HEAL Vaccine Summit
Series: August 3-5, 2021
The Health, Equity, and Learning Collaborative held a Vaccine Education Outreach - Central Valley Summit over the course of 3 webinars Tuesday through Thursday August 3rd-5th 10-11 a.m. Topics included vaccine hesitancy, conversations with providers, and community-led efforts.
Agenda for August 3, 2021:
Vaccines and the Pandemic: Where are we now?
- 10:00 AM Welcome & HEAL Collaborative Overview by Norma Rojas-Mora, HEAL
- 10:10 AM Session 1: COVID in the Valley and Vaccine Hesitancy by Rais Vohra, Fresno Public Health Department
- 10:20 AM Session 2: Community Health Workers by Dr. Tania Pacheco, HEAL
- 10:30 AM Q&A with Panelists
- 10:55 AM Closing Remarks and Invitation to join the HEAL Collaborative
» View the August 3, 2021 Webinar recording online
August 4, 2021 for
Difficult Conversations with Patients and the Public About COVID-19
- 10:00 AM Welcome by Dr. Kathy Murphy, HEAL
- 10:05 AM HEAL Collaborative Overview
- 10:10 AM Session 1: Children Under 12: COVID-19 & the Vaccine, How it Affects Our Youth by Dr. Reshma Patel and Dr. Nimisha Amin
- 10:20 AM Session 2: Communicating Efforts to the Public by Madi Bolanos, KVPR Journalist
- 10:30 AM Q&A with Panelists
- 10:55 AM Closing Remarks and Invitation to join the HEAL Collaborative
» View the August 4, 2021 Webinar recording online
Agenda for August 5, 2021
Meeting the Moment: Using Community-Based Approach for Vaccine Hesitancy
- 10:00 AM Welcome by Dr. Kathy Murphy, HEAL
- 10:05 AM HEAL Collaborative Overview
- 10:10 AM Session 1: Community Efforts in California by Linda Gleason, Cradle to Career Fresno County and Norberto Gonzalez, Healthy Futures California
- 10:30 AM Session 2: Community Efforts and Partnerships in Bakersfield with Dr. Keith Norris and statewide Field Director, Joseline Garcia, Get Out the Vaccine Campaign
- 10:40 AM Q&A with Panelists
- 10:55 AM Closing Remarks and Invitation to join the HEAL Collaborative
» View the August 5, 2021 Webinar recording online
Speaker Bios
Norma Rojas-Mora
Norma Rojas-Mora is the Director of Communication and Community Relations for Bakersfield College, where she oversees the Marketing and Community Relations department serving over 33,000 students and the greater community. She is responsible for all communication efforts, both internally and externally, including media relations and community partnerships.
Dr. Rais Vohra
Dr. Rais Vohra is an emergency physician, medical toxicologist, and public health officer for Fresno County. Since 2009, Dr. Vohra has been a faculty member in the UCSF Fresno Department of Emergency Medicine, where he established an inpatient toxicology consultation service. In his various capacities, Dr. Vohra has played an important role at the intersection of clinical medicine and public health locally, regionally, and globally.
Dr. Tania Pacheco-Werner
Dr. Tania Pacheco-Werner is Co-Assistant Director at the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at Fresno State. She is a medical sociologist by training and received her PhD in sociology from University of California, San Francisco. Her areas of research include policy analysis, neighborhood health, maternal and child health, and methodology. Her latest work on neighborhood health is "Unequal Neighborhoods: Fresno" uses historical, census, environmental, and health surveillance data to demonstrate how neighborhoods are a sum of policies and exceptions to policies that shape health outcomes. Her current research on maternal child health currently focuses on the role of stress and resilience and social determinants of health on preterm birth. She also does community engagement research activities on Fresno's economic equity initiative DRIVE (Developing the Region's Inclusive and Vibrant Economy). She is also a lead partner in the COVID-19 Equity Project, a community-based approach for education, testing, contact tracing, and quarantine support.
Dr. Reshma Patel
Reshma Patel, MDand her team has been heavily involved in helping identify, diagnose and treat patient's with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome. Board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and fellowship-trained, Dr. Reshma Patel joined Valley Children's in September 2016 as a pediatric rheumatologist. Her special clinical interests include sports and exercise medicine along with various pediatric rheumatic conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, scleroderma, vasculitis, juvenile dermatomyositis, idiopathic uveitis and several other autoimmune conditions. Dr. Patel is a resident mentor in the Valley Children's Pediatric Residency Program, Affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine. She enjoys teaching medical students and residents, and was previously recognized as an “Excellent Teacher” as a chief resident and during her fellowship. She is a member of several organizations, including American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Rheumatology, Arthritis Foundation Pacific Region and American Medical Association.
Dr. Nimisha Amin
Nimisha Amin, MD is a pediatrician and pediatric nephrologist at Southwest Pediatrics in Bakersfield, CA. She is a native of Bakersfield, but completed her undergraduate and medical degree at UC Irvine, followed by residency and fellowship at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA. After completion of her training in 2010, she chose to return to the community that she grew up in, in hopes of providing quality pediatric care to those who need it most. Dr. Amin also sits on the board of directors for JJ's Legacy, a local non-profit foundation that aims to educate Kern County residents on the importance of organ donation and provides compassionate support to donor and recipient families. She is a wife, mother of 2, skincare consultant, fitness and travel enthusiast.
Dr. Kathleen M. Murphy
Dr. Kathy Murphy is a pediatric ICU physician at Valley Children's Hospital. She sees the HEAL Collaborative as a strong mechanism to address public health issues that affect our communities. She got into public health because so many Central Valley kids end up in her ICU because these issues have not been addressed--that can change through HEAL.
Madi Bolanos
Madi Bolanos is the immigration and underserved communities reporter at Valley Public Radio. She is also a part of the Central Valley News Collaborative that includes The Fresno Bee, Vida en el Valle, Valley Public Radio and Radio Bilingue. She has reported on the pandemic's impact on underserved communities across the Central Valley, COVID-19 vaccine roll outs in rural areas, vaccine hesitancy and most recently vaccine deserts.
Linda Gleason
Linda Gleason has spent more than 20 years in the private sector before refocusing her career and dedicating her talents to improving the lives of children. She was a founding member of The Children's Movement of Fresno (TCM), and now focuses on the investments in the success of every child, as Director of Fresno Cradle to Career.
Norberto Gonzales
Norberto Gonzalesimplements a community-based approach to deliver quality and interactive engagement with community members as a community organizer. Norberto brings over 10 years of experience providing program development, consulting, and training services. He is a skilled trainer and facilitator for issues and candidate-based programs. Norberto has strong interpersonal skills, able to work effectively across diverse, multi generational settings.
Keith Norris
Dr. Keith C. Norris is an internationally recognized clinician scientist and health policy leader who has made major contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion while addressing disparities in contemporary society. He is a Professor and the Executive Vice Chair for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Department of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. His research interests focus on hypertension and chronic kidney disease in marginalized populations, enhancing community-academic partnerships and increasing diversity in the biomedical workforce.
Contact
For any questions, please reach out to Ariel Dyer at Ariel.dyer@BakersfieldCollege.edu.
To stay in touch about this and future events, follow us on Twitter @ruralHEAL.
Connect on Twitter:
Norma Rojas-Mora, Director of Communication and Community Relations at Bakersfield College | @NormaRojasMora2
Dr. Tania Pacheco-Werner, Co-Assistant Director at CSU Fresno Central Valley Health Policy Institute (CVHPI) | @taniahlthplce
