Health Equality vs. Health Equity

Speakers for this event

• Kanika Tomalin

  Kanika Tomalin

  Dr. Kanika Tomalin is the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Strategy at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. In this role she oversees the college’s strategic services, operations and emergency management, technology services, sustainability efforts and the St. Pete Center for Civic Engagement and Social Impact. Prior to joining Eckerd College she served eight years as Deputy Mayor and City Administrator of the City of St. Petersburg, working in partnership with former Mayor Rick Kriseman to strategically advance one of Florida’s largest cities toward its goals. Defining initiatives developed under Dr. Tomalin’s visionary leadership include: the City’s vision, Healthy St. Pete, the Innovation District, the St. Pete Pier, Fire Cadet training program, Youth Development Grants, Citywide diversity training and scholarships, Deuces Rising redevelopment plan, Community Benefits Agreement, Youth Intervention programs, and much more. Before Dr. Tomalin’s time in City Hall she served as the Regional Vice President of External Affairs for the five-county Bayfront Health Network and Director of Strategy for Health Management Associates’ 23-hospital Florida Group. For more than 13 years, in various leadership roles for Bayfront Health System, she guided the organization’s strategic planning; government relations; marketing; media; community affairs; external and internal communications and patient experience. She has also worked at the St. Petersburg Times, the Palm Beach Post, WTXL-TV in Tallahassee, WAVE-TV in Louisville, KY and WRXB radio in St. Petersburg Dr. Tomalin received a Journalism degree from Florida A&M University, an MBA from the University of Miami and a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University. Her commitment to community is evident in her outreach and service-driven outcomes. She serves on the Board of The Dali Museum; the Tampa Bay American Heart Association and Celma Mastry Ovarian Cancer Foundation. Previous board and executive leadership positions include: St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors; Vice-Chair of the St. Petersburg College Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions; St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership; Bayfront Health, Education and Research Organization; Pinellas County Urban League; YWCA of Tampa Bay; Canterbury School of Florida; Great Explorations Children’s Museum; Pinellas Enrichment for Mental Health Services Advisory Board; USF St. Pete Celebrates! Host Committee; American Heart Association Go Red for Women Executive Cabinet and American Stage. She has received numerous honors and appointments, including being named: St. Petersburg Chamber’s Businesswoman of the Year, inaugural “Iconic Woman to Watch” and Young Business Leader of the Year; YWCA of Tampa Bay’s Woman of Distinction; one of Florida Business Observer’s 40 Under 40; one of Florida’s Most Powerful and Influential Women; recipient of the Florida Diversity Council’s Glass Ceiling Award; Pinellas County Urban League Whitney Young Empowerment Award; one of Academy Prep’s Inaugural “Five Fabulous Females”; one of Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 30 Under 30; PEMHS’ PACE Award for Community Service; Association of Healthcare Philanthropists fellow; and a Kaiser Family Foundation urban public health reporting fellowship. Dr. Tomalin was married for 17 years to well-known adventure journalist Terry Tomalin, until his passing in 2016. She is the fifth generation of her family to call St. Petersburg home and enjoys life there with her children Kai and Nia.

• Michel Kazatchkine

  Michel Kazatchkine

  Professor Michel Kazatchkine has over 35 years of experience in global health as a leading physician, researcher, administrator, advocate, policymaker, and diplomat. He attended medical school in Paris and completed postdoctoral fellowships at St. Mary’s hospital in London and Harvard Medical School. He is Emeritus Professor of Immunology at René Descartes University in Paris and has authored or co-authored over 500 scientific publications. Professor Kazatchkine has played key roles in various organizations, serving as Director of the national Agency for Research on AIDS in France and French ambassador on HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases. In 2007, Professor Kazatchkine was elected Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a position in which he served until March 2012. Between 2012 and 2017, Professor Kazatchkine served as the UN Under Secretary General and Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Since 2018, he is the Special Advisor to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is also Senior Fellow with the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Professor Kazatchkine holds Honorary Degrees from Imperial College, London, the Free University of Brussels, the Catholic University of Louvain and the University of Geneva. He is an Officer of the Légion d’Honneur in France and the recipient of several other national Orders and national/ international awards.

• Reverend Kenneth F. Irby

  Reverend Kenneth F. Irby

  Rev. Irby’s international ministry is rooted in Christian service. Presently pastoring the 125 year-old congregation at Historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg Fla., and he’s passionate about teaching: be it the good news of Jesus Christ around the world, talking across difference, visual storytelling or overcoming obstacles. He is known nationally for his outreach ministry to men and “in need” youth. More recently, he orchestrated City of St. Petersburg’s Not My Son (safe summer) campaign and launch of the Cohort of Champions. He rendered 13-years of service as an Episcopal Officer, leading The Sons of Allen (SOA) Men’s Ministry and was the first Media Ministry Director for the state of Florida and Commonwealth of the Bahamas which earned him The Bishops Award from the West Coast Annual Conference and is the newest Trustee on the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg Board. Irby is also an independent visual consultant, diversity trainer and former senior faculty member at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies where he created the internationally recognized Photojournalism program in 1995 and the nationally recognized Write Field Wraparound Program, in partnership with The Tampa Bay Rays, and a group of local partners in 2011. The American Graduate Project celebrated his effort as one of the Top 10 programs in the nation for redirecting the dropout to prison pipeline in 2014. In 2016, after leaving his 20+ year post, Irby was honored by the National Press Photographers Association as the first John Long Ethics Award recipient, the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalist (TBABJ) with their Griot Drum Award for lifetime achievement and in 2018 he was honored with the Flame of Distinction: Igniting Vision Acquisition Award at the 35th Westcoast Center Men’s Conference. Kenny travels widely trumpeting the need for justice ministry, amplifying the voices of the visual journalists and is a frequent motivational speaker, lecturer and content judge. He brings to his teaching endeavors 30+ years of experience focused on quality leadership, building integrity and excellence. His expertise and contributions have been recognized with numerous distinctions: The Sprague Award for lifetime achievement awarded by the NPPA, chair of the jurors’ panel for the coveted Pulitzer Prize in the photojournalism categories and served as a juror for the Hearst Collegiate Journalism Awards— to name a few. Kenny and Karen, his wife of 35-years have four grown daughters and he graduated from Boston University with a bachelor of science in Photojournalism, earned a master’s certificate from University of Missouri and studied at Dallas Theological Seminary in there cross-cultural ministries program.

• Saths Cooper

  Saths Cooper

  Prof Saths Cooper, PhD Pan-African Psychology Union President, International Science Council Governing Board Member, International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) and Psychological Society of South Africa Past President, Cooper is a Fellow of the psychological societies of South Africa, India, Ireland and Britain. The first black chair of the Professional Board for Psychology, and the first non-medical/dental professional to become Vice President of the Health Professions Council (HPCSA), he was Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of urban-Westville. Amongst his awards are the inaugural IUPsyS Achievement Against the Odds, the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology and the HPCSA Presidential Merit Award. A close colleague of the Black Consciousness founder Steve Biko, he was banned and housearrested at 22 years of age1 and jailed for nine years, spending over five in the same Robben Island cell-block as President Mandela. Accused No. 1 in the seminal SASO/BPC trial2, he was a leader of the struggle against apartheid from the late 1960s, playing various leadership roles after his release from Robben Island Prison in December 1982. His house was petrol-bombed by the police in 1984 and his last imprisonment was during the state of emergency June- September 1986. Despite the granting of his first passport in October 1986 - valid only for the USA - he nevertheless completed his PhD in Clinical/Community Psychology as a Fulbright Scholar at Boston University in a record three years in December 1989. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (chaired by Nobel Laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu) declared him a ‘victim of gross human rights violations’ in 1998. A Clinical/Community Psychologist for 35 years, Cooper is Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria and Honorary Professor at the University of Johannesburg. On the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Board, he chairs its Public Broadcasting Committee, and is an officer of the anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-sectarian 1970s group of activists striving for Restoring Our Common Humanity, who ignited the “spark that lit a veld fire across South Africa” (Mandela, 2002). 1 February 1973 together with Biko, Drake Koka, Bokwe Mafuna, Jerry odisane, Strini Moodley, Harry Nengwekhulu, and Barney Pityana 2 Jan 1975-Dec 1976 with Muntu Myeza, Terror Lekota, Aubrey Mokoape, Nkwenkwe Nkomo, Pandelani Nefolovodwe, Kaborone Sedibe, Zithulele Cindi, and Strini Moodley