Presentation: Conference Welcome

Stephanie R. Black, MD, MSc - As Medical Director with the Healthcare-Associated Infections and Communicable Disease Programs at the Chicago Department of Public Health, Dr. Black focuses on healthcare-associated infections and infection control in healthcare settings in addition to community-based communicable diseases. These programs conduct surveillance and outbreak investigations, facilitate testing, and respond to emerging infectious disease threats including Candida auris and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, mpox, Legionnaires’ Disease and COVID-19. Dr. Black is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. She completed undergraduate training at Cornell University, medical school at Temple University, and internal medicine residency and infectious disease fellowship studies at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Black practiced clinical infectious diseases medicine for 6 years at Rush University Medical Center, followed by 5 years at John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County. She is a voting member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB).

Presentation: What Kids Have Lost During the Pandemic and How Can They Get It Back?

Peter Leonard is the Executive Director of Student Assessment & MTSS for Chicago Public Schools. He and his team empower CPS stakeholders with high-quality evidence of student learning to advance achievement, access, and opportunity for all students. They achieve this by leading policy, strategy, implementation, and support across all assessment & MTSS programs. Peter also represents CPS in various state-level groups, serving on the State Assessment Review Committee and the P-20 Council's Committee on Data, Assessment, and Accountability. He is a proud fellowship alum of AmeriCorps, Education Pioneers, the University of Chicago Civic Leadership Academy, and the Erikson Institute Barbara Bowman Leadership program. Peter holds a B.A. in History from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. in the Learning Sciences from Northwestern University, and a Certificate in Civic Leadership from the University of Chicago.

Presentation: The Role of Academic Partnerships In Public Health Response – A Brief History

Stockton Mayer is an Infectious Disease physician at The University of Illinois at Chicago and an Investigator in Project Wish – the Infectious Disease department’s clinical research center. Dr. Mayer helps lead the Community Outreach and Intervention Projects (COIP) comprehensive clinical care program for People Who Inject Drugs and he supports the City of Chicago as a co-lead for the UIC Outbreak Response Team.

Before embarking on a career in medicine, Dr. Mayer worked in public and private sector business development. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, he trained small business development leaders throughout the Jalapa region. He later worked with Booz Allen Hamilton’s International and Infrastructure team as a consultant. Dr. Mayer still works in Guatemala, assisting local governments with decentralization of HIV services and implementing strategies for outreach to high risk populations.

Presentation: Looking Ahead to the Upcoming Respiratory Season

Dr. Jacqueline Tiema-Massie is a seasoned public health leader with over twenty-two years of experience in key roles in public health, emergency preparedness, and human services. She began her career in 2001 in the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) Immunization Program, as a Public Health Administrator for the Vaccines for Children program. While at CDPH, she also served as Director of Planning, Research and Development, leading the development and coordination of the Bureau of Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response’s federal grant applications, planning projects, performance management, and planning activities during emergency response events and real incidences. She has also served as the Grants Director for the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services and in this role she was responsible for the preparation of complex federal, state, and private human services grants worth over $400 million. Currently and for the last two years, she has served as the CDPH Immunization Program Director. In this role, she leads a team of over 40 public health professionals to vaccinate thousands of Chicagoans for COVID-19, Flu, and other routine adult and childhood vaccines.

Presentation: Building a Healthcare Sanctuary Within a Sanctuary City: Chicago's New Arrivals Health Response

Dr. Jennifer Seo, MD, JD, FAAP, FACP, is Chief Medical Officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). Dr. Seo leads CDPH's healthcare system coordination and engagement, healthcare access strategy, and optimization of CDPH's clinical services. Prior to her role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Seo served as the Medical Director for CDPH's Maternal, Infant, Child, and Adolescent Health Bureau. She is an Internal Medicine and Pediatrics primary care physician.

Presentation: Understanding Populations through Data Modernization in Public Health

Graham Briggs, MS, serves as Illinois’ State Epidemiologist after recently stepping into the role this April. He brings over 20 years of experience working in state and local public health agencies to the position, including as a local Director of Public Health in Minnesota. Prior to his current position Graham was overseeing Emerging Infectious Diseases and Informatics programs as a Senior Director for the National Association of City and County Health Officials, or NACCHO. Please welcome Graham, who will be talking today about public health and data modernization!

Presentation: A Public Health Approach to the Opioid Crisis in Chicago

Sarah Richardson, MPP, is a Grants Research Specialist at the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), where she has worked for two years in the Office of Substance Use. Before coming to CDPH in this role, Sarah worked on the public health pandemic response as a Chicago Mayoral Fellow, municipal harm reduction and drug policy in Anchorage, Alaska, and international political and economic development in Tbilisi, Georgia. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Georgia, where she learned to make the world's best Turkish coffee. Sarah has a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, was a 2023 New Leaders Council Chicago Fellow, and spends her free time studying feminist theory and jumping in Lake Michigan.

Presentation: Elizabethkingia spp. Outbreak in a Ventilator-Capable Skilled Nursing Facility, Chicago 2023

Sidney Thigpen, MPH, works for the City of Chicago as an Epidemiologist III in the Healthcare Settings Unit. She currently works closely with multi-drug resistant organism (MDRO) surveillance at skilled nursing facilities and long-term acute care hospitals and assists with point prevalence surveys (PPS) that are conducted at these facilities. By analyzing the data gathered from PPSs, she is able to propose necessary intervention measures and monitor the increase or decrease of MDROs.

Presentation: Community-Led Health Activism in Belmont Cragin: Collaborating for Health Equity and a Better Future

Nancy Valentin is a creative, equity-focused leader who started her career at the Northwest Center in December 2013. She specializes in strategic planning and implementation of start-up projects that are both centered and led by community residents. Today, Nancy is a proud co-leader with the City of Chicago’s Department of Public Health for the Healthy Chicago Equity Zones, an initiative part of Healthy Chicago 2025 – the City’s community health improvement plan that outlines strategies to close this racial life expectancy gap. Nancy is an incoming MPH student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Nancy enjoys many hobbies, which include painting, photography, traveling, and writing.