FLI URM Connection Design Mentor MeetUP – Jam with Identity in Mind

Description

This event connects first generation, limited income, and underrepresented minority students and alumni.

Join the Female Leaders of Color, the Men of Color Hopkins Alliance, and the Life Design Lab to:

1. engage with alumni and students
2. jam with others about identity
3. design your connections forward

Join in mentoring connections, conversations, and celebrations around affinities, identities, industry areas, and shared interests. Folks will chat, design and practice building, and nurturing your connections with your identities in mind.

Outline:

• Keynote Jam: Conversation on the power of connections with alumni facilitated by the Men of Color Hopkins Alliance and the Female Leaders of Color
• Connection/Networking Jam: Connect with alumni in breakout rooms
• Social Jam: Continue the conversation or connect with those alum and students you were not able to throughout the event in this cool new flowing online space (link will be provided)

Speakers:

Kamila A. Alexander is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Her research focuses on the effects of trauma and violence on sexual, mental, and reproductive health outcomes among adolescents and young adults. Alexander uses health equity and social justice lenses to examine the complex roles that structural determinants such as intimate partner violence, societal gender expectations, and limited economic opportunities play in the experience of intimate human relationships. Her research stems from over 10 years of public health nursing clinical practice in domestic and international communities. She is recognized for her scientific leadership as a member of the inaugural cohort of Betty Irene Moore Fellowships for Nurse Leaders and Innovators.

Letitia Dzirasa joined Baltimore City government as the commissioner of health in March 2019. Her special interests include obesity management and prevention, trauma-informed care in children and adolescents, and expanded use of technology to improve health outcomes. Prior to joining the Health Department, Dzirasa worked at Fearless Solutions (Fearless), a Baltimore-based digital services firm that builds custom software solutions for local and federal government clients. In her role at Fearless as health innovation officer, Dzirasa was responsible for managing the healthcare IT (HIT) portfolio for the company and provided clinical subject matter expertise to HIT projects. Dzirasa also has close clinical ties to the Baltimore community, having trained at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in pediatrics and having worked as medical director for school based health and quality at the Baltimore Medical System from 2013-2016. In addition to holding a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in biological sciences, Dzirasa graduated from Meharry Medical College, summa cum laude, in 2007. She lives in downtown Baltimore with her husband and son.

Deborah Gross is a professor of mental health and psychiatric nursing at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She also holds joint appointments in the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Mental Health. Gross' research focuses on developing, testing, and scaling behavioral health interventions that support families raising young children in low-income communities. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her work, including the President's Award from the Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research and induction into the Sigma Theta Tau International Researcher Hall of Fame.

China Boak Terrell is CEO of American Communities Trust (ACT), a position she has held since 2016. After open heart surgery prompted her to confront her mortality, Terrell decided to switch careers from corporate law to community building. Prior to joining ACT, Terrell served as a corporate lawyer leading multi-million dollar transactions; business developer; liaison and adviser to agency heads, elected officials, and corporate leadership team members; and general counsel for the District of Columbia's legislative committee on human services. Since joining ACT, Terrell has overseen development of the Baltimore Food Hub on a 3.5-acre campus in East Baltimore, as well as the pilot site for Last Mile Park, an eventual ecological and public art trail that will integrate the Broadway East and Eager Park communities. Terrell holds a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from the Johns Hopkins; a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School; and a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a member of the bars of Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Minnesota. Terrell is happily married to an economics and politics journalist. Together they have an exquisite 3-year old and live in the great city of Baltimore.