Speakers & Panelists

Effective March 16, 2023, Mr. Joseph Kerwin has been appointed Director of the AIDS Institute. Prior to serving as Director, Mr. Kerwin was a Deputy Director within the AIDS Institute for four years. His portfolio as a Deputy Director progressively expanded over the past four years to include oversight of the AIDS Institute’s Health Care Programs, Uninsured Care Program, Medicaid Programs and Health Care Financing. Mr. Kerwin has been with the AIDS Institute for more than ten years. Prior to joining the AIDS Institute, Joseph was the Executive Director of AIDS Services at Catholic Charities and the Program Administrator of the AIDS Program and Division of HIV Medicine at Albany Medical Center. Mr. Kerwin is responsible for the day-to-day decision making and operations of the AIDS Institute and has represented the AIDS Institute within the DOH, across state agencies and New York State. Priority efforts have focused on the integration of health equity principles to advance ending the epidemics of HIV, Hepatitis C, Congenital Syphilis, and opioid overdose, advancing LGBTQ+ health and wellness, and leading in many areas of the state’s outbreak responses including COVID-19 and Mpox.

​Johanne E. Morne (she, her, hers) is currently the Executive Deputy Commissioner for the NYS Department of Health. In this role, Ms. Morne is responsible for the administrative, operational, and programmatic oversight of the Department. Prior to this position, Ms. Morne served as the Deputy Commissioner, Office of Health Equity and Human Rights for the New York State Department of Health (Department). Ms. Morne was appointed in August 2022 to establish the new Office and serve as a member of the Department’s Executive Leadership Team. Ms. Morne has been with the Department for 16 years. Most of those years were in the AIDS Institute, serving as the Director from 2016 - 2022. Ms. Morne has long history of working in public health. Prior to coming into state government Ms. Morne worked in community-based settings that provided access to care and support to individuals under and uninsured. Regardless of her title, her priorities remain the same – the advancement of equity, social justice, and trauma informed care.

Dr. Julie Cakici is a registered nurse with a PhD in Public Health. Her research emphasizes the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of emerging technologies and incorporates Dissemination and Implementation Science to assess contextual factors that impact the implementation of research and interventions. Her areas of expertise include precision health research, digital health technologies, privacy, artificial intelligence (AI), secondary research, and research ethics. Most recently, she worked as a contractor for the NIH’s All of Us Research Program as a Health Science Policy Analyst in the ELSI division of the Policy Office. In this role, she informed program policies, guidance, and educational materials to promote ethical research using data from nearly 850K participants. Prior to pursuing her doctorate, Julie was the Manager of Genomics Research at Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine and a faculty member for the Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center’s Certificate in Pediatric Bioethics.

Dr. Kelly Merrill Jr. (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Health Communication and Technology in the School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. His primary research investigates the use of communication technologies, such as artificial intelligence, social media, and video games for social, physical, and mental health benefits. His research also seeks to address health disparities experienced by Black and queer individuals. He has published more than 20 articles in various journals, including Journal of Medical Internet Research, Computers in Human Behavior, Telematics and Informatics, and Communication Research Reports, and he has published two book chapters on the use of AI for health-related outcomes. He has also received several grants to support community-based research that seeks to address (digital) health disparities among minority communities.

Nicholas J. Pratt, MD, RN is a recognized voice at the intersection of digital technology, healthcare, education and wellness. Dr. Pratt's work regarding artificial intelligence has been featured in JAMA Pediatrics, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Psychiatric Times. As one of the nation's few graduates of both nursing and medical school, Dr. Pratt brings a unique clinical perspective to his practice. He currently serves patients as a resident physician in the Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and is the rising Chief Resident of Digital Psychiatry.

Meetali Jain serves as TJLP’s executive director. Over the course of her career, Meetali has worked as a lawyer, policy advocate, campaigner and educator. She started her career by representing detainees post-9/11 accused of terrorism, including at Guantanamo Bay, and by organizing in South Asian and Muslim communities impacted by surveillance and racial profiling. She's also litigated cases involving human rights, immigrant justice, and challenging corporate power. Meetali worked at the Morrison & Foerster and Goldstein Demchak law firms, taught human rights and constitutional law in law clinics at American University, Seton Hall, and in law schools across South Africa. In 2021, she joined Reset Tech where she focused primarily on issues of tech law and policy in the US. She sits on the board of the Integrity Institute, Type Media Center, and is an advisor to the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy (CITED) and Design It For Us (DIFU), a youth-led movement to build better tech spaces for young people.

Ghylian Bell, introduced to meditation and yoga by Bunny Wailer of Bob Marley and The Wailers at 19, is the founder of The Urban Yoga Foundation (UYF). Established in 2007 as a 501c3 non-profit, UYF pioneers yoga and mindfulness initiatives tailored to the needs of students and teachers in underserved communities. Guided by service-based yoga principles, UYF fosters social awareness, collective responsibility, and the reclaiming of indigenous connections to ancient practices. Having impacted over 500,000 individuals, Ghylian collaborated with icons like James Mtume and Cicely Tyson, providing them with personalized practices. Partnering with Beverly Bond of Black Girls Rock, she extended mindfulness programs globally at Barnard College. Her work with Columbia University School of Social Justice reached social workers, frontline personnel, and formerly incarcerated individuals. Corporate clients include 3M and Ford Foundation, with expansions to Citi College of New York, Hostos College, UCLA, and Fordham University. As a NYC vendor, The Urban Yoga Foundation spearheads in-school and outreach programs for the Dept of Ed of NY, solidifying its commitment to holistic wellness. For more details, explore www.urbanyogafoundation.

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Dr. Komal Bajaj is a New York City-based innovative, agency-building healthcare leader, catalyzing quality and safety transformation across all facets of healthcare delivery. Dr. Bajaj serves as Chief Quality Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi/NCB (Bronx, NY). She is also Clinical Director for NYC Health + Hospitals Simulation Center, which delivers thousands of interprofessional participant encounters throughout its simulation centers annually. She co-chairs the health system’s Monitoring & Evaluation Subcommittee for its Equity & Access Council. Dr. Bajaj is a Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a founding member of the system-wide Research Council. Dr. Bajaj was an inaugural National Academy of Medicine Diagnostic Excellence Scholar. She was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)’s National Advisory Council in 2022. Dr. Bajaj is an internationally recognized expert on ingraining equity into quality/safety, healthcare environmental sustainability, the impact of diagnostic safety events on maternal health, and the use of simulation/debriefing to advance healthcare quality/safety. Her work has been featured in mainstream outlets such as the New York Times, Modern Healthcare, NPR, and Crains New York as well as healthcare entities such as NEJM Catalyst, JAMA Health Forum, and Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Greg Olsen is Director of the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), where he oversees the agency’s day-to-day operations and the administration of federal and state-funded programs designed to assist the more than 4.8 million older adult residents in the state, as well as programs that assist family members and others involved with helping older adults needing greater levels of assistance. He previously served as chief of staff and legislative and policy director for Assemblyman Steve Englebright, who is the former chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Aging, as well as leadership roles at the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans and New York State Coalition for the Aging.

Ipsit Vahia, MD, is the Corrigan-Minehan Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital. He is also the Medical Director of the Institute for Technology in Psychiatry and the Director of the Technology and Aging Laboratory at McLean. His research focuses on the use of technology, including AI in the assessment and management of older adults. He has published extensively in major international journals and textbooks and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

Nima Roohi is the CEO and Co-founder of Blooming Health, a platform transforming access to social care through automation. A technologist and entrepreneur, Nima brings over a decade of leadership experience in AI, data science, and predictive analytics, applying technology to drive efficiency in healthcare, social services, and infrastructure. His personal experience as a first caregiver fuels his mission to build scalable solutions that make social care more accessible, equitable, and impactful. 

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