AMSA & MSFC Teach-In for Reproductive Justice – Summer 2024
Two Years Post-Roe: Uniting to Turn the Tide as Patients,
Providers & Medical Education Face Growing Risks

Friday, June 21 from 6:30 – 8:30pmE

SPEAKER BIOS

Welcome & Intros

• Annelise M. Silva, MD, EdM, AMSA National President
  Annelise M. Silva, MD, EdM (she/her) is a recent graduate of the Boonshoft School of Medicine (BSOM) at Wright State University. She graduated from Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University with a degree in Psychological Science and from Boston University with a Master in Education- Curriculum and Teaching, emphasis in general science education. Annelise joined AMSA as President of the BSOM institutional partnership chapter in 2020 and helped lead an ambitious revamping of the chapter that ultimately resulted in it becoming the most active chapter in the organization. Simultaneously as Vice Chair, Annelise helped with the founding of Young and Empowered Women (Y&E), a non-profit dedicated advocating for gender equity and supporting early career women with professional and personal development. Compelled by AMSA’s unapologetic advocacy for health equity and its rich history in helping transform the face of healthcare through empowering student physician-leaders, she is excited to take her leadership from AMSAxBSOM and Y&E to the national level to continue developing the generation of AMSA changemakers. As a former educator and Teach for America alumna, she is passionate about equitable access to healthcare and the advocacy of diversity in medicine starting from the K-12 range. Additional academic interests include leadership development, neuropsychiatric imaging research, and radiology editorial work. In her spare time, she loves yoga, cooking, and traveling with her fiancé (soon to be husband in January of 2025!).
• Danna Ghafir, MSFC Board of Directors
  Danna Ghafir (she/her) is a 4th year medical student at UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School. She currently holds the roles of president-elect of the Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) Board of Directors and Experienced Student Leader for Texas MSFC chapters after serving as president of the MSFC chapter at her medical school. She recently completed her MBA with concentrations in Healthcare and Finance at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business and has academic interests in healthcare payment reform, cost-effective resource utilization, and regulation of corporate ownership in healthcare. Danna is applying to Ob/Gyn residency in the 2024-2025 cycle and aims to center the principles of reproductive justice in her approach to patient care and healthcare systems management. In her free time, Danna enjoys singing, writing poetry, and spending quality time with her dog, Noodle.

Panel Speaker Bios

• Kristyn Brandi MD MPH FACOG, OB-GYN Physician, Complex Family Planning Subspecialist, Advocate for Reproductive Autonomy
  Dr. Kristyn Brandi (she/ella) is an OBGYN, family planning subspecialist and steadfast advocate of reproductive autonomy and justice. She currently works clinically at independent abortion clinics throughout New Jersey and serves as a consultant for anti-oppression work and medical education including with the national Ryan Program. She completed her medical school and residency training in OBGYN at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School.  She completed a Complex Family Planning Fellowship at Boston University where she also earned her Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights.  Her research is on reproductive decision making, contraceptive coercion, and racism in reproductive health care. She is the past Board Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health and has served as the Darney Landy Fellow at ACOG. She sits on several committees for the Society of Family Planning and is a founding member of Centering Equity, Racial and Cultural Literacy in Family Planning (CERCL-FP). She proudly identifies as a Latina pansexual abortion provider.
• Linda Prine, MD, Co-Medical Director of ACT, the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine and a provider of telemedicine abortion in all 50 states through Aid Access. Co-Founder of the M&A Hotline and current volunteer
  Linda Prine (she/her/hers) is a professor of Family and Community Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NYC. She was a co-founder of the Reproductive Health Access Project, the RHAP Fellowship, the Access list, the Reproductive Health MIG of the AAFP and the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline (M&AHotline). She serves on the leadership group of the M+A Hotline and works as a medication abortion provider for Aid Access. She most recently co-founded and serves as the co-Medical Direction of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine Access. In all of these capacities, she has been a leader for full-spectrum reproductive health care: the integration of abortion, miscarriage and contraceptive care into mainstream medical care with universal access for all.
• Kimya Forouzan, Guttmacher Institute, Principal Policy Associate, State Issues
  Kimya Forouzan (she/her) is the Principal Policy Associate, State Issues, at the Guttmacher Institute, which she joined in 2023. In this role, Ms. Forouzan serves as a resource and technical expert on sexual and reproductive health and rights policy in the United States at the state level. Previously, she served as Policy Counsel and Legislative Counsel at Compassion & Choices. Prior to that, Ms. Forouzan was an If/When/How Reproductive Justice Legal Fellow with the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. Ms. Forouzan received her JD and MPH from Temple University and her BA from George Washington University. Outside of her professional work, Ms. Forouzan volunteers with DC Doulas for Choice as an abortion doula, with Jane’s Due Process as a textline counselor and with the Young Center as a child advocate for Afghan and Iranian migrant children being held in detention. She serves on the board of the Reproductive Health Access Project.
• Marta Rowh, MD, PhD, MPH; Emergency Medicine, and former Board member, Medical Students for Choice
  Dr. Rowh grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and is a board-certified emergency physician.  She trained at the Perelman School of Medicine, earning a medical degree and a doctorate in Immunology. She later obtained a Master of Public Health from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Currently an Assistant Professor at Emory University, Dr. Rowh’s teaching and research are invested in improving health inequities in the United States and internationally.  She is spearheading a team investigating abortion curricula in medical school throughout the last two decades. She has been involved with MSFC since 2003, sat on the BOD until 2007 and met her husband while lecturing on the future of abortion care in 2004. At home, Dr. Rowh attempts to raise three productive and opinionated members of society, wrangles a three-legged rescue mutt, and has spent way too many nights staying up late in conversation with her husband.

Breakout Sessions Speaker Bios

Understanding State Ballot Measures 

• Daren Garshelis, Director of The Forefront Project
  Daren Garshelis (he/him/his) is Director of The Forefront Project, a pro bono legal service for organizations that advance and defend reproductive rights, health, and justice. He is a firm believer in people’s right to have control over their own bodies, including the power to decide whether and when to have children or get an abortion, with over a decade of experience working as an attorney for nonprofit organizations—primarily 501(c)(3) public charities and private foundations, 501(c)(4) social welfare groups, political organizations, and organizational families. Daren works with repro groups to help them get to yes, legally.
• Desiree Tims, President & CEO, Innovation Ohio
  Desiree Tims (she/her) is President & CEO of Innovation Ohio who hails from Dayton, Ohio. In 2020, she ran a grassroots people-powered campaign that received national recognition and earned the Democratic nomination for Ohio’s 10th Congressional District. Desiree has deep roots in community engagement, political campaigns, and government affairs. She has worked for several national nonprofits, The White House, and U.S. Congress to name a few. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts from Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio), a diploma from The Campaign School at Yale University, and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.

Finding Reproductive Freedom Champions in Your State

• Fran Linkin, MPH, Director of Research, Reproductive Rights, State Innovation Exchange & SiX Action
  Fran’s (she/her/hers) eighteen year career in reproductive rights and health spans the fields of public health, policy, and advocacy. As Director of Research, Reproductive Rights at SiX she works to connect reproductive health researchers, providers, and support networks with state legislators to improve knowledge and skills around evidence based policy. Prior to joining SiX, Fran was the Senior Manager of Research at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she served a bridging role between the public health/social science/clinical research world and the state and national policy/legal work of the Center on dozens of campaigns and cases, including Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt at the US Supreme Court. Fran received her Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in 2013 where she focused her studies on the impact of abortion and family planning restrictions in the states with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. Fran previously served four and a half years as co-chair of the Abortion Taskforce at the American Public Health Association from 2017-2022. 

Writing Letters-to-the-Editor 

• Mani Vinson, Communications Coordinator, Physicians for Reproductive Health
  Yamani “Mani!!!” Vinson, MHSA (they/he/she) is an emerging narrative strategist and activist scholar. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mani is a first-generation college graduate with a BS in Psychology (minor in Spanish) and a Master of Health Services Administration. Mani has over 7 years of experience in healthcare operations, health equity practices, and social epidemiology, and over 6 years of formal digital content production experience, digital organizing, and writing. Mani is currently working as the Communications Coordinator for Physicians for Reproductive Health. Some of Mani’s fave projects include the development of the University of Michigan’s Social Epidemiology Certificate program, their contributions to the COVID-19 Coping Study, and their participation in the 2023 Data x Power Fellowship training program with re:power. In their free time, Mani loves writing swagged-out rhymes, working out, volunteering, visiting their siblings back home, and spending time with their puppy, Kane!