of national medical organizations including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians, and the Accreditation Committee on Graduate Medical Education, among others. In addition, he has lectured extensively on clinical education, faculty development of teaching skills and internal medicine, and is a noted speaker and author on these subjects.

Dr. Battinelli earned his medical degree from the Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, NJ, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Scranton. He completed his residency and chief residency at the Boston City Hospital.

Ambassador Susan E. Rice is the Domestic Policy Advisor in the Biden Administration. As Director of the Domestic Policy Council, she drives the formulation and implementation of President Biden’s domestic policy agenda, from economic mobility and racial equity to health care and immigration. She previously served as President Obama’s U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and National Security Advisor from 2009-2017. She is the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For.

Rice was most recently a Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at American University’s School of International Service and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Prior to the start of the Biden Administration, she was a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.

Previously, Rice served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, and Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping at the National Security Council under President Clinton from 1993-2001.

Ambassador Rice received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in international relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and her B.A. with honors in History from Stanford University. A native of Washington, DC, Ambassador Rice is married and has two children.

Edward Skyler joined Citi as Executive Vice President and Head of Global Public Affairs in May 2010. Reporting directly to the CEO, Mr. Skyler oversees the primary functions that shape the reputation of Citi, including Communications, Government Affairs, Marketing, Sustainability/ESG, Community Investing and Development and Citi’s compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Mr. Skyler has responsibility for certain corporate operations, including its aviation, client and internal event management and conferencing units, and chairs the Citi Foundation. He also shares leadership of Investor Relations, Regulatory Affairs, and Environmental and Social Risk Management.

Prior to joining Citi, Mr. Skyler served as a member of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration from 2002 to 2010, rising to the position of Deputy Mayor for Operations for the City of New York. In that capacity, he oversaw the performance of the City’s main operational agencies and served as a top budget, legislative and labor negotiator. Mr. Skyler oversaw four consecutive balanced and on-time City budgets; negotiated legislation to reform lobbying and “pay-to-play” practices; and spearheaded critical initiatives such as the overhaul of the City’s 911 system and its sustainability agenda.

Before he was appointed Deputy Mayor for Operations, Mr. Skyler served as Press Secretary and Communications Director during Mayor Bloomberg’s first term. He managed all communications operations, including media relations and speechwriting. Prior to joining the Bloomberg Administration, he worked in the Corporate Communications group of Bloomberg LP. He also served as Deputy Press Secretary to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Public Information Director at the Department of Parks & Recreation.

Mr. Skyler has stayed involved in civic life and served as Chairman of the Citizens Budget Commission. He is also an Executive Committee Member of the New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund and is a Trustee of The Paley Center for Media.

Mr. Skyler is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a law degree from the Fordham University School of Law, which he attended at night. A member of the New York State Bar Association, he has been honored by several organizations, including Global Kids, Graham Windham and the YMCA of Greater New York.

James A. Mercy, PhD is the Director of the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) in CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. In this role, he provides leadership to innovative research and science-based programs to prevent violence and reduce its consequences. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology from Emory University. 

Dr. Mercy has worked to develop the public health approach to violence prevention for more than 35 years. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Mercy oversaw global activities in DVP and implemented surveys on violence against children in developing countries as part of a global partnership called Together for Girls with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the World Health Organization (WHO), and others.

As a researcher, Dr. Mercy has authored more than 250 publications that span the areas of child maltreatment, youth and intimate partner violence, homicide, suicide, and firearm-related injuries. He has received honors from CDC, the Public Health Service (PHS) and Research America for his sustained outstanding leadership in bringing about the recognition of violence as a public health problem. In 2019 he was awarded the William C. Watson Jr. Medal of Excellence, the premiere service award for CDC employees.  He also served as a co-editor of the World Report on Violence and Health prepared by WHO and on the Editorial Board of the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Study of Violence Against Children.

Dr. Mercy received his master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology from Emory University. He is an adjunct associate professor of sociology at Emory University and at the Public Health Institute at Georgia State University, both in Atlanta.

Charles H. Ramsey was appointed Police Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department on January 7, 2008, by Mayor Michael A. Nutter.  He retired in January 2016 after serving eight years as Commissioner and leading the fourth largest police department in the nation with over 6,600 sworn members and 830 civilian members.  He brings over fifty years of knowledge, experience, and service in advancing the law enforcement profession in three different major city police departments, beginning with Chicago, then Washington, DC, and Philadelphia. 

Commissioner Ramsey has been at the forefront of developing innovative policing strategies and leading organizational change for the past 25 years. He is an internationally recognized practitioner and educator in his field and is the Immediate Past President of both the Police Executive Research Forum and the Major Cities Chiefs Association. He is the only law enforcement professional to have served as President of both prominent organizations at the same time and is the only police professional to receive the Leadership Award from 3 major law enforcement organizations; the FBI National Executive Institute, Police Executive Research Forum, and the Major Cities Chiefs Association. In December 2014, following several high-profile incidents involving police use of force, President Barrack Obama chose Commissioner Ramsey to serve as co-chair of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. In recognition of his contributions to the field of policing and public safety, he has been awarded Honorary Doctorate Degrees from four universities and served as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Drexel Universities Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation. In 2016, Commissioner Ramsey was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. In January 2017, Commissioner Ramsey became a law enforcement analyst for Turner Broadcasting news outlet, CNN. He was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to serve as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and Chairman of the PA School Safety Committee. In August 2019, Governor Wolf appointed him to serve as his Senior Advisor for Gun Violence Prevention. He is currently Principal Deputy Monitor overseeing Federal Consent Decrees in Baltimore and Cleveland and is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. He is a Founding Partner in the consulting firm 21st Century Policing Solutions, LLC.

During his eight years as Police Commissioner in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department made significant progress in driving down violent crime in the city.  With a renewed focus on evidence-based policing initiatives, organizational accountability, and a neighborhood-based policing strategy, Philadelphia has seen nearly a 25% reduction in violent crime and a 37% reduction in homicides. In 2014, Philadelphia experienced its lowest violent crime rate since 1985. The end of 2015 marked the first time since 1969, the City of Philadelphia had fewer than 300 homicides for three consecutive years. In 2014, the Philadelphia Police Department was accredited by the Southeastern Association of Chiefs of Police.

In 2007, Charles H. Ramsey was a security consultant to the Washington, D.C. Convention Center and the United States Senate Sergeant of Arms. During that year, he also served on the Independent Commission on Security Forces of Iraq, led by the former Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and National Security Advisor General James L. Jones. He headed a prominent group of law enforcement professionals that traveled across Iraq to review the state of Iraqi police forces and submitted a report to the United States Congress. 

Commissioner Ramsey served as the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, District of Columbia (MPDC), from April 21, 1998, to January 1, 2007. He was the longest-serving chief of the MPDC since DC Home Rule and the second longest-serving in Department history. Under then Chief Ramsey’s leadership, the Department regained its reputation as a national leader in urban policing. Crime rates declined by approximately 40 percent during Ramsey’s tenure. Community policing and traffic safety programs were expanded, and recruiting, hiring standards, training, equipment, facilities, and fleet were all dramatic upgraded. He also oversaw and participated in numerous high profile investigations and events in Washington DC, such as The 1998 murders of two United States Capitol Police officers inside the U.S. Capitol Building; The Y2K National Celebration in Washington, DC; The International Monetary Fund/World Bank Protests in April 2000; The Chandra Levy Murder Investigation, The 9/11Terrorist Attacks, The 2001 Anthrax Attacks; The 2002 DC Sniper Investigation; The funeral of Presidents Ronald W. Reagan and Gerald R. Ford and the 2001 and 2005 Presidential Inaugurations.

As head of the 4,400-member Metropolitan Police Department, Commissioner Ramsey worked to improve police services, enhance public confidence in the police, and bring down the District of Columbia’s crime rate. He also oversaw a multi-million-dollar upgrade to district stations and other Department facilities, as well as new communications and information technology, including mobile data computing and the 3-1-1 non-emergency system.

In the area of community policing, Commissioner Ramsey redefined the Department’s mission to focus on crime prevention. Policing for Prevention, the Department’s community policing strategy encompasses focused law enforcement, neighborhood-based partnerships, problem-solving, and systemic prevention efforts. The strategy was supported not only by enhanced training for officers and supervisors but also by a unique community training initiative called Partnerships for Problem Solving as well as a Senior Citizen Police Academy.  The MPDC received international acclaim for its handling of major events, and the Department took several steps to address the continued threat of terrorism in the Nation’s Capital.

The result of these and other initiatives was a dramatic reduction in crime in the District of Columbia under Commissioner Ramsey’s tenure. Violent crime in DC was at its lowest level since the current method of reporting statistics was first developed in the late 1960s. At the same time, opinion surveys indicated that public confidence in the MPDC rose under Commissioner Ramsey’s leadership.

In 1999, Commissioner Ramsey partnered with the Anti-Defamation League and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in developing an innovative and experiential training program called “Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons from the Holocaust.” As a result of this experience, law enforcement personnel understand the critical importance of their profession’s core values, as well as the significant and unique role they play within our democracy.  More than 100,000 people have gone through this program, including every new agent in the FBI, state and federal judges, and police personnel from agencies nationally and internationally. In 2013, as President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, he partnered with the Teleos Leadership Institute to create the Police Executive Leadership Institute. A program specifically designed to develop the next generation of police leaders. In 2015, Commissioner Ramsey partnered with the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, developing an innovative training for police called “Policing in a More Perfect Union.” This educational program helps police officers better understand the history of policing in the United States and the importance of building legitimacy and trust in the communities they serve. 

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Commissioner Ramsey served in the Chicago Police Department for nearly three decades in a variety of assignments. He began his career in 1968, at the age of 18, as a Chicago Police cadet. He became a police officer in February 1971 and was promoted through the ranks, eventually serving as commander of patrol, detectives and narcotics units. In 1994, he was promoted to Deputy Superintendent and managed the department’s education and training, research and development, labor affairs, crime prevention, and professional counseling functions.

Commissioner Ramsey was instrumental in designing and implementing the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy, the city’s nationally acclaimed model of community policing. As co-manager of the CAPS project in Chicago, Commissioner Ramsey was one of the principal authors of the police department’s strategic vision. He also designed and implemented the CAPS operational model and helped to develop new training curricula and communications efforts to support implementation. During his career in Chicago, he received numerous awards, including twelve Department Commendations and more than 100 Honorable Mentions for excellence in police work.

In July 2009, He served as a member of the Cambridge Review Committee. An independent national committee to help identify lessons learned from the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In 2010 he oversaw the Kensington Strangler investigation, which resulted in the arrest of Antonio Rodriguez convicted of the strangulation murders of three prostitutes in Philadelphia’s Kensington District.  In 2011 he served as a member of the Kennedy School of Government Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety. A group of renowned scholars and practitioners, who convened meetings over three years to set the public policy agenda for the policing profession for the next two decades. He was a member of the Executive Committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, served on the National Homeland Security Advisory Council, and is also an advisor to the FBI’s National Executive Institute. He has served as the Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for both the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Major Cities Chiefs Association. He currently serves as an advisor to the United States Conference of Mayors. In November 2016, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.

He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the National Executive Institute.  He completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security in February 2008. 

Commissioner Ramsey has lectured nationally on community policing as an adjunct faculty member of both the Northwestern University Traffic Institute’s School of Police Staff and Command and Lewis University and is an expert in the area of policing and homeland security. He was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University and served as an advisor to several police departments including Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, MI, Los Angeles, Sacramento, CA, University of Cincinnati, Miami Gardens and Wilmington, Delaware. He also has worked with the Police Executive Research Forum and police departments in the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Police on the West Bank.

In December 2015, the City of Philadelphia named the Philadelphia Police Department Training Academy Auditorium the Charles H. Ramsey Training and Education Auditorium. The United States Congress approved a U.S. Postage Stamp bearing his likeness presented by the United States Postal Inspector Philadelphia Division in his honor. In October 2018, he delivered the keynote address at the Grand Opening of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, D.C.

Fatimah is the Executive Director of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) and a Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Health Equity Leadership at Yale School of Management. The HAVI is a national network of hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs)serving violently injured patients by addressing the social determinants of health. Through innovative community/hospital partnerships in over 80 Cities in the US and abroad, the HAVI has expanded health-based, trauma-informed care by cultivating a powerful national alliance of ER doctors, trauma surgeons, researchers, violence prevention professionals, and communities impacted by violence. Fatimah’s vision for social change has been shaped by a rich heritage of resilience in the wake of harm: from her father‘s incarceration to her family’s experiences with homelessness. She is fighting for a system that centers racial equity, preventative public health strategies, and trauma-informed care delivery. 

Prior to joining the HAVI, Fatimah was Deputy Director of Equal Justice USA, a national criminal justice reform organization in which she led an award-winning program on community trauma and police-community relations. Fatimah has received numerous honors and distinctions including 2018 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders Fellowship. She is a psychotherapist by training and a proud Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Her work at the HAVI has been featured in TIME Magazine, NY Times, CNN, NBC News, Health Affairs, and The Trace.

Dr. Joseph V. Sakran is a trauma surgeon, coalition builder, policy advisor, public health
practitioner, and nationally recognized advocate for gun violence prevention. He is currently
Director of Emergency General Surgery, Associate Professor of Surgery and Nursing, Associate
Chief of the Division of Acute Care Surgery, and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations at The Johns
Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

A survivor of gun violence himself, Dr. Sakran’s interest in medicine and trauma surgery began
after a stray bullet nearly killed him during his senior year of high school. He has subsequently
dedicated his life to treating the most vulnerable, reducing health disparities among marginalized
populations, and advancing public policy that alleviates structural violence in low-income
communities.

In addition to being an active clinician, Dr. Sakran is widely known for building diverse
coalitions and advocacy efforts within public health and policy communities. Following a 2018
comment by the National Rifle Association that doctors should “stay in our lane” with regard to
gun violence prevention, Sakran launched This is Our Lane, a community of medical
professionals dedicated to reducing firearm injuries and deaths. He is the founder of Doctors for
Hillary, a national coalition of physicians who supported Secretary Hillary Clinton’s 2016
campaign for president and the precursor to Doctors for Biden during the 2020 presidential
campaign.

Internationally, Dr. Sakran has delivered care and sustainable solutions throughout numerous
countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, with a focus on long-term interventions
and capacity building that reduce the global burden of surgical disease. He has responded to a
number of international disasters including the Asian Tsunami in 2004, and the Haitian
Earthquake in 2010.

Dr. Sakran has been recognized for his public health research, specifically on firearm injury
prevention. He has been honored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
and Academy Health, and he is a 2020 recipient of Johns Hopkins’ Catalyst Award for
pioneering research on physicians’ role in educating patients on safe gun storage. In 2019, Dr.
Sakran was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar in which he furthered his research on safe
gun storage. Selected by the National Academy of Medicine to be a Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation Health Policy Fellow, he was honored to serve in the U.S. Senate in the office of
New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, where he worked on health policy
and regulatory issues from 2019-2020.

Dr. Sakran makes frequent appearances in print and on television. He has written numerous
opinion pieces for The Atlantic and CNN.com, and his work has been featured on NPR’s Fresh
Air with Terry Gross, MSNBC, CNN, The Israeli Times, O Magazine, and The Pell Center’s
Story in the Public Square. He has also testified multiple times in front of Congress on gun
violence prevention.

Dr. Sakran is an active leader in the medical and gun violence prevention communities. He
serves on the governing council of the Young Fellows Association of the American College of
Surgeons (ACS), and he is vice-chair of ACS’s International Subcommittee for Operation Giving
Back. He serves on the board of Brady United, and is on the Advisory Council for Future
Doctors in Politics.

Dr. Sakran received his medical degree from The Medical School for International Health in
Israel, a unique collaboration between Ben-Gurion and Columbia University. He later completed
a fellowship in Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care, and Emergency General Surgery at the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a Masters in Public Health from the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Masters of Public Administration from
Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Sakran earned his undergraduate degree from

George Mason University, where he first trained as a medic and firefighter. He is a first-
generation Arab-American, has lived and worked throughout the United States, Israel, and India, and speaks Arabic and Hebrew.

Marc Harrison, M.D., president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, is a pediatric critical care physician and a recognized national and international leader in healthcare transformation. His leadership has landed him on Fortune’s Top 50 World’s Greatest Leaders in 2019 and Modern Healthcare’s Most Influential People in Healthcare (#3 in 2020).  

Dr. Harrison leads Intermountain’s 41,000 employees —who are all called caregivers—to reimagine operations and incentives to keep people and communities healthier. Together, their mission-driven approach fuels their vision is to build a model health system that delivers the best and most equitable outcomes by providing high-quality care that is accessible to everyone.

To accomplish this, Dr. Harrison has embraced unconventional, public-private partnerships to confront some of the most pressing systemic challenges facing the industry and consumers. For example, Intermountain partnered with 1,200 hospitals nationwide to launch Civica Rx, a not-for-profit generic drug manufacturer and distributor, to make generic medications more available and affordable in hospitals across the nation. Intermountain is a founding member of the Utah Alliance for the Determinants of Health, which is a collaboration of community partners who are proactively addressing forces that affect people’s health well before they get sick. And Intermountain is partnering with an international genomics leader along with 500,000 volunteers to advance medical breakthroughs that will help prevent and treat genetic diseases for people around the globe.

Before leading Intermountain, Dr. Harrison served as CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, chief of international business development at Cleveland Clinic, and chief medical operations officer at Cleveland Clinic. 

He received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College, his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School, completed a pediatric residency and pediatric care fellowship at Intermountain’s Primary Children’s Hospital, and a Master of Medical Management at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Dr. Harrison is an all-American triathlete and represented the U.S. at the 2014 World Championships. He is also a two-time cancer survivor, with his sights currently on completing an Ironman. He is also a loving husband and proud father of three children.

Jim Ross was elected to the office of Mayor at the City of Arlington in June 2021. Jim Ross has spent decades serving his community and his country.  As a proud resident of Arlington for nearly forty years he has witnessed the growth, and growing pains, this community has endured. 

From 1979 to 1983, Jim served this country as a United States Marine. With assignments at home and abroad, Jim served the Marines in numerous capacities.  Having received his Honorable Discharge in 1983, Jim moved to Texas where he was soon hired by the Arlington Police Department. 

During his thirteen year career as a Police Officer, Jim was a member of Arlington’s first full time Special Operations Unit (SWAT), taught self-defense and physical fitness at the police academy and spent over six years investigating illegal narcotics trafficking, both locally and with the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force.  His commendations and accomplishments as a Marine and police officer are numerous.

In 1996, Jim decided to make a career change and go to law school.  He completed law school in twenty-eight months, studied and passed the State of Texas Bar exam on his first attempt and was licensed as an attorney in May 1999.  During his first ten years of practice, Jim represented thousands of clients while working environmental exposure cases for some of the country’s most prestigious law firms.  

In 2009, Jim left the larger firms to pursue private practice.  Initially, Jim was a one-man shop.  He answered the phones, did his own typing, and took out the trash.  The Jim Ross Law Group, P.C. has grown and experienced some tremendous success.  Now with offices in Arlington, Dallas and Fort Worth the Firm has nearly a dozen lawyers and a staff of over thirty employees.  

In November 2017, Jim opened the Mercury Chophouse – Arlington (MCA) which rapidly became Arlington’s premier fine dining steakhouse. 

As an active and proud member of Arlington, Jim has served on the board of directors for the Arlington Police Foundation, the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce, the Margarita Society, Special Olympics, and the American Heart Association.

More than a passionate lawyer, businessman, and advocate, Jim is a family man with four children and five grandchildren.  He brings his experience as a caring father and Papaw to his businesses and the community.

Errol Louis is the Political Anchor of Spectrum News NY1, where he hosts “Inside City Hall,” a nightly prime-time show that focuses on New York politics.

He regularly interviews top political and cultural leaders, and has moderated more than two dozen debates, including the race for mayor, public advocate, city and state comptroller, state Attorney General and the U.S. Senate.  He also was a panelist in a 2016 Democratic presidential debate in Brooklyn between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Additionally, Louis is an adjunct professor of Urban Reporting at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Prior to joining Spectrum News NY1, Louis served on the Daily News’ editorial board, and he still pens weekly opinion columns for the newspaper. He also hosted a weekday talk show on AM1600 WWRL.

A graduate of New Rochelle High School, Louis attended Harvard College, where he graduated with a B.A. in Government. He also earned an M.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Pastor Michael McBride (known as “Pastor Mike”) is a native of San Francisco and has been active in ministry for over 20 years. Pastor McBride’s commitment to holistic ministry can be seen through his leadership roles in both the church and community organizations. A graduate of Duke University’s Divinity School, with a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Ethics and Public Policy, Pastor McBride founded The Way Christian Center in West Berkeley, where he presently serves as the Lead Pastor.
 
In March 2012, he became the Director for the LIVE FREE Campaign with Faith in Action, a campaign led by hundreds of faith congregations throughout the United States committed to addressing gun violence and mass incarceration of young people of color. He is one of the national leaders in the movement to implement public health and community centered gun violence prevention programs, which have contributed in 50% reductions of gun related homicides in Oakland and many other cities across the country. He is a co-founder of Community Justice Reform Coalition and the National Black Brown Gun Violence Prevention Consortium which work to center black and brown gun violence prevention practitioners and scale up life-saving interventions related to urban and communal violence.
 
Regarded as a national faith leader, active in the Ferguson uprisings and many subsequent uprisings, he helps bridge, train and support millennials and religious institutions working on racial justice and black liberation. Pastor McBride has served on a number of local and national task forces with the White House and Department of Justice regarding gun violence prevention, boys and men of color and police-community relationships. In 2016 he was appointed as an Advisor on President Obama’s Faith Based Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, the Huffington Post and many other media outlets providing commentary on issues related to faith and racial justice.
 
He is married to Cherise McBride and they have two beautiful daughters, Sarai and Nylah.

Julvonnia McDowell is a gun violence survivor and a Survivor Membership Lead with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action. Julvonnia’s 14-year-old son, JaJuan McDowell, was unintentionally shot and killed by another teen playing with an unsecured gun on April 7, 2016 while visiting family in Savannah, GA for spring break. Julvonnia joined Moms Demand Action shortly after JaJuan’s death. As a leader in the survivor community, she is a dedicated mentor and support system for survivors and encourages a robust foundation of strength. One of her focuses is on safe gun storage as a Be SMART program advocate, a framework designed to help parents and adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions to prevent child gun deaths and injuries.