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2021 SPEAKERS
Dr. kimberly farrow, president & ceo,
central city integrated health
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Wayne State University School of Medicine, Dr. Kimberly Farrow is President & CEO of Central City Integrated Health (CCIH), a Federally Qualified Health Center and LEVEL III Patient-Centered Medical Home located in midtown Detroit. Her vision for CCIH — which works to provide high-quality health care and housing supportive services for all residents regardless of socio-economic status — is to grow the nonprofit’s integrated care model and help achieve wellness within the community, addressing emotional, family and social concerns.
Dr. Farrow has been a physician at DMC and Wayne State University since 2009. Prior to joining Central City Integrated Health (CCIH) as Chief Medical Officer and VP of Clinical Operations in 2016, Farrow served as medical director and CEO at Detroit East Health Service. She also served as medical director at Salvation Army Harbor Light of Southeastern Michigan and continues to work with the organization. She was named Interim President & CEO at CCIH in November 2019, and was recently named President & CEO in January 2021.
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She is a member of the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians, a Hope of Detroit Academy board member, and Michigan Primary Care Association Leadership Committee member.
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Dr. Farrow received recognition from Wayne State University/DMC for Outstanding Patient Care in General Ambulatory Practice, a Leadership Award from Payne-Pullman for Outstanding Community Service, was 2019 Michigan Primary Care Association Clinician of the Year, and earned the Detroit Wayne County Authority Health 2020 Best of the Health Net Award. In her career, she has successfully obtained funding for research worth more than $9.4 million in grant support. She is currently completing a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Management from Harvard University.
Dr. deidre hurse, ph.d., mpa
Dr. Deidre Hurse, PhD, MPA, Assistant Professor of Foundational Medical Studies at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, holds a Ph.D. in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from Indiana University. She also holds a master’s in Public Administration from the University of Michigan. Dr. Hurse has an interdisciplinary background in health center operations and executive leadership.
She has led diversity and inclusion initiatives and is an advocate for equity in healthcare. Her research interest includes health disparities, community health interventions, and social determinants of health.
DONOVAN INNIS
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Donovan Innis is a third-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School. He was born and raised in Nassau, The Bahamas, and then completed his undergraduate studies at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University in Minnesota. Following this, Donovan spent a year working as a global studies program assistant and English teaching assistant at Bunkyo Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan.
His research interests include studying brain-computer interfaces and the healthcare implications of bidet use and his clinical interests include global surgery and healthcare innovations for circular economies. He enjoys tennis, swimming, and poetry.
DELMA JACKSON III (HE/HIM/HIS)
Delma Jackson III is an activist, facilitator, writer, counselor, and lecturer. His research covers a variety of issues including: American pop-culture and media literacy, Islamophobia in America and abroad, Hip-Hop in the context of a Black musical legacy, sexism and media, linguistic authenticity in cross-cultural dialogues, white identity, America’s love affair with violence, the legacy of Black comedy in America, African Americans and the history of health care, and African Americans in the context of United States housing policy.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and Psychology from Eastern Michigan University (EMU) and his Masters degree in Liberal Arts with a focus on American/African American Studies from the University of Michigan.
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Delma has twice conducted research on Afro-European identity. In 1999, he traveled to the Netherlands to explore the Dutch role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. In 2014, he went back to the Netherlands to explore migration and immigration patterns across Western Europe as well as European racialized pop-culture and its impact on Afro-Dutch identity.
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He has lectured on various topics across multiple venues including New York University’s Tisch School for Performing Arts, Toledo University’s Graduate School for Criminal Justice, Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and twice at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE).
paul mohai, ph.d.
Paul Mohai, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a founder of the Environmental Justice Program at Michigan and a major contributor to the growing body of quantitative research examining disproportionate environmental burdens and their impacts on low income and people of color communities.
He has served on the U.S. EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) and the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice (MAC-EJ), and has provided testimony on environmental justice to the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. He is author of numerous articles, books, and reports focused on race and the environment.
daicia price
Daicia Price is currently a clinical faculty member at UM School of Social Work. Prior to joining the faculty at UMSSW, Daicia served as Clinical Practice Improvement Specialist in Wayne County with a focus on workforce development. During her time there, she was instrumental in creating a centralized student training program that included collaboration with University of Michigan Detroit Clinical Scholar program.
Daicia has gained clinical and macro practice experience in juvenile justice, community mental health, housing, schools and foster care. She has an interest working to retain healthcare providers in areas experiencing shortages. Daicia is committed to ensuring that new professionals are equipped with the necessary skills to enter the workforce as culturally responsive leaders to reach out, raise hope and change society.
rama salhi, md
Dr. Salhi is an Emergency Physician, National Clinician Scholar, and current Interim Director of the Acute Care Research Unit at the University of Michigan. She received her master’s degree in Epidemiology with a focus on health disparities and health inequalities from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health prior to medical school at Michigan State University. She is interested broadly in the use of health systems science to address quality gaps in health outcomes with particular attention to existing systems of care for time-sensitive conditions.
More specifically, she is currently focusing her work on the intersection of these systems of care with structural inequities and how this impacts health outcomes for our patients. She has added interests in medical education both at the bedside and with respect to health services research.
desiraé simmons
Desiraé Simmons is a co-director with the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, and a community organizer, activist, and advocate serving in multiple grassroots organizations and coalitions. Desiraé is a founding member of Liberate! Don't Incarcerate, Rising for Economic Democracy in Ypsi, What's Left Ypsi, Untold Stories of Liberation and Love, and Michigan Alliance for Justice in Climate (MAJIC). Desirae was a member of the Subcommittee on Housing Affordability and Accessibility through the City of Ypsilanti's Planning Commission and a part of Defend Affordable Ypsi.
Currently she serves as the Vice Chair for the Michigan Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus, and is a Sustainability Commissioner for the City of Ypsilanti. She graduated from Simmons College with a BA in Public Relations and Marketing Communications and a MS in Communications Management. Her previous work was in higher education and community and government relations for an educational nonprofit.
arianna zrzavy
Arianna Zrzavy (M.S., B.S.) holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental Science from John Carroll University with a minor in Sociology & Criminology. She is a 2020 graduate of the University of Michigan where she holds a Master’s of Science degree in Environmental Justice from the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Serving as a research assistant to two professors at UofM, Arianna has several years of experience researching and working with diverse communities on environmental justice issues.
Her Master’s project work, “Environmental Justice Tools for the 21st Century” (2020) is the result of a collaborative research effort between a group of SEAS students and the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC). The project was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Paul Mohai, Professor of Environmental Justice. It examines the growing importance of environmental justice screening tools and their development processes in the United States.