About

Skyline of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Schenley Park

Thuy Bui is a clinician-educator at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and in the Division of General Internal Medicine.  Her life experiences as a refugee, immigrant, Peace Corps volunteer and primary care physician embolden her work with vulnerable populations locally and globally.  As an educator, she aspires to bring social justice framework into the health professions schools, to engender a culture of service, and to change institutional structures that perpetuate inequalities.

Iman Hassan is the Director for Community Engagement and Population Health Initiatives at the Division of General Internal Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center.  She oversees the internal medicine residency social determinants of health curriculum and is working on initiatives to help address social determinants of health (SDH).  In addition to developing SDH curricula for medical trainees, Iman has a special interest in working with underserved and marginalized populations, addressing social determinants in the clinical setting, increasing community engagement and promoting physician advocates.  Iman completed her residency training in the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine residency program at Montefiore Hospital in Bronx, NY and completed fellowship in the Academic Clinician-Educator program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, receiving a Master of Science in Medical Education.

The Social Medicine Fellows Program (SMFP) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is a tribute to the tireless work of a small group of students in the class of 2017, who sought to strengthen social medicine at Pitt Med.  With the support of Dean Art Levine, Vice Dean Ann Thompson, and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Chenits Pettigrew, 3 medical students were awarded as Social Medicine Fellows class of 2021.  This is how future leaders in social medicine are borne and nurtured.  Indeed, these students have inspired the conception of the social medicine case studies project!

Introducing our community of social medicine leaders and innovators

Joy Cannon is currently Director of Programming at Center of Life, a Hazelwood-based community empowerment organization that serves more than 500 youth annually through after-school and summer programs related to academics, arts, music technology, athletics, and family engagement.  In addition to receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Duquesne University, Joy has participated in a Suspension Ban Committee for Pittsburgh Public Schools, Mayor Bill Peduto’s Civic Leadership Academy, and the Bridging the Gaps Advisory Board.

Sharon Higginbothan, Ph.D. is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Bethlehem Haven.  She has facilitated Community-Engaged Teaching and Research at Duquesne University, and for the past 20 years, she has worked as a senior level leader and thought leader in the non-profit sector overseeing innovative programs, project development and implementation with a focus on cultural change, equity, inclusion, Respect for Cultural Diversity and Care.

Mike Bowersox, LPC, has had the privilege of essentially talking with people for the past decade.  He is currently the director of the Connections4Health project at Southwest PA AHEC, a practicing trauma therapist and field instructor with Pitt’s School of Social Work.  As a counselor, he has worked with and advocated for the homeless and marginalized persons, provided crisis intervention and prevention services for adults with severe and persistent mental illness, and developed cancer survivorship and support programs.

Debbie Gallagher, MEd has over 39 years of experience in the field of early care and education. In 1993, she became the site director of the Pittsburgh Family Center which provided in home family support services to children and families from birth through the entrance to school. In 2000, she wrote the Early Head Start (EHS) grant for the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center and it was awarded in a competitive process on the first submission. Ten years later she is still the EHS program director and serves as a consultant to other programs as needed. She is extremely involved in the south Pittsburgh communities and works collaboratively with many agencies including the Allegheny County Head Start/Early Head Start Collaboration, Safe Kids of Allegheny County and Trying Together. She has provided staff development sessions at the Birth to Three Institute, the PHSA Annual Conference and the PAEYC/Family Support Conference. Finally, in her spare time she enjoys volunteering at her church, reading and sharing the books at book club, dining with friends and babysitting her three grandsons.

Jonathan Han, MD came to UPMC St. Margaret Family Medicine Residency Program after having worked in community health centers in Quincy, Massachusetts and San Francisco and Oakland, California. He completed his residency at UCSF / San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Han has special interests in care for the medically underserved, integrated behavioral health care, social justice and narrative medicine.

Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD is chief, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.  Her research has included examination of sex trafficking among adolescents in Asia, teen dating abuse, partner violence and unintended pregnancy.  She is conducting a study of a sexual violence prevention program entitled Coaching Boys into Men which involves training coaches to talk to their young male athletes about stopping violence against women, funded by the CDC.

Braveen Ragunanthan, MD, MPH is a pediatric Chief Resident at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for the 2020-2021 year after completing his residency training through the Pediatric Advocacy-Leadership-Service (PALS) track. He enjoys his role as a main resident mentor for the Social Medicine Fellows through investing efforts to support activism training, conference opportunities, and direct supervision regarding the CATCH Home Visit Project. Braveen strongly believes in community health advocacy and intends to work in general pediatric primary care in a medically underserved health professional shortage area of the United States through his National Health Service Corps Scholarship placement. Over the years, Braveen has worked in various capacities across the Mississippi Delta, South Africa, and Ethiopia. He has interned with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at the U.S. State Department and the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse. Braveen received his undergraduate degree in Public Policy from Duke University but also was dual-enrolled at UNC: Chapel Hill as a Robertson Scholar. He received his MPH at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Global Health Scholar. He graduated VCU School of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia participating in their International/Inner City/Rural Preceptorship (I2CRP) program.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  Margaret Mead