Social Determinants of Health - Understanding Barriers to Overcome Obstacles

Gita Suneja, MD, MS
University of Utah Health
Host

Dr. Gita Suneja is Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and an investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She has a secondary appointment in the Department of Population Health Sciences. Her clinical specialties include the treatment of breast and gynecologic malignancies. Her research program focuses on utilizing advanced health services research methods to enhance health equity and cancer outcomes.

Ashleigh Guadagnolo, MD, MPH, FASTRO
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Panelist

Dr. Ashleigh Guadagnolo received her Medical Doctorate from Harvard Medical School and Masters of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Guadagnolo completed her residency and chief residency at Harvard’s Joint Center for Radiation Therapy. Dr. Guadagnolo is a Professor and Section Chief of the Sarcoma/Melanoma Radiation Oncology Section and holds a dual appointment in the Department of Health Services Research. She clinically specializes in rare tumors including bone and soft tissue sarcoma and melanoma and non-melanoma skin malignancies. She has received extramural funding from the NIH/NCI and Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) for her research. Her research has focused on health disparities and care delivery for vulnerable populations, particularly American Indian populations. She has served on national health policy committees including the HHS Advisory Committee on Minority Health (Office of Minority Health) and on a National Academy of Science Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committee to help draft a National Strategy for Cancer Control. Dr. Guadagnolo is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Monica Lypson, MD, MPHE
Columbia University
Panelist

Dr. Lypson is the President of the Society of General Internal Medicine.  She recently joined Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons as Professor of Medicine and Vice Dean for Education on June 1, 2021.  She previously served as a professor, Vice-Chair of Medicine, Division Director of General Internal Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medical and Health Sciences.  Her work focuses on innovations and improvements in health professions education and assessment, health equity, workforce diversity, faculty development, medical care delivery, and provider communication skills.  Dr. Lypson's prior role in government included serving as the Director for Medical and Dental Education for the Veterans Health Administration, where she oversaw undergraduate and graduate medical education across the nation within the Department of Veteran Affairs.

She is a board-certified general internist with significant leadership experience in clinical, educational, and administrative arenas. Prior to this role, she served in many hospital leadership roles at the Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System, including Acting Chief of Staff.  She also spent years in educational leadership roles at the University of Michigan Medical School where she served as Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education, Interim Associate Dean for Diversity and Career Development and Faculty Director of the Standardized Patient Program.  She is a clinician educator and has published over 80 peer-reviewed publications in top-tier medical education journals in the areas of resident assessment, communication skills, cultural competency education, workforce diversity and faculty development. Dr. Lypson has held many national roles focused on health professions education, including with the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Board of Medical Examiners, and served previously as Secretary of the Society of General Internal Medicine. As a medical education leader in administrative, organizational and professional matters she also serves as an executive coach; she has mentored faculty, staff as well as peers in various specialties and administrative areas.

After graduating from Saint Ignatius, Dr. Lypson graduated from Brown University and received her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She completed her graduate medical training at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Internal Medicine - Primary Care. Subsequently, she went on to complete a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program at the University of Chicago and a master’s in Health Professions Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She has trained to be an executive coach; and recently entered the fourth cohort of the Aspen Health Innovator program that is part of the Aspen Institute.

As a strategic, visionary thinker, Dr. Lypson inspires all people, at all levels, to meet their goals and optimize their full potential. She is immensely committed to high quality, cost effective veteran centered care.  She finds joy in serving those who have served.

Dr. Lypson continues to strive for wellness and work life balance. She has written on the topic of physician marriages especially in academic medicine and is the wife of Dr. Andrew D. Campbell, a pediatric hematologist oncologist, and a mother of two school aged children.

Samilia Obeng-Gyasi, MD, MPH
The Ohio State University
Panelist

Dr. Samilia Obeng-Gyasi is a fellowship trained breast surgical oncologist. Her practice is focused on surgery for breast cancer and benign breast diseases. She obtained her BS in Biology (with highest distinction and departmental honors) from Indiana University-Bloomington and her MD from The University of Michigan. She completed her general surgery residency at the Cleveland Clinic and a Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) accredited breast surgery fellowship at Duke University. Due to her interest in health services research, after finishing her residency, she completed a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As a health disparities and health equity researcher, the  overarching goal of her work is to understand how ancestry, behavior, the social and built environments interact to influence cancer initiation and progression through the concepts of allostatic load, social genomics and epigenomics.