Global Public Health Association @ RIT's Innovations in Global Public Health Conference Speakers
Read about our conference speakers below!
Read about our conference speakers below!
Sraddha Prativadi, MD is a mother, daughter, sister, community volunteer, Functional & Integrative Gynecologist, speaker, author, hypnotherapist, Reiki Master and internationally certified transformational coach.
She is the founder of The Praxxis Center for Functional Medicine and Transformational Living in the Finger Lakes region of New York which serves clients internationally. While she is grounded in Vedic culture and Ayurveda, she is an accomplished surgeon, medical doctor and medical educator.
Sraddha believes that when women understand their physiology they VALUE themselves in body, mind and spirit, which strengthens them to VOICE their truths more powerfully, and find VICTORY in their dreams and goals.
Through the first 18 years of her career as an OBGYN, Sraddha developed a systems biology, integrative approach to the most common and challenging women's health issues that are often misinterpreted in conventional care.
She reveals this approach and new ways of interpreting the intelligent messages of female physiology in her short and informative book
"The New Vagina D.I.E.T.".
She is an advocate of a paradigm of functional women's health and healing through a combination of coaching, personal development, subconscious behaviorism and cutting edge functional medicine to create a complete body-mind-spirit-prosperity approach to unlocking women's potential
Sarah Brownell is a Senior Lecturer in RIT's Kate Gleason College of Engineering (KGCOE) and the Director of the RIT Grand Challenges Scholars Program. Her teaching focuses on guiding transdisciplinary capstone teams working on community engaged, sustainability, or student initiated projects in the Multidisciplinary Senior Design Program. She received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from RIT and a MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Before coming to RIT, Sarah co-founded the non-profit Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) which introduced a urine diversion composting toilet service in Northern Haiti that now serves over 8,000 people. She first traveled to Haiti in 1998 as a volunteer with Haiti Outreach Pwoje Eswpa (H.O.P.E.), a community health and development non-profit using participatory engagement to improving health and wellbeing. She helped develop H.O.P.E.'s Sant Teknoloji Bwase Lide (Brainstorming Technology Center), and with a team of local leaders and volunteers, assisted neighborhood groups with water and sanitation education, technology development, and implementation projects. Sarah also spent three years as a live-in, full time volunteer at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality Catholic Worker in Rochester, NY and, during graduate school, helped the Dorothy Day House Catholic Worker envision, advocate for with the city of Berkeley, and then run the "low rules" Berkeley Emergency Storm Shelter (BESS) which served the community for more than 15 years. She continues to collaborate with many of these groups, engaging students through study abroad experiences, coursework and capstone projects.
DR. LAURA CHEY, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Diplomate of Chinese Herbology, is co-owner of Balance Acupuncture and Wellness Center. She received her Doctorate from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego. Laura grew up in Penfield, NY, and did her undergraduate work at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Laura has been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine for 30 years. She is a frequent lecturer at area hospitals and colleges, including Rochester Institute of Technology.
Laura has done extensive work with weight loss and Eastern nutrition. She specializes in treating digestive diseases, fibromyalgia, allergies, migraine headaches, stress related disorders and cancer. Laura is also the co-founder of Educator.Health, where she focuses on teaching wellness to educators and school professionals.
Jera Zhang is a registered dietitian nutritionist in New York. She is a doctoral candidate in Behavioral Nutrition at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her specializations include dietary management and education for food allergies/intolerance, digestive health, and general wellness. She currently works with clients at the Center for Integrative Health and Acupuncture P.C. and the EXerT Clinic at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is certified lactation counselor and trained in the Low FODMAP Diet Protocol for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. She also serves as the chair of AAPI Professional Development Committee in Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
For over 25 years, Carmelo Ramos has been an Integrated Medicine Specialist for the Jewish Home of Rochester and in many Health Care Facilities where he teaches residents adapted Tai Chi, pain management, and emotional, psychological and spiritual health in end of life care. He assists individual patients utilizing diverse healing practices like reflexology, aroma therapy and stress management. Carmelo works closely with staff, physicians, consultants, families and caregivers. In addition to the regular resident programs, he serves in the Hospice & Home Day Services Programs and conducts workshops on natural health practices. He has taught multi-cultural aspects of death and dying at Monroe Community College as an Adjunct Professor.
Carmelo has also taught traditional and adaptive Tai Chi and Martial Arts for over half a century. He has lead people on Vision Quests, Sweat Lodges, Drumming & Healing Circles and has participated in Sun Dances in South Dakota. He is an ordained Interfaith Minister in the shamanic tradition. Carmelo continues to study natural forms of medicine, traveling extensively to research healing traditions with Indigenous Healers in North America, the Caribbean, and the Amazon. Carmelo was also initiated in Cuba in the Santeria Tradition, as well as, a recognized Elder in the national Wisdom Keepers of indigenous Tribes. He has also taken Healthcare providers to study natural medicine in the Peruvian Rainforest.
Carmelo became a published author in 2017: Standing in Stillness, his personal journey and reflections from his students experiences including the reprinting of one his Mentors Teachings, Zen Buddhist Hirano.
Dr. Klara Carson graduated summa cum laude with a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine and a Masters of Science in Human Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport, in Bridgeport Connecticut. She has been practicing in the Rochester area for over 10 years, and holds a license to practice medicine as a Naturopathic Physician in the State of Vermont.
Since everyone is unique, Dr. Carson takes the time to listen to you as an individual, and works to understand your health history and your physiology. By giving the body the tools it needs to heal itself, such as whole foods, clinical nutrients, botanical remedies, homeopathy, sleep hygiene and stress management techniques, she works to see you as a whole person and address underlying causes.
Dr. Carson loves practicing in the Western New York area. She enjoys making health a way of life and helping others find their own path to health and complete wellness. She loves music and being in nature, and enjoys hiking, kayaking, fishing, and camping with her husband and two incredible girls.
Teagan West in an Ayurvedic Practitioner and Somatic Healer from Rochester, NY, and creator of VAYA Wellness. Her practice weaves together ancient healing modalities with modern approaches to mind-body healing, to create a truly holistic approach to individualized care. She has had the privilege of studying under Vasant Lad, where her knowledge of Ayurvedic medicine extended into the realms of Herbalism, traditional bodywork and somatic therapy. Teagan approaches treatment with the understanding that each individual has a unique health history, and thusly requires individualized care that considers all aspects of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Her practice is truly holistic in nature, incorporating all aspects of healing through various treatment modalities such as Ayurvedic care, Somatic work, energy medicine and traditional bodywork.
Dr. Willsky is an Emerita Associate Professor in the Biochemistry Dept at the University at Buffalo (UB) Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Currently she is the Diversity Advocate for the UB Biochemistry Dept. She directed the Undergraduate Major in Biochemistry at UB for over 20 years. Dr. Willsky actively worked to introduce science to Buffalo Middle school students. Buffalo Public School students are primarily people of color, and the presenters also were people of color if possible. She was received a service award from Buffalo Engineering Awareness for Minorities for this program. Dr. Willsky is also a member of the Zonta Club of Buffalo (ZCB), a professional women's organization promoting the welfare of women and girls worldwide. The ZCB strives to help local immigrants and people of color. Dr. Willsky's major research area started by studying phosphate metabolism looking at arsenate and vanadate-resistant mutants in E.coli and S. cerevisiae. It evolved to the study of oxovanadium compounds in alleviating the symptoms of diabetes in rats and humans. From 2012 to 2016 she was co-director of an NIH Minority Research Training Grant based at San Diego State. This grant involved working in Trujillo Peru during the summer with the local curanderos (healers using folk remedies), Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (UNT) and the Peru Public Health service. Minority students from California went to Peru to work in a Microbiology/Biochemistry laboratory directed by Dr. Willsky. She was awarded an outstanding scientist award for this project by the Pharmacology Faculty at UNT.
Ines Y. Castro-Dionicio obtained a B.S. in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from the National University of Trujillo (Trujillo, Peru) in 2012. She obtained hers M.S. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University (Lima, Peru). In 2021, she received her Ph. D. from the Paul Sabatier Toulouse III University (Toulouse, France). Since January 2022, she has been working as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Dr. Carcache de Blanco┬┤s group at the College of Pharmacy at the Ohio State University. Her research interests are focused on quality control of dietary supplements, LC-MS based dereplication analysis of natural products and natural product drug discovery for potential antitumor agents.