Purpose
The purpose of the conference “Rooted in Community: Changing Outcomes and Growing Our Impact” is to bring together health advocates, policy makers, and community leaders to strengthen community-rooted approaches and expand collective impact to improve health outcomes. Through shared-learning and collaboration, participants will examine evidence-informed strategies to address structural barriers, inform decision-making, and strengthen existing systems that support fair and sustainable outcomes across communities.
Audience
This conference is designed for a diverse audience of professionals, researchers, policymakers, educators, healthcare practitioners, community leaders, advocates, and individuals committed to advancing social equity.
Objectives
Agenda
This is a working agenda and may be updated between now and November 13th
8:30 am – 9:00 am |
Registration |
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9:00 am – 10:00 am |
Impact Summit Welcome – (TBA) CareSource Welcome – Jayme Puu, Chief Executive Officer, CareSource Keynote Speaker Introduction – (TBA) Keynote Address – Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
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10:00 am – 10:15 am |
Break |
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10:15 am – 11:30 am |
Session 1 |
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Immunization, Data, and Policy Immunization in Nevada: Current Landscape and Future Direction – Brian Labus, PhD, MPH, REHS - UNLV School of Public Health/NVAX and Sarah Connors - UNLV School of Public Health/NVAX Beyond the Message: Why Vaccine Confidence Is a Policy Problem, Not a Communication Problem – Lee McAllister, MBA - Nevada Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, JP Vilai, MD, FAAP – Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Medicine, and Jose Cucalón Calderón, MD – Renown Children’s Hospital/UNR School of Medicine Vaccine Response Protocol among Vulnerable and High-risk Populations – Siddharth Raich, MPH, PhD - Nevada Office of Minority Health and Equity | Social Drivers of Health Cancer Screening Where People Live, Work, and Play – Lily Helzer, MPH - Nevada Cancer Coalition Understanding Health Needs in Nevada’s Rural Mountain West and Hispanic Communities – Bailee Daniels, MS, CCRC, PMP – Huntsman Cancer Institute and Allison Foust, MHA, MCHES – Huntsman Cancer Institute What if? Equitable outcomes for neurodiverse minorities, or “neurominorities – Carol Ferranti - Nevada Chapter Tourette Association of America | Maternal and Child Health Association Between Household Food Insecurity and Childhood Underweight and Obesity Among Kindergarten Children in Nevada — Smriti Neupane - Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy (NICRP) Community-Based Nurturing Care Navigation to Address Maternal-Child Food Insecurity: Findings from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial — Cristina Hernandez - UNLV School of Public Health Designing Community-Based Maternal Mental Health Support with Latina Mothers of Young Children in Clark County — Clariana Vitoria Ramos de Oliveira, PhD, MSC, RN - UNLV School of Nursing and Erin Andrew - UNLV School of Nursing |
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11:30 am – 1:00 pm |
Lunch, Networking & Exhibits |
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1:00 pm – 2:15 pm |
Session 2 |
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Immunization, Data, and Policy From Numbers to Narrative: Using Data to Drive Community Impact — Kendall Lyons - Pride Data Insights and Anjin Singh - Pride Data Insights | Social Drivers of Health Hidden Foster Care: Making Voluntary Kinship Care Visible, Supported, and Accountable — Dr. Ali Caliendo - Foster Kinship and Leah Dods, MSW - Foster Kinship Supportive Housing is Healthcare: Understanding Supportive Housing and its Cross-Sector Impact — Juawana Grant - Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) Connecting Data, Community Input, and Transportation Planning to Improve Health: The UNLV Vulnerable Road User Project — Max Gakh, JD, MPH - UNLV School of Public Health and Courtney Coughenour, PhD -UNLV Schoool of Public health |
Maternal and Child Health NURTURE Study: Neonatal Utilization and Risk from Maternal Substance Exposure- Transitions, Resource Needs, and Outcomes —Vidhani Goel - UNLV Integrating Comprehensive Social and Behavioral Assessment in Prenatal Care: Findings from an Integrated Maternal Health Services Pilot — Gabriela Buccini, Ph.D., MSc, IBCLC - UNLV School of Public Health, Nadia Gomez, MD, MBA, FACOG - UNLV Health, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine and Amy Schmidt - Comagine From Pit to Purpose: Turning Maternal Trauma into Generational Healing — Rachael Richardson - The Real ONE |
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2:15 pm – 2:30 pm |
Break |
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2:30 pm – 3:45 pm |
Session 3 |
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Immunization, Data, and Policy NCHC Policy Workgroup Session (TBA) |
Social Drivers of Health A Missing Page: Public Libraries as a Social Driver of Maternal Health — Claudia Maureen Melton - Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. WellConnect in Action: Medical Student Resource Navigators Address Social Drivers of Health in Underserved Las Vegas Communities — Jennifer Young, DPP - Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, Daniel Hernandez, BA - Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV and Irma Corral, PhD, MPH - Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Beyond Recreation: Leveraging Older Adult Overnight Camps to Address Social Drivers of Health — Natalie Mazzullo - UNR Extension and Kayla Ransom - UNR Extension | Maternal and Child Health Beyond Clinical Care: Building a Community-Based Perinatal Hub that Intentionally Combined Maternal Healthcare with Community Care — Jollina R. Walker, MA-MCHS, IBCLC – The Birth Collaborative, Kyra Henry – The BLOCC Team, Brianna Jackson – The BLOCC Team, and Jerah Robinson – The BLOCC Team A Novel Model of Scholarship Program to Increase Lactation Workforce in Nevada — Gabriela Buccini, PhD, MSc, IBCLC - UNLV School of Public Health and Rikki Jenkins, IBCLC - UNLV School of Public Health From Coverage to Care: Strengthening the Systems That Support Community Doulas — Jollina R. Walker, MA-MCHS, IBCLC – The Birth Collaborative, Kyra Henry – The BLOCC Team, Brianna Jackson – The BLOCC Team, and Jerah Robinson – The BLOCC Team | |
3:45 pm – 4:00 pm |
Break |
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4:00 pm – 5:00 pm |
Closing Announcements — Gabriela Portillo, Program Manager, Nevada Community Health Coalition (NCHC) Keynote Speaker Introduction – (TBA) Keynote Address — Dr. Synovia Moss, Moss Consulting & Management Group Closing Remarks — (TBA) |
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5:00 pm -6:30 pm |
Networking Reception |
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Keynote Speakers
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos (Dr. G) is an associate professor of Medicine and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 2013, he co-founded Medicine for the Greater Good, an initiative aimed at promoting health and wellness beyond the hospital walls. This organization became the foundation of the book by the same name. He is also the co-author of “Building Healthy Communities through Medical Religious Partnerships”, with the 4th edition coming out in 2027.
He continues to see patients in the oncology ICU, pulmonary clinic, and his rare disease clinic. He also founded and directs the state of Maryland’s largest smoking cessation clinic, the Tobacco Treatment and Cancer Screening Clinic at the Johns Hopkins.
He completed his BS at Temple University, Medical Degree at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Residency at Johns Hopkins, Fellowship at the NIH, and a Masters in Health Sciences from Duke University.
He is also born and raised in Baltimore City to 2 immigrant parents, where he spent much of his youth barefoot playing soccer in the City’s alleys.
Dr. Synovia Moss
Dr. Synovia Moss is CEO and Managing Partner of Moss Consulting & Management Group, LLC, where she leads strategic planning, organizational development, and community engagement initiatives that drive measurable impact at the local, national, and global levels. With more than 30 years of experience, she is a highly regarded strategist known for helping organizations design and implement community-centered solutions that advance equity, strengthen partnerships, and deliver sustainable outcomes.
Dr. Moss has built her career working alongside community-based organizations (CBOs), equipping them with the infrastructure, tools, and strategies needed to effectively serve and mobilize their communities. She specializes in developing high-impact engagement models that amplify community voice, foster trust, and align grassroots efforts with broader public health and social impact goals.
Most recently, Dr. Moss served as National Project Manager for the National Council of Negro Women’s Good Health Women’s Immunization Networks (Good Health WINs), the nation’s largest community-based vaccine confidence initiative. In this role, she led strategic planning and implementation across a network of 40 CBO partners, supporting efforts that reached more than 4 million individuals through culturally responsive, community-driven approaches to increase vaccine confidence and access.
Her leadership spans cross-sector collaborations with public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders, including global advisory work with the Brain Matters Early Learning Global Network across 27 countries and program leadership at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is widely recognized for her ability to translate complex research and policy into actionable strategies that empower communities and inform decision-making at every level.
She holds a Doctorate from the University of Southern California, a Master of Arts in Public Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside.
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