“CREATING COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITIES: LEADERSHIP, SPIRITUALITY, AND WHOLISTIC CARE”
Spring Symposium (Hybrid)
Organized and Sponsored by Drew’s Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, Department of Medical & Health Humanities, Drew Theological School, University of Humanistic Studies (UHS), and Atlantic Health System as a model for integrating community needs and feedback to specialized care across the life span.
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2024
9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET | DREW UNIVERSITY, MEAD HALL | FOLLOWED BY RECEPTION
Resources
Local Organizations and Resources
Speakers
Reverend David Keith Brawley
The Reverend David Keith Brawley is the 7th Pastor of the 3000-member St. Paul Community Baptist Church located in the East New York section of Brooklyn and serves as Chairman of the East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC) and Metro-IAF, affiliates of the internationally recognized organizing entity Industrial Areas Foundation. He is also the Founder of the award-winning Imagine Me Leadership Charter School (IMLCS), the first all-boys charter school in the East New York section of Brooklyn, which educates minority boys and girls grades K-8. Preaching since the age of sixteen, Rev. Brawley began his full-time ministry career in 1994 at St. Paul, where he served as Assistant Pastor from 1995-2007. As Lead Pastor of St. Paul, Rev. Brawley has led several life-transforming initiatives impacting thousands of New Yorkers. Notably, his work with Metro-IAF has yielded the construction of over 3000 affordable homes and a $73 million educational campus in the borough of Brooklyn. The formation of the B-20 Leadership Scholarship Fund has distributed over $100K to graduating high school seniors in Brooklyn and created the ministry’s summer reading enrichment program for children K-8, which has produced improved reading and comprehension test scores for 90% of annual participants. In May of 2021, Reverend Brawley received his Doctor of Ministry from Drew University. Pastor Brawley resides in Brooklyn, New York.
Prof. Joke van Saane
Prof. Joke van Saane is Professor of Meaning and Leadership. She studied Psychology and Educational science at the Free University, where she also received her PhD and worked as a lecturer and researcher. She published on credible leadership, among other topics. From 2014 to 2019, she was Professor of Religious Psychology and Education,Theology & Religious Studies and portfolio holder for Education at the Faculty of Religion and Theology at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Since July 1, 2019, she has been rector and chair of the Executive Board of the University of Humanistic Studies.
Pat Weikart
Pat Weikart –Minister of Word and Sacrament PC (USA), Chaplain, Director of The Healing Tree SCD, Former Research Associate Nemours Children’s Health, Former Client Executive with IBM Corporation 4725 Champions Run, Cherry Hill, NJ. I began my professional journey as a legislative assistant in the US Congress and as a federal policy evaluator for the US Department of Labor while a student at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. I hold a bachelor’s degree in political science from Albright College and a master’s degree in public policy from Rutgers University. As a Client Executive for IBM Corporation 1981 to 1995, I learned how to help people reach their professional potential and how to break difficult, multi-layered problems into manageable consensus- based solutions. I began seminary part-time in 1994 after completing the IBM Client Executive Certification program at the Harvard Business School. From 1995-1997 I worked on a special assignment for Bell Communications Research, one of my former customers at IBM. I helped this privately held company become a public firm as General Manager for Sales and Marketing. I began seminary full-time in 1997 and graduated from Drew University, Madison, NJ, (Master of Divinity, Summa Cum Laude in 2000). I completed a 9-month unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at the Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, NJ (1997-1998). I was hired by the medical center hospice as Chaplain after CPE in 1998 and continued that work through March 2000. I was ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) on March 5, 2000. I have served the Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, NJ; the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church (NJ) and the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman (NJ). I completed my full-time parish ministry on June 30, 2016. I returned to chaplaincy at Nemours Children’s Health, Wilmington, DE on July 1, 2016. I worked on the Palliative and Supportive Care Team for 6 years. I was part of the first ISPEC (Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum) course at GWU. Since then, a physician colleague and I have delivered the ISPEC course to 100 clinicians and chaplains. As a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree (Drew University anticipated May 2024), I am establishing a non-profit called The Healing Tree SCD. The Healing Tree SCD responds to the unmet needs of patients and families managing sickle cell disease by leveraging faith and community-based resources.
Yvette Vieira currently is the Senior Manager of Palliative Care and Healthcare Ethics across Atlantic Health System, NJ. She completed her BSc. at McMaster University in Canada and worked in several not-for-profit organizations that mobilized health care access/advocacy, community support and education for individuals in vulnerable populations. She transplanted with her family to New Jersey where she co-founded a consulting company whose mission it was to create novel community networks to support older adults aging in place. Yvette completed her Master’s in Medical Humanities at Drew University and holds Certificates of Bioethics & Humanities, and Mediation & Conflict Resolution from Montefiore/Yeshiva University. She sits on the MSNJ Bioethics Committee, the ARC of NJ’s Human Rights Committee, is a board member of New Jersey’s Death with Dignity, Consultation Ethicist to the American Clinician’s Academy for Medical Aid in Dying, Advisor to Kent Place Ethics Scholars Program, and serves as an adjunct Professor at Drew University’s Graduate Medical and Health Humanities Program. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Medical and Health Humanities with a focus on Public Health Palliative Care initiatives through Compassionate Communities. Yvette is nationally certified by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities as a Health Care Ethics Consultant.
Alex Beth Schapiro
Alex Beth Schapiro is a healthcare chaplain working at the intersection of Spiritual Care and Population Health at Atlantic Health System. Clinically trained in Palliative Care chaplaincy, Alex is currently implementing a two-year demonstration project to develop a Spiritual Health Collaborative Care Model within the Accountable Care Organizations, funded by George Washington Institute of Spirituality and Health. Alex is also the Co-Convener for the Outpatient Chaplaincy Research Network through Transforming Chaplaincy. Alex has special research interests in telechaplaincy, spiritual care interventions for grief & bereavement, the religiously unaffiliated, and peer supervision.
Dr. Abdul Mondul has been practicing medicine for 30 years. He worked with the New York City Health and Hospitals System for 18 years where he played multiple clinical, academic, and leadership roles. His clinical experience has been centered in Hospital Medicine and Palliative Care. His leadership experience includes roles as Patient Safety Officer, residency/ fellowship program director and Chief Medical Officer. He joined Atlantic Health System in 2014 as Director of Hospital Medicine and Palliative Care at Chilton Medical Center and in 2019 transitioned to Overlook Medical Center as Director of Palliative Care Services. Dr. Mondul is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care.
Thomas Dooley
Thomas Dooley is the author of Trespass, a winning selection for the National Poetry Series. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his poetry and collaborations have appeared widely, most notably with PBS NewsHour, the Academy of American Poets, Poetry Society of America, and on National Public Radio. He has presented internationally on the intersections of illness and poetry at the Mayo Clinic, Kings College London, University of Glasgow, and Weill Cornell Medical College, among others. Thomas has served as Poet in Residence at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, and Overlook Medical Center, where he has designed and implemented narrative interventions for patients, caregivers, and clinical staff. Thomas serves as the inaugural Poet in Residence at the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion at University of California San Diego and manages the program in Humanistic Medicine at Overlook Medical Center.
Laura Hawkins, MSW, LSW is the Director of Community Health and Social Services for the Care Coordination department at Atlantic Health System. Laura is a licensed social worker with more than 25 years of experience working with older adults, families, caregivers, and community members in diverse settings, including behavioral health, long-term care, a national voluntary health organization, and a health system setting. Laura earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Art Therapy at Seton Hill College and earned her Master of Science degree in Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice at Columbia University School of Social Work.
Having joined Atlantic Health System in 2017, Laura’s passion is inspiring wellness and improving health outcomes in each person and in each community. In her role, Laura spearheads strategic initiatives and implementation, growth, and development of programs in the areas of care coordination, community health, and social determinants of health toward integrated and value-based care across a health system inclusive of 5 medical centers and 3 accountable care organizations. She drives engagement and collaboration with senior leadership, administration, and clinical, and technology teams to expand initiatives to support assessing and addressing health related social needs and health equity in patients and populations.
Laura provides strategic and operational oversight and management of the system-wide Community Health and Care Coordination Social Services teams. The Care Coordination department includes nurses, social workers, behavioral health clinicians, health educators, and community health workers to manage transitions of care into the community and ensure that each patient’s clinical, behavioral and social needs are met. Through strategic and targeted health education and outreach, integrated partnerships with community organizations to address barriers to care and chronic disease prevention and management, and alignment with the community health needs assessment and related health improvement plan, the Community Health department impacts priority health issues and health outcomes in the communities we serve.
Organizing Committee
Drew Theological School: Kenneth Ngwa, Director Global Health & Religion Forum and Arthur Pressley, Associate Professor of Psychology & Religion.
Drew Caspersen Graduate School/UHS: Merel Visse, Director of Drew’s Medical & Health Humanities program, Affiliate Faculty at UHS, Cynthia Orsini and Crystal King Wallner, doctoral students Medical & Health Humanities.
Atlantic Health System: Yvette Vieira, Sr. Manager, Palliative Care and Healthcare Ethics at AHS and Cynthia Orsini, NORCs (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities) in New York City
