Dr. Eboni Price-Haywood, MD, MPH, FACP is a General Internal Medicine specialist, Medical
Director for Ochsner Health’s Healthy State initiative and the Ochsner Xavier Institute for Health Equity
and Research (OXIHER) and member of the Board of Governors for the Patient Centered Outcomes
Research Institute (PCORI). She is also the former director of Ochsner Health’s Center for Outcomes
Research.
In her combined leadership roles as System Medical Director for Healthy State and OXIHER, Dr. Price-
Haywood is leading collaborative initiatives across the state of Louisiana to improve overall community
health by addressing the social determinants of health and designing strategies to improve health equity.
Dr Price-Haywood is an NIH-funded researcher with experience and expertise in epidemiology, health
services research and implementation science; strategies to improve health equity; and health services
delivery redesign. Over the last 20 years, her research and healthcare administrative work has focused
on strategies to improve health equity for socially disadvantaged populations and translating research
into practice. Her research portfolio includes: (1) Strategies to improve health care quality for vulnerable
populations; (2) Health service delivery redesign via optimization of health information technology and
care teams; (3) Conduct of pragmatic clinical trials and implementation science research; and (4) Use of
electronic medical record data for observational, epidemiologic studies, and health services research.
Dr. Price-Haywood is a Professor of Medicine in the University of Queensland Ochsner Clinical School
and teaching faculty for the Ochsner Internal Medicine Residency Program. She received her Medical
Degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Master of Public Health from Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Master of Medical Management from Tulane
University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Williams is an associate professor in Pharmacology and Chair of the Division of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences in Xavier’s University College of Pharmacy. Over the past decade, Dr. Williams’ research has focused on nuclear receptor biology and anti-estrogen resistance in breast cancer. Throughout his career Dr. Williams has remained committed to mentoring underrepresented minorities in the biomedical sciences and providing educational pathways to enter STEM fields. In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Williams, in partnership with the ThermoFisher Just Project, developed the on-campus laboratory at XULA which also provides no-cost testing to local/regional HBCUs.

Dr. Victoria McGhee Smith is a Family Physician and Associate Medical Director for St. Charles Parish Hospital and Primary Care for the River Region at Ochsner Health. She currently serves on the Ochsner Health Board of Directors. Dr. McGhee Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Yale University. She earned a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed a residency at LSU Health Sciences Center-New Orleans / Kenner Regional Medical Center. Dr. McGhee Smith has served as the Medical Director of Ochsner Physician Partners. She is a zealous advocate of health promotion, disease prevention and population health. Dr. McGhee Smith has a passion for education having taught elementary school through Teach For America, adult basic education at El Camino Community College in California and Family Medicine at Meharry Medical College. Dr. McGhee Smith has received many honors, including 2018 City Business Woman of the Year and the 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Award at Ochsner Health.

Chamika Hawkins-Taylor is an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy with an emphasis on social and administrative pharmacy and health disparities. She also received her masters and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Southern California and University of California, Davis respectively. Her research has been broadly focused on race, age and geography-based disparities. Most recently, her research has centered on the social impact of poorly managed diabetes, disparities in limb amputations among African Americans and the impact of housing arrangements on quality of life of elderly, Black populations. She is the 2020 recipient of the Early Career Award by the Pharmacy Section of American Public Health Association in recognition of early-career leadership and innovation in public health pharmacy.

Dr. Raymond is a Board-Certified Internist now serving as the Medical Director of Ochsner Health Network and Medical Director and President of Ochsner Physician Partners. He is currently serving on the Board of the Ochsner Accountable Care Network. Prior to joining Ochsner, Dr. Raymond was Vice President, Physician Practice Administrator and Chief Medical Information Officer at East Jefferson General Hospital. His experience included serving on the Steering Committee and later as a Board Member for Gulf South Quality Network. Dr. Raymond earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Loyola University, earned a Medical Degree from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at LSU-New Orleans.

Dr. Amy Thierry is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Xavier University Louisiana. She completed her BS in Biological Sciences from LSU in Baton Rouge and holds an MPH in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences from the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans where she was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow from 2009-2010. Dr. Thierry earned her PhD in Biobehavioral Health with a minor in Demography from Pennsylvania State University. She was a postdoctoral scholar at Duke University in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. With expertise in quantitative analysis of national survey and biomarker data, Dr. Thierry's research focuses on understanding how social inequality via chronic stress pathways drives population-level disparities in chronic disease and physical disability related outcomes in older adults.

Deborah Grimes serves as Ochsner Health’s first VP Chief of Diversity and Inclusion. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UAB worked as Registered Nurse for 10 years. She graduated from the Birmingham School of Law with a Juris Doctor Degree and worked at UAB Risk Management as a Healthcare Attorney. After obtaining a Master’s in Science Degree in Quality and Patient Safety, she was appointed as UAB Health System’s first Chief Diversity Officer. Deborah was named by Savoy magazine as one of the Most Influential Women in Corporate America in 2019.

Missy Hopson serves as Vice President of Talent Management in Human Resources at Ochsner Health. She leads her team in developing a diverse talent pipeline to support top quality patient care. In her role she oversees workforce development with a focus on opening career pathways for the unemployed/ underemployed, college and post-graduate internships and fellowships, orientation & onboarding, performance management and engagement for more than 32,000 team members. She serves on the Workforce Development Boards of Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, YouthForce NOLA, Morris Jeff Community School and Communities in Schools of the Gulf South.

Dr. Florastina Payton-Stewart serves as Associate Professor, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Administrative Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion at Xavier University of Louisiana. She received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1999 and her PhD in Bioorganic Chemistry at Tulane University in 2007. After receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Payton-Stewart held a postdoctoral position at Tulane University Medical School from 2007-2010. She is the recipient of various honors, such as the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans Fellowship, the GALA Dissertation Writing Fellowship, the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium Fellowship and the Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Dr. Laborde, is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and currently serves as the Medical Director of Global Health Education and as an assistant professor of medicine for the Ochsner UQ/Clinical School. He attended medical school at LSU Shreveport followed by an internship at Tulane and a residency in internal medicine at Ochsner. Dr. Laborde joined the Ochsner staff in 1995 and was instrumental in the development and growth of the Ochsner West Bank region. He also became the first black physician elected to the Ochsner Board of Directors where he served two terms. Dr. Laborde has dedicated his career to serving the local and global community. He led the Ochsner relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and was the recipient of the 2011 Alton Ochsner Community Service Award for his humanitarian efforts.

Tonia R. Moore currently serves as the director of community engagement for Ochsner Health. She has over 18 years of equity-focused leadership and experience both in public health policy and government relations, and seven years in health care administration. She currently serves as vice chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Foundation board, immediate past-president of the Southern University 1880 Society Annual Fund and a board member of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Tonia received both a bachelors and master’s degree in Political Science from Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She also obtained a Master of Science in Health Care Management from the University of New Orleans. Tonia is active with various community and service organizations.

Dr. Echeverri serves as Associate Professor and Educational Coordinator in Health Disparities, Cultural Competence and Diversity at Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy. She is a social and behavioral researcher with a strong background in cultural & linguistic competence, health literacy, health disparities, and community-based participatory research. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Community Engagement & Outreach Resource Core at the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center (LACaTS). Her research focuses on factors influencing patients’ health behaviors and decisions related to prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, as well as development of strategies to improve communication and understanding among healthcare providers, patients, and researchers. She received her Master and PhD degrees at Tulane University and is the recipient of the 2015 Norman Francis Faculty Excellence in Service Award for outstanding service to the community, the university and the profession.

Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell is a Board-Certified Obstetrician & Gynecologist and Associate
Professor for Ochsner Health in New Orleans, Louisiana. She serves as the Senior Site Lead
and Section Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner.
Additionally, she serves as the Director of Quality for Women’s Services for the Ochsner Health
System, and as Medical Director of the Minimally Invasive Center for the Treatment of Uterine
Fibroids. Dr. Gillispie-Bell is also the Medical Director of the Louisiana Perinatal Quality
Collaborative and Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review for the Louisiana Department of
Health. She has served in several local and national leadership roles and received many
accolades for her clinical, academic, and community services contributions. Dr. Gillispie-Bell is a
passionate maternal health advocate. Within this body of work her engagement has led to
numerous invited guest lectures, panel discussions, speaking engagements, podcasts, and
other avenues for advocacy, education, and health equity promotion. Most notably, Dr. Gillispie-
Bell has participated in the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Innovation X
Team Maternal Health Roundtable; the Congressional Briefing on Maternal Mental Health and
Morbidity and Mortality; as well as an impactful HHS maternal mortality speaking engagement
alongside Secretary of Health, Xavier Becerra. Likewise, she has spoken on the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) Joint Roundtable "The Connected Future of Maternal
Care: Intersecting Maternal Health and Broadband Data" and has been featured on Good
Morning America providing invaluable expertise on Black Maternal Health. Dr. Gillispie-Bell was
also interviewed in the Hulu docuseries The 1619 Project S1, E2: Race; and provided a deep
dive into the intersection of equity and quality improvement as part of a seven-part podcast
series in collaboration with the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health. Lastly, Dr. Gillispie-
Bell authored the New York Times op-ed "More Mothers Are Dying. It Doesn’t Have to Be This
Way", an impactful post highlighting the Nation's disparities in Black maternal morbidity and
mortality rates compared to women of non-minority descent.

Catherine Levendis is the Assistant Vice President of Government Relations for Ochsner Health. She received her Juris Doctor from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and her Master of Social Work from Louisiana State University. Ms. Levendis began her career at the White House, serving in the Office of Presidential Messages and later as Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Student Correspondence. In this role, she helped President Bill Clinton respond to thousands of students who wrote to him each week. Upon return to Louisiana, Ms. Levendis served as Health Policy Advisor to Governors Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco. She later worked for the Louisiana Legislature as an attorney for the House Health and Welfare Committee, and subsequently served as the Deputy Director for Health Care Reform in the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. She has worked for Ochsner Health in Government Relations for the last nine years, focusing primarily on advocacy efforts at the state level.

Dr. Kirchain is the Director of the Xavier University College of Pharmacy Health and Wellness Center. He oversees a large community-based practice focused on the prevention and early detection of disease and the promotion of wellness through self-care and healthy lifestyle choices. In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Kirchain teaches pharmacy law and regulation at Xavier. He currently or has served as President of the Louisiana Pharmacists Association, the Chair for Public Policy, Louisiana Society of Health-system Pharmacists, Vice Chair for the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners’ Advisory Committee for Collaborative Practice, Louisiana Delegate of the APhA House of Delegates and the Board of Directors Louisiana Pharmacists Association.

Susan Olet is a Biostatistician for OXIHER. She has over 22 years of experience in designing, implementing, and analyzing observational studies and identifying disease risk factors and determinants of response to interventions for Cardiovascular and Cancer research, Circulatory Biomarkers of Extracellular Matrix and MicroRNA (miRNA), and Multidrug-resistant in commensal bacteria. She has conducted population studies within the United States. Her current work focuses on health disparities, health equity and social determinants of health in outcomes research.

Dr. Nariman Ammar is a Health Informatics Researcher at OXIHER and an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Illinois State University. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Wayne State University. She received a 3-year Health Informatics training in the Oak Ridge National Lab’s Center for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center through which she has designed research pipelines for integrating downstream clinical and upstream non-clinical risk factors to study several health outcomes and incorporated results from those models into intelligent digital health platforms. Her work focuses on providing informatics and analytics expertise for advanced analytics for health system-level, data-driven, clinical initiatives within Ochsner.

Elizabeth Howard is an Epidemiologist for OXIHER. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine with training and research experience in maternal and child health and infectious disease. Prior to her current role, she served as an epidemiology consultant for public health institutes and academia for several years. Presently, she designs and implements epidemiologic studies to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical programs and other healthcare interventions. Her work provides technical content expertise in study conceptualization, planning, execution, preparation, and presentation of results for investigator-initiated and federally-sponsored studies that align with our departmental goals for improving health equity and health status in Louisiana communities and beyond. She enjoys research that has direct clinical implications for care and applied utility, advances methodological understanding, and informs policy.

Dr. Ariyon C. Bryant is a Strategic Program Manager for OXIHER. She received her DrPH in Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Prior to her current role, her work focused on reducing nutrition-related chronic disease health disparities in African American women from New Orleans by examining eating behaviors; describing how behaviors are shaped by tradition and culture; and developing healthful and acceptable variations of frequently consumed recipes via culturally responsive methods. Presently, she works across teams to inform health equity data strategy and drive implementation leading to improved health equity and health outcomes in Louisiana.

With 11 years of experience in healthcare, Elizabeth brings a wealth of skills in strategic planning, engagement management, and program management. As a certified Project Management Professional with an MBA in Healthcare Operations from Vanderbilt University and a BA in History from Yale University, she specializes in breaking down complex problems into manageable components and designing effective mitigation strategies to achieve her goals. With a passion for advancing health equity, Elizabeth is dedicated to addressing social determinants of health to positively impact outcomes. She engages with leaders across the state to leverage expertise and resources in pursuit of sustainable change and fostering economic mobility for all. Before working to improve equity, she honed her skills leading partnership integrations for a broad spectrum of models including joint operating agreements, joint ventures, new facility stand-ups, and physician practice affiliations.

Steven began his work in public health starting with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and then the Boston University School of Public Health. His work has taken him to Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Zambia for projects on maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, non-profit organizational capacity assessments, hospital performance measurement and quality improvement, and rural health. Prior to his career in public health, he worked for U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and led a non-profit dedicated to abolishing the death penalty in the United States. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics in London, UK and The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Jewel Harden-Barrios, MEd (Exercise Physiology, University of New Orleans), has more than two decades of research experience encompassing school-based wellness interventions, outcomes and health services research. In her role as Senior Clinical Research Coordinator, she managed the implementation of research projects, most recently for the Ochsner Center for Outcomes Research and its partners. During her tenure, Jewel expanded her role to program coordinator for Ochsner REACHNet and the Ochsner Community Advisor Network, coordinating resources, engaging diverse stakeholders, and developing project plans that emphasize patient-centered approaches to address healthcare disparities. She currently leverages her Ochsner Green Belt certification to implement process improvement activities for research coordinator training in Ochsner Research departments.

Dr. Nia Mason is an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at Xavier University of Louisiana. She earned both her Master’s in Mass Communication and Ph.D. in Media and Public Affairs from Louisiana State University. Prior to assuming the assistant professor position, Dr. Mason worked in the field of strategic communication.

Dr. Mason leads the strategic communication, public relations, and health communication tracks in the Department of Mass Communication. She is a health communication scholar with research that examines the role of communication in reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. She is particularly interested in how to harness media and communication to promote health and well-being among minority and disenfranchised populations. This type of research involves: 1) understanding and theorizing about how people communicate about health across various contexts (e.g., interpersonal, social media) and how communication relates to health and well-being (e.g., sexual health, psychological well-being, mental health, cancer screening and prevention); 2) testing message design theories and frameworks to better understand what types of messages will most be resonant and persuasive with target audiences; and 3) developing and evaluating targeted interventions that aim to influence behavior change.

Dr. Mason’s research can be found in some of the top peer-reviewed communication and public health journals, including Health Communication, Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, and Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

Nicole Summers is the Program Manager for OXIHER on the Xavier team. She manages the program’s day-to-day budgeting needs and assists the program’s director and dyad leaders. She’s approaching her 18th year with the university, formally the Constituent Services Coordinator in the Office of Institutional Advancement.

Originally from LaPlace, Louisiana, Bianca Cook graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2016. During her nursing career, she directed employee engagement projects that helped improve teamwork and collaboration within the unit and inter-department communication within Women Services. In August 2018, Bianca earned her Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management from the University of Texas at Tyler.

In July 2019, Bianca started her Administrative Fellowship program with Ochsner Health as the Nursing fellow working with the System Chief Nursing Officer on nursing operations and strategy projects. Bianca had the wonderful opportunity to work with the System Executive team and Office Strategy Management as the Corporate fellow for the second half of her fellowship. During this time, she worked on Ochsner’s diversity and inclusion strategy, as well as, provided project management support to Mayor Latoya Cantrell’s Reopening New Orleans initiative and Ochsner’s COVID-19 vaccine research trial. She then transitioned to being a Clinic Operations Manager for the Community Health Centers. In this role, she opened and managed the Brees Family Center in Baton Rouge, as well as, managed the Ochsner/Son of a Saint partnership employees. Then transitioned back to the Office of Strategy Management as the strategic partner for Dr. Seoane and Dr. Basow to support the strategies for the Academic and Connected Health Divisions.

In her new role, Bianca will help with alignment and execution of the Community Health and Health Equity strategic initiatives working closely with Dr. Laborde and Dr. Price-Haywood. She will also manage the implementation of the enterprise Medicaid Strategy.

Nicole R. Villemarette-Pittman, PhD, is a Director of Clinical Research at Ochsner Health in New Orleans.

She joined Ochsner in January 2022 with oversight of the Neuroscience Research Center of Excellence,

the Cardiology Research Center of Excellence, Ochsner BioDesign Lab, and the Clinical Research

Internship. In 2024, Dr. Villemarette-Pittman’s oversight expanded to include all seven Clinical Research

Centers of Excellence. She is Co-Chair of the Investigator-Initiated Study Scientific Review Committee,

Co-Chair of the Research Advisory Council in Neuroscience, Member of the Academic Culture

Committee, and Member of the inaugural True North System Steering Council. Dr. Villemarette-Pittman

is an Associate Professor (Hon) at the University of Queensland Medical School in Brisbane, Australia

and Gratis Faculty at LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans, Department of Neurology. She is a

board member of the LA Epilepsy Foundation. Dr. Villemarette-Pittman and Dr. Fawad Khan are co-

founders of the Louisiana Epilepsy Care and Research Consortium. This nonprofit organization seeks to

build a society of professionals within the state of Louisiana that focuses on clinical care and research in

the epilepsy community. Dr. Villemarette-Pittman serves as Managing Editor of the international

neurology journal, Journal of the Neurological Sciences (JNS). JNS is the official journal of the World

Federation of Neurology and promotes global neurology, best practices, clinical outcomes, and basic and

translational science.

After receiving a B.Sc. in biology from Queen’s University in Canada, Dr. Duesbery earned his M.Sc. and

a Ph.D. studying the cell cycle in Xenopus laevis at the University of Toronto under the mentorship of Dr.

Yoshio Masui. He subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular oncology at the

National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD under the guidance of Dr. George VandeWoude. In 1999, he

joined the faculty at the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, MI where he served as head of the

Laboratory of Cancer & Developmental Cell Biology for 17 years. In that time, his lab investigated the role

of MAPK signaling pathways in cancer and blood vessel formation in development and disease. In 2016,

Dr. Duesbery moved to Spectrum Health Hospital where he served as the Director of Research

Operations and the West Michigan Regional Laboratory.​ He joined Ochsner Health in 2020 as a Director

of Clinical Research and was promoted to Assistant Vice-President of Research in 2022. He currently has

oversight of Outcomes Research, Translational Research, and Ochsner’s Biorepository.