February 17, 2022, 7:00PM via Zoom

Speakers: Dr. Edem Agamah, Dr. Careyana M. Brenham, and Dr. Wendi Wills El-Amin

Dr. Edem Agamah, MD, MS, FACP, is the President/Founder of International Health & Development Network (IHDN) and a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Dr. Agamah has won several humanitarian and volunteerism awards throughout his career.  Recently, he was the recipient of the 2020-2021 Oscar E. Edwards Memorial Award for Volunteerism and Community Service from the American College of Physicians (ACP). He leads medical mission teams to Ghana twice a year to provide medical care to poor villagers. The title of his presentation is “Using Short Medical Missions to Help Improve on Global Health.”

Careyana Brenham, MD, FAAFP is the Residency Program Director with SIU Family & Community Medicine which is a program with 30 current Family Medicine residents.  Dr. Brenham sees both inpatients and outpatients and practices obstetrics.  She completed her medical school training at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, Il in 2000 and went on to complete her residency training at SIU Family Medicine in 2003 followed by a Faculty Development Fellowship in 2004.  Dr. Brenham is the Vice Chair of the Global Health Committee at SIU School of Medicine and has led medical students on medical service trips to countries including Honduras, Peru, Costa Rica, and Panama.  Dr. Brenham’s family also founded the non-for-profit group International Assists Medical Missions and this organization has partnered with medical groups in several countries around the world to help assist in medical care to underserved areas.

Dr. Wendi Wills El-Amin, M.D. is the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She is also on faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine where she provides care at the Center for Family Medicine in Springfield. Dr. El-Amin is dually appointed to the SIU’s Department of Medical Education.

El-Amin served as Assistant Dean of Medical Education at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville (2007-10). She also served as director of outreach at the Center on Health Disparities and Director of the UVA Cancer Center Health Disparity Initiative (2006-10) and as an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and public health (2005-10), all at the University of Virginia. El-Amin was in private practice at Wills Diagnostic Clinic in Houston, TX. (2001-03).

She completed her residency in family practice and community medicine as chief resident at the University of Texas-Houston (2001). She earned her medical degree at Georgetown Medical School (1998) and a bachelor’s degree in biology at Hampton University in Virginia (1993).

El-Amin is board certified in family medicine and is a member of the National Medical Association, where she chaired the Women’s Health Section (2008 – 2019). She has been a community health advocate and activist.

She has a passion for addressing health disparities and inequities in healthcare.