Our People

Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, is an internal medicine and addiction physician based in Albuquerque.  She is Senior Medical Director and VP, Quality, at Workit Health. She received her MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MD at Georgetown University, and completed internal medicine residency at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital. She completed a Medical Justice and Advocacy Fellowship through Morehouse School of Medicine and the American Medical Association in 2022. She is 2025-2026 President of the American Medical Women’s Association, Chair Emerita of the Board of Regents of the American College of Physicians, and a former Multi-state District Chair of the Society of Hospital Medicine.  Her writing has been published in JAMA, Journal of Addiction Medicine, the Journal of Hospital Medicine, the Annals of Internal Medicine, Modern Healthcare, the New York Times, and more.

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.

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.

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 is a proud member and fellow of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) and has served on the AMWA Board of Directors since 2023, having recently been elected as Secretary beginning in 2025.

She lives in Springfield, Illinois with her husband, Dr. Eric Black, and their children, Eric Shiva and Ethan Prakash.

A leader in the high-tech industry for the last 25 years, Khawaja has moved industries forward by creating innovative products with his distinct management and leadership style. He holds multiple patents in mobile wireless technologies at Apple, where he founded the Applied Machine Learning team. Khawaja has created multiple organizations from scratch focused on applying Machine Learning and behavioral analytics in fraud detection, Apple hardware diagnostics, risk management, mobile payments, cyber security & threat intelligence, healthcare, digital health, privacy, search and recommendations. He has developed teams of hundreds of people, serving billions of users and creating multi-billion dollars per year in value. He has broad industry experience ranging from Manufacturing, Media, Retail, Banking, HealthCare, and Technology. He is currently a Senior Director of Engineering at Google where he leads multiple teams applying ML to benefit billions of users. Khawaja has brought his ML and engineering expertise and vision to be a key driver for the advancement of consumer health ML, security, and privacy. He is married with two children whom he encourages to pursue their own creative ventures, in addition to a network of mentees and partners he sponsors to fulfill their own potential.

Dr. Eliza Lo Chin is AMWA’s Executive Director, Assistant Professor (Voluntary) at the University of California, San Francisco, and Medical Director of Watermark by the Bay. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her MPH from Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. She is the editor of This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine and was featured in the National Library of Medicine Exhibition, Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians. Dr. Chin has served as co-chair/co-director of national/international meetings, executive producer of the short film At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in WWI, and member of several advisory/editorial boards. She has been a visiting scholar with the Women’s Leadership Institute of Mills College, and California delegate to Vision 2020. A recipient of several awards, she is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians and of AMWA. She is a leader within the Medical Women’s International Association and an AMWA Representative to the United Nations Department of Global Communications. Her interests include women’s leadership and mentoring, women’s health, geriatrics, medical humanities, and history of women in medicine.

Dr. Bisi Alli is a two-term board member of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) and a dual board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, dedicated to advancing healthcare. With over a decade of clinical experience, she is committed to improving patient care and enhancing organizational practices. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, she focuses on streamlining processes that elevate care quality and efficiency across healthcare systems. In her role as an Associate Clinical Professor at Creighton University School of Medicine and an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Phoenix, she enjoys mentoring physicians and developing innovative approaches that prioritize patient safety and wellness.

Her contributions have been recognized through several awards, including the AMWA Inspire Award (2024) and the Early Career Physician of the Year (2017) from the American College of Physicians.

In her desire to promote well-being at every age, Dr. Alli authored Tayo and the Super Produce Pals at the Grocery Store!, an illustrated children’s book that shows the joy of healthy eating and supports caregivers on this journey. Through her presentations and publications, she is dedicated to promoting a culture of safety and enhancing the health and wellness of everyone prioritizing well-being, from individuals receiving care to those providing it.

Nicole Bentze DO, FAAFP, FAMWA is a board-certified Family Physician and Dean of the Sarasota Regional Medical Campus of the Florida State University College of Medicine (FSU COM). After graduating from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2000, she completed her training at the Harrisburg Family Medicine Residency Program in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She completed a primary-care Faculty Development Fellowship at Michigan State University and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Medical Student Educators Development Institute Fellowship. She was inducted as Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2014 and Fellow of the American Medical Women’s Association in 2022. Dr. Bentze served as the Family Medicine Clerkship Director for FSU COM for 10 years while maintaining her primary care practice. In 2016, she left private practice for academic medicine. As Regional Campus Dean, Dr. Bentze oversees the clinical education of medical (MD) and physician assistant (PA) students at the FSU COM Regional Medical Campus in Sarasota, Florida. She is passionate about promoting scholarship, leadership, mentorship and well-being among the students, clerkship directors and clinical faculty. Dr. Bentze completed the AAFP Leading Physician Well-Being Certificate Program in 2022 and the Florida Medical Association Physician Leadership Academy in 2024. Recent honors include the AMWA INSPIRE Award (2023), FSU COM 2023 – 2024 Regional Outstanding Faculty Educator Award, and the AMWA Exceptional Mentor Award (2025).  She proudly serves on the AMWA Board of Directors and as the AMWA Regional Governor Lead.

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.

Katrina Green, MD FAAEM is an emergency physician in Nashville, TN. She graduated from Michigan State University with a BS in Chemical Engineering in 2003, received her MD from Wayne State University in 2008, and completed her emergency medicine residency at Indiana University in 2011. She has been a member of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine since residency and served as an at-large board member of the Tennessee Chapter of AAEM from 2021-23. She is an active member of the Tennessee Medical Association and the Nashville chapter, the Nashville Academy of Medicine. Through the TMA, Dr Green advocates for healthcare related legislation at the Tennessee state legislature, participating in Doctor of the Day and Doctor’s Day on the Hill. She serves as a board member of Gideon’s Army, a nonprofit organization working to reduce gun violence in Nashville. Dr. Green is the current chair of the AMWA advocacy committee. She is also active with the gun violence solutions committee. Locally, she is on the leadership team of the East Nashtivists, a grassroots organization and action council through Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, advocating for reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights and bodily autonomy through voter registration, engagement and turnout efforts in her community. She lives in Nashville, TN with her husband and two cats, Jude and Prudence.

Marion M. McCrary MD FACP FAMWA is a primary care internal medicine physician and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina. She is also a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach and serves as the Associate Director of the Duke Graduate Medical Education Professional Development Coaching Program.  She is passionate about encouraging physician well-being and leadership development for women physicians. She is the Governor for the North Carolina chapter of the American College of Physicians.  She is Co-director for AMWA EVOLVE and Lead Coach Faculty for AMWA ELEVATE.  She serves as an ACP Well-being champion and is President-elect of the North Carolina Clinician and Physician Retention and Well-being Consortium Board of Directors. She shares her home with her husband of 26 years and their labradoodle.

Dr. Abby Spencer serves as Professor and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine and as Director of the Academy of Educators at Washington University School of Medicine. She previously served as Director of the Medicine Residency Program and Vice Chair for Education at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Spencer graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BS in Behavioral Neuroscience from Tulane University, and received her MD from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed her Primary Care Internal Medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell Medical Center and subsequently completed a fellowship in General Medicine with a concentration in Women’s Health and earned a Masters in Medical Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Spencer is an innovative and enthusiastic educator with an exceptional knack for cultivating the strengths and potential in others. She has dedicated her career to innovating, developing curriculum, building teams, and developing others in medical education. She has delivered over 150 invited faculty development/educational courses and workshops locally and nationally. She has won numerous national awards for her teaching, educational scholarship, mentorship, and leadership the 2020 ACGME ParkerPalmer Courage to Teach Award, 2020 Cleveland Clinic Women’s Champion Award which recognizes contribution to the advancement, development and wellbeing of women, and the 2023 inaugural Advancing Women in Academic Medicine award from Wash U. She completed ELAM in 2022 and has held leadership positions in many national organizations across academic internal medicine. Her greatest professional joys are mentoring, teaching, sponsoring, and developing others.

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.

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.

Subhjit Sekhon MD MS first year Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellow at NYU Langone in New York City. Previously she was an Obstetrics and Gynecology resident at University of Missouri-Kansas City. She went to the University of Missouri-Kansas City 6 year BS/MD program after high school, taking a research year between her 5th and 6th years to pursue a MSCI at Washington University in St. Louis. Subhjit has been involved with AMWA since medical school, serving at both the chapter and national level. In her free time, you can find her taking a yoga or spin class or traveling.

Jamie Green, DO is a resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Health – South Shore University and Huntington Hospital with a desire to pursue fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine. She graduated from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine where she was first introduced to AMWA and served as a proud member. In AMWA, she would like to focus on mental and reproductive health as well as mentorship and advocacy opportunities. In her free time, Jamie enjoys spending time outdoors, reading and practicing yoga.

Jennifer Uyere is a MS4 student at UAG. She is proudly of Nigerian and Mexican descent and was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science, both in Biology, from California State University, Los Angeles. During her undergraduate and graduate years, she was an NIH scholar, which allowed her to partake in research that focused on elucidating the virulence and pathogenicity of Candida albicans. Prior to medical school, she worked at two, large hospitals in Los Angeles, California as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. During her first year of medical school, she had the opportunity to participate in UAG AMWA events and quickly found that she identified with its mission, inspiring her to become a national AMWA member. During her second year, she was elected UAG AMWA President and proudly led the organization to receive recognition on campus, in the community, and at international conferences for its achievements. In addition, during her leadership, the UAG chapter increased from 15 members to over 200 members. Moreover, Jennifer is interested in pursuing a career in Emergency Medicine or Surgery. In her free time, she loves to spend quality time with family and friends, volunteer with Guimedic Medical Humanitarian Organization and Soroptimist International, travel, and try new places to eat. She is very excited at the opportunity to serve as the President of the AMWA Student Division and she greatly looks forward to a positive and fruitful term.

Taylor Goss, MPH, MBE, is a third-year medical student at Penn State College of Medicine. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical and Health Sciences from the University of Central Florida, received her Master of Public Health in Health Policy & Management with a certificate in Comparative Effectiveness Outcomes Research from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and completed a Master of Bioethics from Harvard Medical School. Before medical school, Taylor worked as a Senior Associate for a patient engagement and advocacy consulting firm advising biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on incorporating the patient voice into drug development. She has been involved with AMWA since 2016, founding a premedical branch at her undergraduate institution, serving on Premedical National AMWA leadership as Regional Director and President, and more recently serving as President of her medical school branch and National Advocacy Chair. Throughout graduate school, Taylor has remained involved in AMWA through research with the Opioid Addiction in Women task force. Overall, her research has included menstrual health equity, opioid addiction in women, patient perspectives on cell and gene therapy, and adolescent health behavior indicators. Taylor is passionate about mentorship and is interested in pursuing clinical ethics consultation in her future practice.

Dana Shuaibi (she/her) is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she earned a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences with a concentration in Health Diversity. She is currently working as a Research Coordinator at Northwestern University.

Dana was previously AMWA’s Premedical Division Region 7 Director, the Premedical Division Awards Chair, a Global Health Subcommittee Chair, a Premedical Division intern, and an intern for the Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans Initiative. She currently serves as a member of AMWA’s Awards & Fellowships Committee and as a Co-Board of Directors Liaison for the Sex & Gender Health Collaborative. Dana is very thankful to be a part of the AMWA community and to have met so many amazing women and mentors along the way!

Alivia Hardman (she/her) is a junior at Southwestern University (SU). She is majoring in pre-medial biochemistry with a minor in music. She started the first high school-division AMWA chapter during her junior year of high school and has been involved ever since. She previously served as the Region 8 Director and Program Chair, where she began eight new pre-medical branches and started a podcast, Prelude to Practitioner.

She has interned at Baylor Scott and White, Medical City Alliance, Texas Health Resources, and Wise Surgical Hospital. She also serves as the SU AMWA president, where she pairs with Walgreens to fundraise feminine hygiene products for Austin, TX women’s shelters. She has lead volunteer initiatives, such as Relay for Life, Be the Match, and San Gabriel River Trail environmental clean-ups. Alivia also find joy in volunteering as an exercise coordinator for Power for Parkinson’s and as a baby cuddler at Texas Women’s Hospital in Georgetown. She is now shadowing at an surgical otolaryngology clinic and is a Cook’s Children’s Hospital-Fort Worth pediatric camp counselor during the summer.

In her free time, she enjoys running, reading, and composing music on the piano as well. She is the vocalist and keyboardist for the SU Jazz Ensemble, and loves to perform jazz standards!

Alivia plans to attend medical school and eventually specialize in urogynecology or pediatric neurology. She hopes to advocate for women and other minorities by giving them a voice in the medical field. She is grateful for the experiences AMWA has provided her and is looking forward to building a more inclusive and positive environment with other pre-medical members!

Poonam Desai, DO

Follow Dr. Desai at @doctoranddancer.

1. What is your background in both dance and medicine? Why did you decide to pursue those two disciplines?

I started dancing at the age of 6. My first performance was around age 7! I am trained in kathak and bharatanatyam. I have been basically dancing my entire life. My days would be going to school, homework, and dance practice – that included bharatanaty/kathak practice or practicing for upcoming performances/competitions. I had always wanted to be a doctor. For me the two were not one or the either, but being able to excel in school and enjoy my passion for dance. I had always since I can remember thought I would become a doctor. I decided on Emergency Med in high school and started volunteering at my local ER. As I pursued medicine, dancing became a type of movement meditation and stress relief. I tried to find time to dance as much as I could. In high school, I was teaching dance and performing. In college, I co founded UCLA’s hindi film dance team and Southern California’s first intercollegiate bollywood dance competition. I continued my passion for dance in medical school and even up until recently. I joined a dance company for a performance at the Lincoln Center in NYC.

2. When was the first time you performed, and what part of that experience do you still carry with you?

Ahh.. when I was around 7 years old! I was so nervous to be on stage with all those people watching!  one thing I learned during that performance was to focus on the performance and learn to ignore all the eyes that were on me. I think that was one of the biggest lessons from that performance that I carried with me throughout my dance career.

3. Such creative journeys often face great challenges and successes. What event(s) inspired or challenged you personally to pursue dance and coaching, and incorporating that into your medical training? 

Dance was my passion and love. I think how I felt after dancing inspired me to continue dancing at every stage of my life. It is a great workout, it is a great stress relief, and it makes me happy. For these reasons, I made sure to incorporate dance no matter where I was in my life or what I was doing in my life. Just like I made time to shower, see my friends, etc during my medical journey… I made similar time for dancing.

4. How do you blend your work in dance and in medicine? What’s one piece of advice you can share for those aspiring artist-physicians? 

I can say do not give up. If you enjoy it, do it and it will make your journey in everything else you do much more successful. I truly believe to accomplish our goals we must be happy and learn to manage our stress and dance helped me with that!

Nicole Bentze DO, FAAFP, FAMWA is a board-certified Family Physician and Dean of the Sarasota Regional Medical Campus of the Florida State University College of Medicine (FSU COM). After graduating from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2000, she completed her training at the Harrisburg Family Medicine Residency Program in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She completed a primary-care Faculty Development Fellowship at Michigan State University and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Medical Student Educators Development Institute Fellowship. She was inducted as Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2014 and Fellow of the American Medical Women’s Association in 2022. Dr. Bentze served as the Family Medicine Clerkship Director for FSU COM for 10 years while maintaining her primary care practice. In 2016, she left private practice for academic medicine. As Regional Campus Dean, Dr. Bentze oversees the clinical education of medical (MD) and physician assistant (PA) students at the FSU COM Regional Medical Campus in Sarasota, Florida. She is passionate about promoting scholarship, leadership, mentorship and well-being among the students, clerkship directors and clinical faculty. Dr. Bentze completed the AAFP Leading Physician Well-Being Certificate Program in 2022 and the Florida Medical Association Physician Leadership Academy in 2024. Recent honors include the AMWA INSPIRE Award (2023), FSU COM 2023 – 2024 Regional Outstanding Faculty Educator Award, and the AMWA Exceptional Mentor Award (2025).  She proudly serves on the AMWA Board of Directors and as the AMWA Regional Governor Lead.

Associate Professor

Specialty

Psychiatry

Subspecialty

Women’s mental health

Biosketch

Dr. Tareen serves as Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Wmed. She was trained as dermatologist at University of Wales, UK and later completed her residency in psychiatry at Michigan State, followed by subspecialty training in Psychosomatic Medicine. Her areas of interests are Women’s behavioral Health, Psychodermatology and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy for severe depression. She serves on the board of Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine and is actively involved in Michigan State Medical Society.

Kellie L. Stecher, MD, is an obstetrician/gynecologist who spends the majority of her time in clinical practice at M Health Fairview Women’s Center in Edina, Minnesota.

Tell Us About Your Career Path as a Women in Medicine

I chose to do my OBGYN rotation first in my third year of medical school. I was confident that I didn’t want to do obstetrics/gynecology. However, on one of my first days, I was able to do a vaginal delivery, almost on my own, with a supervisor in the room. After that experience, I knew I loved the specialty. I really enjoy preventative health, helping diagnose and treat infertility issues, obstetrics, deliveries, and cesarean sections. In my current role, I have the time to pursue other passions in my professional life. I love teaching in every capacity. I am able to work with teenagers and help them through health education. I contribute to local news outlets and create awareness of women’s health issues and safety knowledge.

Recently, I  had the honor of becoming Chair of Reproductive Medicine and Healthcare Equity for American Initiatives for Military Support or AIMS. Through this role I am hoping to create more awareness around the health equity concerns that our veterans have. There have long been disparities between the care of women and men in the military. I will be advocating for and working toward legislation to address some of the equity issues that have daunted healthcare. When the new legislature becomes active, I will be working to find a sponsor for a Right to Healthcare Equity bill, addressing the fact that individuals from all communities, races, genders, and our LGBTQ community all deserve quality and safe healthcare.

To follow my many passions, it’s taken—Passion, Persistence, and Determination—and the support of my family: Joe, Joseph, Addison, and my sister Kristen and her husband, Matt, who live close by have given me so much support and love. My friends have also been integral to keeping everything together for me. Their constant support has made it possible for me to accomplish my professional goals.

Do you Have Interests that You Gave Continued to Pursue Outside of Your Clinical Practice?

Launches Patient Care Heroes for Grieving Families of Covid-19

I am just launching a nonprofit organization. I am co-founder and president of Patient Care Heroes— reflecting a community of leaders and innovators who are willing to go the extra mile and put service ahead of their personal needs. This organization is being created with love and compassion as a way to provide assistance to the families and loved ones of physicians, nurses, medical assistants, dentists, EMS, who have died from Covid-19. The focus of this organization is to create a hub for grieving families. We have suffered a collective trauma and we need a place to grieve together as a nation. We are working to find volunteer services in order to help with mental health. In a later phase of launch, we hope to be raising funds for a memorial and for scholarship funding. We are aware that pandemics may happen in the future, or we may suffer healthcare provider losses for a variety of other reasons. For this reason, we hope this organization can continue to thrive and help loved ones far into the future.

In addition, I have written a memoir that I wrote in essay form for those of us with shorter attention spans these days, myself included. In this manuscript, I address abuse, assault, breastfeeding, pregnancy, postpartum mental health, patient stories, issues around medical training, and the pandemic. This is meant to inspire women and open other people’s eyes to the issues many face. I really believe that we need to be more open and authentic with each other. We have become isolated, not just by Covid-19, but because we run through life avoiding vulnerability. I am hoping we can start the dialogue with this book.

I am also going to be writing a chapter in a book that will be released in the summer 2021—titled, The Future Female Leader: Preparing Girls and Women to Lead the World. I am really excited about this project inspired by my 5-year-old daughter, as I want her to be able to pursue any and all of her goals in the future. I want to make sure she knows that she can do anything as long as she works hard, is a good person, and stays persistent in life.

I enjoy writing; my focus is to connect with women and to empower them to feel less alone with issues we all face. I have written several blogs at Kevinmd.com. In addition, I focus on the human side of medicine and bringing awareness to the things we all go through. I also have a medium page;  I have contributed to the local newspapers, including Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, and I have also been featured in several magazines, including Glamour, Coruzant Technologies, and Insider. Beyond expressing myself in print, I host a podcast series, addressing women’s health issues and trying to promote education about safety.

What Challenges Have You Faced and Is There Any Advice to Share with Women in Medicine?

My primary passions revolve around improving my patient’s lives and establishing the Patient Care Heroes organization is a natural evolution of my work in medicine and patient care. It is so important to be able to help people who are struggling with loss. To be able to let them know that they are not alone and we are there to support them. I will also continue to work on gender equity and healthcare equity. These issues don’t feel like work to me, because they are a necessary fight to have, it doesn’t seem like there is a choice. These things wake me up in the morning and help me to continue to find ways I can fix the problems that we are dealing with in this country. When you are fighting for, not only what’s right, but what gets you fired up, you become fearless. That fearlessness can become the engine that drives you to do things you never thought imaginable.

I have struggled with the double standards that exist between men and women in medicine. I am hopeful that we can work to improve the culture of bullying, intimidation, and harassment that permeates interactions facing women physicians in the workplace. I am also optimistic that we will start to see more dynamic female leaders in healthcare. I am positive about this because the changes that I have seen on the national level. We will witness this attitude start to permeate through the culture.

I’ve learned that it is important to stay true to oneself. It is too easy to lose sight of who you are, and what you want to accomplish if your primary focus is worrying too much about what others think. Make sure you figure out what your passion is, and let your passions lead you into whatever adventures you choose professionally and personally.

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.

Dr. Eliza Lo Chin is AMWA’s Executive Director, Assistant Professor (Voluntary) at the University of California, San Francisco, and Medical Director of Watermark by the Bay. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her MPH from Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. She is the editor of This Side of Doctoring: Reflections from Women in Medicine and was featured in the National Library of Medicine Exhibition, Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians. Dr. Chin has served as co-chair/co-director of national/international meetings, executive producer of the short film At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in WWI, and member of several advisory/editorial boards. She has been a visiting scholar with the Women’s Leadership Institute of Mills College, and California delegate to Vision 2020. A recipient of several awards, she is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians and of AMWA. She is a leader within the Medical Women’s International Association and an AMWA Representative to the United Nations Department of Global Communications. Her interests include women’s leadership and mentoring, women’s health, geriatrics, medical humanities, and history of women in medicine.

Jodi Godfrey brings decades of medical and health strategy and communications experience as a journalist and program director. Prior to joining AMWA, she was executive editor/director of digital content for EndocrineWeb and medical editor for Practical Pain Management. She was the inaugural program and website director for the Sex & Gender Health Collaborative, after a 14-year stint as contributing editor at the Journal of Women’s Health and associate director of the Congress on Women’s Health.

Jodi began her career at the top NYC public relations agencies where she coordinated food and pharma product launches and educational campaigns. She holds a master’s degree in health communications from Boston University and completed her dietetic internship at the Lahey Clinical Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Stephanie Jensen is a seasoned association management professional, with more than 11 years of experience working with medical and scientific societies. She holds the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation, which is the highest credential for association management professionals. Stephanie graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in international economics and lives in the Seattle, Washington.

Linda has a very diverse background in healthcare, specifically the global pharmaceutical industry, including Pfizer, Takeda/Shire, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Wyeth. Her roles have included marketing, relationship management, patient advocacy, public affairs, and communications, both in established and emerging markets. Her therapeutic experience ranging from rare diseases and cardiovascular/metabolic conditions to neuroscience and urology/sexual health. Linda has led successful partnerships with a variety of organizations, while navigating competing priorities, complex ways of working, and many more challenges to help better serve patients with unmet needs and other stakeholders. She has led cross-functional and multi-company collaboration by identifying common goals to support innovation, strategic business objectives, and optimize opportunities for success. Originally from Chicago, she now resides in New York City. Linda’s focus is corporate development.

Lisa Tate is a patient advocate, fund developer and thought partner, with a focus on advancing women’s health and health equity. In her eight years with the American Medical Women’s Association, she has helped the organization in multiple areas including, fund development, corporate partnerships, and strategic planning.

Lisa’s entire career has been in health advocacy for women and children. Prior to joining AMWA she served as CEO of several patient organizations including Heart Valve Voice and WomenHeart, the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. Prior to that she held public affairs roles at the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of Children’s Hospital. She currently serves as a board member for the Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention; Alliance of Sleep Apnea Partners (ASAP); and The Cape School of Art. She holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives with her family on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Kayla Haydon is a MD/MBA in Healthcare Management student at Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and Pediatric Plastic Surgery Research Fellow at Lurie Children’s Hospital. Kayla holds an MSc in Clinical Embryology from the University of Oxford and BS from the University of South Florida. Prior to medical school, Kayla served as the AMWA Assistant Director, coordinating committee proceedings and events. She is passionate about advancing women in medicine and promoting health equity.