Election — 2025 – 2026 AMWA Board of Directors

President Elect, 2025 – 2026

A native of New Jersey, Dr. Cazares attended Boston College for her undergraduate studies and then Drexel University for the first half of a Masters in Public Health (MPH). She was then commissioned in the US Navy and attended Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) where she graduated with her medical degree in 2004. She completed a Psychiatry Internship at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) in 2005 and then went on to be the General Medical Officer onboard the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52) from 2005-2007, deploying twice in two years.

Following this operational tour, she completed training in Psychiatry at the National Naval Medical Center via the National Capital Consortium Psychiatry Residency Program. During that time, she served as the Navy Chief Resident and completed her MPH at Drexel University.
Dr. Cazares since served in numerous roles across the DoD, including Chair of the Provider Wellness Committee at NMCSD, and Department Head for the DoD’s largest residential Substance Use disorder and only residential PTSD Treatment program
(SARP/OASIS). She was named the Associate Director of Women’s Mental Health & piloted the Department of Defense’s 1st Women’s Mental Health program, including addition of a treatment track at OASIS for Sexual Trauma. This work led to the formal creation of a Women’s Mental Health sub-community, under the Clinical Community umbrella at BUMED.
She served as the inaugural Chair of the Women’s Health Clinical Community for Navy Medicine, which evolved under her leadership into the Female Force Readiness Clinical Community. During that time, she was the Associate Director for Mental Health at NMCSD, and from 2020-23, served as the Director for Mental Health at US Naval Hospital Okinawa in Okinawa, Japan.

She retired from the Navy in 2024 and transitioned to PI at the Sharp Mesa Vista Nerocognitive Research Center, and also serves as the medical director for Geriatric Psychiatry programming. She was selected as Clinical Associate Professor at USU, serves as volunteer faculty at Family Health Centers of San Diego and is a Red Cross Volunteer at NMCSD where she is engaged in research, teaches and supervises medical students.

She was meritoriously selected for Captain in April 2019. She is on USU faculty, has lectured nationally, is engaged in research, and has published. She is the NMCSD Liaison to the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) where she serves on the Executive Board of Directors, as the Secretary. During her previous 2 terms on the Board, she led creation of the newly established Active Duty and Veterans Chapter of AMWA.

Dr. Cazares’ personal awards include the MHS Navy Senior Female Physician Leadership Award, Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 awards), a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, recognition as a NMCSD Associate Master Clinician and numerous other unit awards. She is board certified in General Psychiatry and an Assistant Professor at USUHS.

Chief Medical Officer

Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Population Health

Professor, Infectious Diseases Faculty

SIU Medicine, Springfield, IL

Author, Learning to Listen: A Memoir

Specialty:

Infectious Disease

Speaking Topics:

Imposter Syndrome
Leadership

Biosketch:

Dr. Vidhya Prakash is the Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Population Health and Chief Medical Officer at SIU Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. She is a Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases faculty. Dr. Prakash graduated from The Ohio State University with a BA in English. She received her MD degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency followed by Infectious Diseases fellowship at the San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium. After serving as an Infectious Diseases physician in the United States Air Force for ten years on active duty status, she retired from the military in 2014 and joined SIU School of Medicine. Dr. Prakash is founder and director of SIU Medicine’s Alliance for Women in Medicine and Science (AWIMS). She serves as Chair of the Health and Healthcare Committee, Illinois Council on Women and Girls and as Chair of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Diversity in Health Care Task Force. Dr. Prakash previously served as chair of AMWA DEJI Council’s Rural Health Committee, and as Chair of AMWA’s Membership committee.

Director 2023 – 2027

Dr. Octavia Cannon, a Board-Certified physician, is a provider at Alliance Obstetrics and Gynecology in East Lansing, Michigan. She was previously the co-owner of Arboretum Obstetrics and Gynecology, LLC (2005-2021) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Arboretum OB/Gyn was the lone private practice in Charlotte which had only female physicians.

She is an Honors graduate and active Alumnus of Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, NC); where she was a Duke Endowment and UNCF scholar. She was honored as the University’s Alumnae of the Year at the Arch of Triumph Gala in April 2018. In 2021, she established a $25,000 scholarship endowment for STEM students at the University. Dr. Cannon earned her medical degree at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine (Miami, FL); where she honed her Spanish-speaking skills. A native of East Lansing, Michigan; she pursued her residency training at St. John/Detroit Riverview and Hutzel Hospitals closer to home.

Dr. Cannon continues her personal mission of public service and health education via numerous leadership roles on local and national levels. She was the 2018 National President of the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOOG) and is the first African-American president of the organization (established in 1934). She currently serves as the Chair of the Medical Education Foundation of ACOOG. Dr. Cannon is also a member of the American Osteopathic Association Media Relations Panel and enjoys contributing to health-related articles in many national media publications and television appearances. She was featured in a 2017 Sun Coast Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary on the history of women in osteopathic medicine entitled, “The Feminine Touch”.

Dr. Cannon is a 2023 member of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). She also served on the Board of Directors for Florence Crittenton Services for 6 years; which is a national organization committed to assisting pregnant/at-risk young women take charge of their lives and support their families. She was a charter member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Women’s Preventive Services Initiative Task Force. Recently, she was appointed to the ACOG Task Force on Pregnancy and Heart Disease. She also enjoys her memberships in the Chi Epsilon Omega graduate chapter of The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, The Lansing/East Lansing Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and The Junior League of Lansing; which enable her to actively serve her community on the local and national levels.

Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine

University of Pennsylvania

Specialty:

Gastroenterology

Speaking Topics:

Biosketch:

Chung Sang Tse, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated as a Farr Scholar from the Yale School of Medicine, where her educational research on hospice and palliative care was recognized by the John P. Peters Commencement Award. At Yale, she served as the Co-President of the Internal Medicine Interest Group, Women in Medicine group, American Medical Association (AMA) Yale Chapter, and as a Medical Student Council Member at the Connecticut State Medical Society.

Dr. Tse completed her Internal Medicine residency training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, Gastroenterology fellowship at Brown University, and an Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Preceptorship at the University of California, San Diego. Dr.

Tse has stayed active in AMWA throughout her medical training in medical school, residency, and fellowship. She served as the AMWA National President of the Residents’ and Fellows’ Division from 2020-2021 and the MWIA Centennial Congress Residents’ Co-Chair in 2019-2020. She is honored as a recipient of the AMWA Charlotte Edwards Maguire, MD Outstanding Resident Mentor Award (2017), AMWA Susan Love Resident Writing Competition (2017, 2nd place), and the AMWA Young Women in Science Award (2016). She continues to serve as a mentor for undergraduate students, medical students, and residents. She hopes to advance women in medicine through mentorship, networking, leadership, and academic scholarship.

Director 2024 – 2027

Gloria Wu, MD, MBA, FAMWA is serving in her second term at the Board, 2025 -2027, became Fellow of AMWA in March 2025. She is now the immediate past president of Santa Clara County Medical Association, CoChair of its AI Health Committee. She was elected to the California Board of Trustees (2024 to 2027). She is a graduate of Harvard University AB, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons MD. Trained in General Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Ophthalmology at Cornell-Presbyterian Medical Center, Retina-Vitreous at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Dr Wu is a board certified Ophthalmologist, specializinig in Retina-Vitreous Diseases and Surgery. In private practice in San Jose, she enjoys seeing her patients in the post-COVID era.

She is the author of 3 ophthalmology textbooks, 10 ehealth apps, most recently, EyeQuix, Telehealth Eye Test. In 2024, she published 6 papers on AI and Ophthalmology and Medicine. In 2025, she will present on VR games to fight dementia at IEEE-SEGAH. She consults for Data/Health technology companies. For fun, she paints, does caricatures of friends and does creative writing. She plays tennis 4-5 times a week.