The Schedule 

Registration & Attendee Check-In

Please note light refreshments will be available at this time.

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Speakers: 

Maigenete Mengesha, PhD, Director of Cancer Health Equity Initiatives, Wellness House, & Community Steering Committee Co-Chair, ChicagoCHEC

Thomas J Wilson, Community Steering Committee Co-Chair, ChicagoCHEC & Former Community Organizer, Access Living (retired), Health care and Disability Advocate

Opening Session: Discussing Gaps in Cancer Care

Facilitator:

Candace Henley, Chief Surviving Officer, The Blue Hat Foundation

Panelists:

Joanne Glenn, MBA, RN, Founder, Women on Top of their Game (W.O.T.) Foundation, Inc. & ChicagoCHEC Community Steering Committee (CSC) Co-Chair (2016-2022) 

Carson Crochet, Outreach Coordinator, Triage Cancer

Gladys Rodriguez, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Primary Specialist of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Northwestern Medical Group

Session Two: A Follow-up of the Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Screening: A Community Led Collaboration with Alliance Chicago and ChicagoCHEC

Facilitator:

Masahito Jimbo, MD, PhD, MPH, FAAFP, MPI, Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative, and Professor and Department Head, Family and Community Medicine, UIC College of Medicine

Panelists:

Fred D. Rachman, MD Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Chicago

Carmen Velasquez, Founder of Alivio Medical Center

Shelly Sital, MPH, Director of Public Health Initiatives, Alliance Chicago

Keith B Naylor, MD Assistant Professor, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Gastroenterologist, UI Health

BREAK

Feature Video Created by 2023 ChicagoCHEC Fellows “Penny the Penguin”Authors: Olalekan Babalola, Brittani Rouse-Fowles, Charlie Sutcuoglu & Laila Zatar

Graphic design by Charlie Sutcuoglu

Session Three, Part One: Extra, Earlier, and Better: The role of Palliative Care in addressing unmet needs for patients living with cancer

Speakers: 

Eytan Szmuilowicz, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and Director of the Section of Palliative Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Rev. Edward Peñate, DMin, BCC, Palliative Care Chaplain, Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Session Three, Part Two: Self-compassion for Caregivers

Speaker: 

Marcelo Bento Soares, PhD, Professor and Department Head for Cancer Biology and Pharmacology, Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, Professor of Neurosurgery, Senior Associate Dean for Research, University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria

Closing Remarks

Speakers: 

Jeanine Ntihirageza, PhD, Outreach Core Co-Leader, ChicagoCHEC, & Professor and Coordinator of SAELL and TESOL & Director of the Center for Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora, Northeastern Illinois University

Maigenete Mengesha, PhD, Director of Cancer Health Equity Initiatives, Wellness House, & Community Steering Committee Co-Chair, ChicagoCHEC

Thomas J Wilson, Community Steering Committee Co-Chair, ChicagoCHEC & Former Community Organizer, Access Living (retired), Health care and Disability Advocate 

Lunch & Resource Fair

Please note FREE lunch will be provided following Closing Remarks. We will also have representatives from  organizations and other resources available for attendees to connect with during this time.