Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024
3 p.m. ET
Achieving health equity and ensuring all communities thrive requires systems-level change to policies and regulations. Join AAMC CHARGE for a webinar and discussion about the many ways to advocate for health equity. Hear from experts from diverse sectors who are advocating for health equity every day whether in the halls of Congress, in their own communities, or through comment letters to federal agencies.
Presenters will share how they build consensus and support, and how they frame their health equity work given the current headwinds. What evidence can scientists and communities like yours provide that would make their advocacy more effective?
Speakers
Althea Arnold, MPP
Senior Vice President, Policy
Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future
Althea Arnold, MPP, leads the policy efforts at Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF), a national collaborative of 12 nonprofit affordable-housing developers who own, operate, and manage more than 145,000 affordable rental homes in 49 states across the country. SAHF's mission-driven alliance advances resident-centered policy changes and sustainable solutions within the affordable-housing sector. As part of this, Althea works with key policymakers in Congress, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and other federal and state agencies to build support and remove barriers to the preservation and production of high-quality affordable rental housing. Althea joined SAHF as senior vice president, policy in 2020. Prior to working at SAHF, she served as a senior legislative and policy associate at the National Council of State Housing Agencies, focusing on federal appropriations, HUD multifamily programs, and supportive housing issues. Earlier in her career, Althea worked at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, researching affordable-housing needs to inform housing policy. Althea holds a master’s degree in public policy, with a concentration in nonprofit leadership, from Georgetown University; she received her bachelor‘s degree from Connecticut College.
Chandra Char, PhD, MPH
Health Equity Postdoctoral Fellow
Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of Family Medicine
Chandra Char, PhD, MPH (she/her) is a health equity leader focusing on disability health equity, aging into disability, and health-services research. She specializes in mixed-methods research, with a focus on community-based participatory research. She is a 2023-2024 AAMC CHARGE ambassador. Her work helps advance the mission of the AAMC Center for Health Justice and health equity in the medical field. She serves the community through her work as an e-board member of the Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group at Georgetown University and as a founding member of the University of California Riverside Alumni Association, D.C. Chapter. In her free time, Chandra enjoys making art; exploring Washington, D.C.; and playing music with her band.
Almeta E. Cooper, JD
National Manager for Health Equity, Moms Clean Air Force
Multisector Partner Group Member, AAMC Center for Health Justice
Almeta E. Cooper, JD is an executive, board member, and attorney with an extensive network. She is a valued leader, manager, collaborator, and team member in any setting. Almeta combines her people skills, thought leadership, and substantive knowledge to actively engage with trending, prevailing issues. She is a national manager for health equity for Moms Clean Air Force, whose mission is to protect clean air and the health of children. On behalf of its one million members, she leverages meaningful stakeholder engagement to impact health equity policies and campaigns.
Almeta’s career has included service as an executive advisor and coach for The AECooper Group and service at Morehouse School of Medicine, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the Ohio State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. She received her law degree from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago and holds a bachelor of arts degree in German from Wells College in Aurora, New York.
Daria C. Grayer, MA, JD
Director of Science Policy and Regulation, Association of American Medical Colleges
Director of Policy, AAMC Center for Health Justice
Daria C. Grayer, MA, JD, specializes in policy, regulation, and health equity issues impacting the biomedical research enterprise, including conflicts of interest, protection of human subjects, clinical trial diversity, and strategic public-private partnerships. Daria is committed to building meaningful community partnerships to collectively advance health care and health justice through promoting evidence-based regulation and policies that redress health inequities.
Prior to joining the AAMC, Daria served as a law clerk to the chief administrative judge for the Baltimore City District Court and a clinical bioethicist for MedStar Health in Washington, D.C., where she was one of the first full-time bioethicists employed by a U.S. hospital system. She currently serves on the advisory board for Global Kids, a nonprofit organization that fosters academic achievement and global competency for youth from underserved communities in New York and Washington, D.C. Her interest in community service also extends to her service with The Governor’s Academy.
Paulo G. Pontemayor, MPH
Senior Director of Government Relations, Catholic Health Association of the United States
Chair Emeritus, The Partnership for Medicaid
Paulo G. Pontemayor currently serves as senior director of government relations for the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), the national leadership organization of more than 2,200 Catholic health care systems, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other health organizations — the largest group of nonprofit health care providers in the nation. He also serves as the elected chair emeritus for the Partnership for Medicaid, made up of organizations representing clinicians, health care providers, safety-net health plans, and counties whose goal is to preserve and improve the Medicaid program.
Prior to his CHA position, he worked at the Joint Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and as an aide for several members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Paulo has an executive certificate in health care leadership and patient safety from Georgetown University, a master of public health degree from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University in DC, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. A believer in lifelong learning, Paulo is currently pursuing his doctorate in public health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he is a health equity scholar. He was named a Top 40 Under 40 Health Care Leader by the National Minority Quality Forum. Additionally, Paulo was honored as a Top Advocate by the Advocacy Association in 2023, and has been recognized as a Top 100 Lobbyist for several years by the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics.
Originally from the U.S. territory of Guam, Paulo continues to draw strength, and inspiration for his policy work, from his Filipino immigrant family, beginning with his grandfather, who arrived in Guam as a contract laborer after World War II, to help rebuild the war-torn island.