"Reflect...React...Roadmap Forward...": Transforming Systems from the Inside

This webinar is part of a series in collaboration with Dr. Shalon’s Maternal Action Project, with the goal of elevating conversations around antiracism, equity, and justice in medicine/healthcare. This webinar series is designed for physicians and birth workers, inviting and challenging physicians and staff to promote individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural changes to make their institutions more equitable. The webinar will provide a platform for participants to reflect, react, and discuss how to transform health systems from the inside out.

Wanda Barfield, MD, MPH, FAAP, is Director of the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) within the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Barfield leads efforts to provide optimal and equitable health to women and infants through improved surveillance and applied public health research during the critical junctures of population health-- pregnancy, infancy, and adolescence. Through building and strengthening strategic partnerships with multiple organizations, her division leads several programs to monitor maternal and infant mortality and morbidity; the impact of emerging threats to pregnant/postpartum women and their infants (opioids, disasters, COVID-19); and issues in women’s reproductive health, from contraception and teen/unintended pregnancy to infertility and assisted reproductive technology. Dr. Barfield received her medical and public health degrees from Harvard University, completed a pediatrics residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Harvard. She is a retired Rear Admiral (Assistant Surgeon General) in the U.S. Public Health Service, and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University. She continues to practice neonatology, providing clinical care to critically ill newborns.

Dr. John A. Johnson, M.D., M.B.A, serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of GEHA (Government Employees Health Association, Inc., pronounced G.E.H.A.). Dr. Johnson previously served as CMO at Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, and oversaw all clinical operations as CMO at Molina Healthcare of Ohio and at Virginia Premier Health Plan. Earlier in his managed care career, he served as the senior medical director for WellCare of Georgia, where he led the initiative to secure the state’s managed Medicaid contract. Johnson also oversaw care management for the State Health Benefit Plan while serving as medical director at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia. As a doctor specializing in internal medicine, Johnson owned and operated a practice in Atlanta where he treated patients with acute and chronic conditions, ultimately growing it to 10,000 patients and developing a celebrated program to treat those with diabetes. Johnson graduated from Seton Hall University and received his medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Board certified in internal medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, he completed his residency at Emory University in Atlanta. Johnson later earned a master’s in business administration with a focus on health care management from Emory’s School of Business. John also serves as a Colonel in the United States Army Reserves Medical Corps with 25 years of service. In addition, he is the president of the Emory University Medical Alumni Board, is the president-elect of the Medical Association of Atlanta and is vice-president of the board of directors for Leadership Empowerment Project, a nonprofit that helps African American men excel in their first years in college.