REGINA JAMES, MD

Session:  "Reflect, Integrate & Execute:  Moving from Strategic Planning to Action APA Division of Diversity and Health Equity"

Regina James, M.D. serves as the APA’s Chief of the Division of Diversity and Health Equity and Deputy Medical Director responsible for ensuring that diversity and mental health equity objectives are valued and operationalized as vital components of the organization’s mission. Dr. James is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with over 25 years of experience, providing leadership and direction in the planning, policy development and implementation of national and international health disparity programs and initiatives for children and families. Prior to joining APA, Dr. James served in numerous leadership positions including Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at 2M Clinical, a clinical research organization and consultancy, where she was responsible for strategic medical leadership and content expertise for commercial and federal clients; Director of Clinical and Health Services Research at the National Institute on Minority Health & Health Disparities, where she received the National Institutes of Health Directors Award for exceptional leadership in the promotion and development of scientific programs that address gaps in minority health and healthcare disparities; and the Director of the Office of Health Equity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute on Child Health & Human Development, where she led domestic and international programs addressing maternal and child health disparities. Dr. James was also a member of the Child & Adolescent Workgroup for the development of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual Version Five (DSM-V) for Psychiatric Disorders. Dr. James completed an NIH research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Child Psychiatry Branch, where she conducted clinical trials in children and adolescents diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder  and other behavioral disorders; her work was recognized by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as the recipient of the Reiger Award for Scientific Achievement. She also served as a Special Expert at the NIMH providing child psychiatric and clinical research consultation. Dr. James received both her Bachelor of Science in Psychology/Biology and her MD from the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed a residency in general psychiatry and fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and completed leadership training at the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program. She has lectured and published in the areas of health and healthcare disparities.

DAVID BARON, MD

Session: "Choices—Psychiatry Ethics"

David Baron, MD, has been Medical Director for Yellowbrick since 2016, having joined the staff in 2012 as a Staff Psychiatrist.  He hails from New York City and New Jersey. Dr. Baron received his B.A. in Psychology and M.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and went on to complete his psychiatry residency at Tufts/New England Medical Center in Boston.
Dr. Baron is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Rosalind Franklin University/The Chicago Medical School. In that role, he supervised psychiatric residents in their community psychiatry rotation for 15 years. During that time he also served as Administrative Psychiatrist, and Interim Director of Mental Health Services, for the DuPage County Health Department, supervising 50 psychiatrists and over 200 other clinical staff.  Prior to joining Yellowbrick Dr. Baron maintained a private practice, mostly in Hinsdale, for 23 years.
Dr. Baron is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He served on the Ethics Committee of the Illinois Psychiatric Society as a member from 2001 to 2006, and as Chairman from 2006 to 2011.

CHRISTINA GIRGIS, MD

Session:  "Social Media Ethics"

Dr. Christina Girgis is nationally known as a psychiatrist, innovator and leader practicing psychiatry in the Chicago area for 11 years. Boarded in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, her roles include Medical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and Associate Director of the Psychiatry Residency Program at Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC). She is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. She has been honored with awards including the Educator of the Year Award from the LUMC Department of Psychiatry. She is a Corresponding Member of the APA's Council on Communications and Liaison to the Council on Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Girgis completed residency at Rush University Medical Center and fellowship in Primary Care and Mental Health Integration at University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2018 and 2019, Dr. Girgis developed and led the first two conferences for women psychiatrists, offering CME and networking opportunities for 200 attendees. In 2020, she published a chapter titled "Sexual Harassment" in the textbook Burnout in Women Physicians: Prevention, Treatment and Management. As Chair for the Women's Faculty Committee at LUMC, she developed a unique Coaching Program for women faculty to assist them in academic promotion and created a CME series titled "Resilience in Medicine."
Since 2015 Dr. Girgis has united 20,000+ physicians in her Psychiatry Facebook groups to teach, engage, and improve the treatment provided to patients every day. In 2016 she was a National Finalist in the first APA Innovation Lab Contest. An expert on social media and psychiatry, Dr. Girgis has spoken nationally at academic institutions, presented workshops at national society meetings and published peer-reviewed articles on the topic. Dr. Girgis is passionate in her commitment to the field of psychiatry and connecting its physicians who serve others.

SUSAN ROGERS, MD

Session:  "We Need Medicare For All"

Dr. Susan Rogers is president of Physicians for a National Health Program which is a national organization whose mission is to advocate for Single Payer/Medicare for All.  Dr. Rogers received her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Cook County Hospital. She has spent almost all of her career at Stroger Hospital of Cook County where she was a PCP in one of the neighborhood clinics before becoming a hospitalist and Director of Medical Student Programs for the Dept of Medicine. She retired in 2014 but remains a voluntary attending there. She continues as active faculty at Rush University in Chicago as an Assistant Professor of Medicine.  She is a past co-president of Health Care for All Illinois. She previously was Medical Director of the Near North Health Service Corp, an FQHC in Chicago, and remained on their board for many years after she left her directorship there. Dr. Rogers is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the National Medical Association.