PNHP

Florida Information

Support student activists in Florida!

Medical and health professional students represent the future of our movement! PNHP Florida has launched a student fund to support local members of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP).

We will underwrite Fla. student participation in PNHP’s Northern New England Summer Internship program; help fund scholarships for the PNHP Annual Meeting and SNaHP Summit; and generally support new and established SNaHP chapters throughout the state.

Donate to the PNHP Florida Student Fund HERE!

Chapter Contacts

Leonardo Alonso, D.O.
(904) 994-0857
rlalonso@comcast.net

I completed my medical school in 1989 at NOVA Southeastern and did a one-year osteopathic internship in Chicago upon graduation. I moved to Bakersfield, CA to complete my residency in Emergency Medicine at Kern Medical Center, then returned to Jacksonville, FL, my home state, with my new family, Alejandro and Gwendolyn. I was drawn to Emergency Medicine, partly for the immediacy of rapid results that impact people’s health but also by the legislated open door policy that we must treat everyone who enters our department regardless of their financial status. I began exploring health systems, became aware of PNHP, and have been a member for over 20 years. I was the director of the Emergency Department at Orange Park Medical Center and learnt much about how the for-profit hospital and physician contract groups operate.

My wife, Reagan, and I met in the Peace Corps in the early 1980’s (after college) where we served in Honduras. I am of Cuban descent and fluent in Spanish, which helps me better serve the Hispanic community locally. She is an RN and we both have volunteered for many years in medical missions on an annual basis to Honduras, plus at a local free clinic for the working uninsured called Volunteers in Medicine (Primary Care Clinic), where I was Chairman of the Board for several years. I am currently working with a team of Emergency Medicine physicians from UCLA trying to start our specialty in Honduras, where it is nonexistent. We are collaborating with the dean of the medical school in Tegucigalpa. I have also worked as a locums tenem physician in Vermont, West Virginia, Georgia, and Oregon, which has given me a better understanding of health care on a rural and national level.

I am excited about the formation of the Florida Chapter of PNHP and hope to be an active member.

Greg Silver, M.D.
(727) 712-3280
drsilver@drsilver.net

Dr. Silver is a solo, practicing family physician in Clearwater, Florida. He has been an active lecturer and consultant in the areas of healthcare reform, electronic medical records and the adoption of new medical technologies.

Howard A. Green, M.D., FACP, FAAD | 561-659-1510 | hag2@comcast.net
Dr Green received his education at George Washington University and The Boston University of Medicine. He did his post doctoral work at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and at Harvard Medical School.

Local Unions Endorsing Single Payer

  • United Association of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 630, West Palm Beach, FL
  • North Central Florida Central Labor Council, Gainesville, FL
  • Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 9-36 F 5, Cape Coral, FL
  • North Florida Central Labor Council, Jacksonville, FL
  • District Lodge 112, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers(IAM), Jacksonville, FL
  • Florida State Alliance for Retired Americans
  • Lodge 721, IAM, Jacksonville, FL
  • Local Union 295, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (UA), Daytona Beach, FL
  • Florida AFL-CIO
  • West Central Florida Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Tampa, FL
  • Local 2779, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
  • Palm Beach-Treasure Coast AFL-CIO

Michigan Information

Contact Information

Email us for information on local activists

Media Contacts

Jim Mitchiner, M.D., M.P.H., FACEP

Dr. James Mitchiner is currently an attending emergency physician at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In addition, he has an academic appointment at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is Past President of the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians and has served in the American College of Emergency Physicians as the Chair of its State Legislative and Regulatory Committee, and as a member of the Task Force on Health Care and the Uninsured. A longtime single-payer advocate, he is active in Physicians for a National Health Program, which has 18,000 members nationwide. Dr. Mitchiner received his M.D. from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and received a master’s degree in health management and policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

John Cavacece, D.O. | cavacecj@trinity-health.org

John Cavacece has been a family physician, practicing full spectrum family medicine, for 18 years. He received his D.O. degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1986. He has been Associate Director of the Grand Rapids Family Medicine Residency since 1996. John spent ten years as an Air Force physician as both a staff physician and faculty at Air Force residencies before taking his present position in Grand Rapids. A Society for Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) member since 1993, John is currently the Chair of the Group on Family, a subgroup of STFM. His interests are primarily in behavioral medicine, teaching the concepts of Relationship-Centered Care to residents. He has been a member of Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) since 2002.

Tim Lambert, D.O.
(231) 935-8016
TLAMBERT@mhc.net

Dr. Lambert is a family physician and faculty member of the Munson Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program in Traverse City. He has worked in the community with the migrant health clinic, the Grand Traverse Band Native American health clinic and most recently with the Grand Traverse Regional Health Care Coalition Board (Vice-President 2004-2006)

Local Unions Endorsing HR676

  • UAW Local 6000, Region 1A Retiree Chapter, Michigan
  • Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO Central Labor Council
  • Local 829 United Steelworkers (USW), Owosso, MI
  • Local 2-591 United Steelworkers (USW), Riverview, MI
  • Local 6000, United Auto Workers (UAW), Michigan State Employees, Lansing, MI
  • Local 196, United Steelworkers (USW), Trenton, MI
  • Branch 3126, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), Royal Oak, MI.
  • Local Lodge 141, International Association of Machinists (IAM), representing airline workers at Northwest, United, Southwest, and Alaska. Detroit, MI
  • American Postal Workers Union (APWU), Michigan State Convention, May, 2006
  • United Automobile Workers, International Union Convention, June 2006
  • Local 547, International Union of Operating Engineers, Detroit, MI
  • Jackson/Hillsdale Counties Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Jackson, MI
  • Michigan State AFL-CIO Women’s Council
  • Local Union 176, United Steelworkers (USW), Rochester, MI
  • Local Union 314, United Steelworkers, (USW), Detroit, MI
  • Local Union 389, United Steelworkers (USW), Detroit, MI
  • Local Union 2659, United Steelworkers (USW), Southgate, MI
  • Local Union 9491, United Steelworkers (USW), Hamburg, MI
  • Monroe/Lenawee County AFL-CIO Council
  • Detroit A. Phillip Randolph Institute
  • Greater Lansing Labor Council, Lansing, MI
  • UAW Local 909

Indiana Information

Contact Information

Medicare for All Indiana
(formerly Hoosiers for Commonsense Health Plan)
Website: MedicareForAllIndiana.org
E-mail: medicareforallindiana@gmail.com

Northwest Indiana Medicare for All
Website: nwimedicare4all.org
Email: nwimedicare4all@gmail.com

Media Contacts

Rob Stone, M.D., FAAHPM, Bloomington, Ind.
812.333.8085

Dr. Rob Stone is the director and founder of Medicare for All Indiana (formerly known as Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan) and the Indiana state coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program. He has been a member of PNHP’s board of directors and now is a Board Advisor. Dr. Stone practiced emergency medicine at Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital from 1983 to 2011. He now serves as the medical director of outpatient palliative care at the hospital. He lectures to medical and lay audiences on health care reform throughout Indiana and beyond.

Born and raised in Evansville, Ind., he graduated from Dartmouth College Phi Beta Kappa, and obtained his medical degree from the University of Colorado Medical School.

Jonathan D. Walker, MD
260 436 2181
Jonwalker22@gmail.com

Dr. Walker attended medical school at the University of Cincinnati, and did his residency at Highland General Hospital, Oakland, CA and Jewish Hospital, Cincinnati, OH. He completed his residency in Ophthalmology at Ohio State University.

He is active in clinical practice in the above two specialties; also clinical professor at local medical school, and active with local free clinic projects using telemedicine to identify patients with diabetic retinopathy before severe damage develops. Dr Walker is also involved with projects in developing countries including Nicaragua, Honduras, and Fiji.

Alabama Information

Contact Information

Email us for information on local activists.

Media Contacts

Rob Kilpatrick
Exec. Dir., North Alabama Healthcare For All
Cell: 256-486-1277
E-mail: rob2020@mac.com

Rob Kilpatrick is the Executive Director of North Alabama Healthcare for All, a chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.  He is a retired United States Marine Corps officer who also had a “second career” in the aerospace industry.  His two careers took him to many countries around the world where he observed, first hand, a variety of healthcare systems.  His personal volunteer activities, over the years, have put him in contact with many americans who have suffered due to lack of access to the high quality healthcare available to only some of our citizens.  In comparing the United States healthcare system to those he observed in countries far less wealthy, he has become increasingly disenchanted with the United States system and convinced that our great nation can do better.  Now, in retirement, he is devoting his full attention to advocating for a more humane and cost effective system of healthcare for all persons in the United States.

J Walden Retan, M.D.
Phone: 205-266-4928
E-mail: HealthCareForEveryone@charter.net
 
Dr. Retan was educated at Hamilton College, MIT, and the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. His post graduate training was in the hospitals of the Harvard Medical system.  He came to Birmingham as faculty at University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB).  He entered private practice of internal medicine and, later, geriatrics in the 1960’s.

State Organizations Endorsing HR676

  • Tuskeegee, AL

Local Unions Endorsing HR676

  • Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 36
  • Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 36-2, Gardendale, AL
  • Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 9-UR 1, Harvest, AL
  • Local 1155, UAW, Birmingham, AL

Mississippi Information

Contact Information

Email us for information on local activists

Media Contacts

John D. Bower, M.D.
601.829.2115
jbower564@aol.com

Dr. John Bower is Chief of the Division of Nephrology at the University of Mississippi in Jackson, Mississippi. His practice includes many patients in the publicly financed and highly successful end-stage renal disease program. Dr. Bower has been a PNHP member for six years, and is the founder of PNHP’s Mississippi chapter. He brought a single-payer resolution before the the state medical society, and is active in speaking and writing editorials and letters on the need for universal access to health care.

Tennessee Information

Contact Information

For information on the West Tennessee chapter of PNHP, or the University of Tennessee Health Science Center chapter of Students for a National Health Program, email Dr. Roger LaBonte at rlabonte02@gmail.com.

Chapter and Media Contacts

Roger S. LaBonte, MD, FACP – President, West Tennessee Chapter
rlabonte02@gmail.com
rlabonte@uthsc.edu

Dr. Roger LaBonte practices part time as a hospitalist at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi. He holds a volunteer appointment as a clinical associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), where he actively participates in the education of medical students and integrated programs with other medical disciplines.

Dr. LaBonte served 20 years in the US Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer. While in the Navy, he attended the University of Nebraska, where he received a BS in medical science. He received his medical degree from UTHSC. He completed his internal medicine residency at UTHSC and Baptist Memorial Hospital. Board-certified in internal medicine with a certificate of added qualification in geriatric medicine, he is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a distinguished fellow of the American College of Medical Quality.

Joe Blythe, MD, FCCP – West Tennessee Chapter
jablythe337@aol.com

Dr. Joe Blythe received his medical degree from the University of Mississippi and completed his postgraduate training at the University of Tennessee with a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary diseases. He practiced in that specialty in Memphis until 2007, then became board-certified in palliative medicine and is currently practicing in that speciality. He is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and remains certified in that field. Dr. Blythe became interested in the work of Physicians for a National Health Program by witnessing the inefficiencies and shortcomings of our health care system in his practice.

Peg Hartig, PhD, FNP, APN – West Tennessee Chapter
mhartig@uthsc.edu

Dr. Peg Hartig is a professor and chair of the department of primary care and public health. She has been a College of Nursing faculty member since 1987.

Dr. Hartig has practiced as a family nurse practitioner since 1977 in a variety of primary care clinics, an endocrinology specialty clinic, a nursing home and a disease management service. She also provides health care services and monitors the quality of nurse practitioner services provided at the Bobbitt Health Station, the health clinic at Memphis International Airport.

In addition to conducting quality improvement research and teaching related content in the graduate program, Dr. Hartig has written and spoken to many groups about faculty evaluation activities and development of evidence-based practice. She is a member of the Academic Nursing Center Special Interest Group and faculty development committee of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties.

David Mirvis, MD – West Tennessee Chapter, TN Chapter Health Policy Advisor
mirvis@msn.com

Dr. David Mirvis will serve as the chapter’s health policy advisor. Dr. Mirvis received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1970, and subsequently trained in internal medicine and cardiology at the National Institutes of Health and at the University of Tennessee. He joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1975, where he currently is professor emeritus. At UT, he was the founder and director of the University’s Center for Health Services Research.

His other academic appointments include positions as adjunct professor in the Department of Public Health, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Senior Research Fellow in the Methodist LeBonheur Center for Health Economics at the University of Memphis.

Dr. Mirvis’ research interests include health care delivery processes and health policy as well as electrocardiography. He has published over 200 manuscripts and books on these topics.

Joseph A. Weinberg, MD – West Tennessee Chapter
jaweinberg@pol.net

Dr. Joe Weinberg, M.D. is a retired pediatric emergency medicine physician and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences. He was Director of Emergency Services at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee, and President of Pediatric Emergency Specialists, P.C. He has served on many local and state organizations related to emergency services and education. He believes that children should have access to appropriate health care regardless of their parents’ station in life or the whims of their parents’ employer. He is a long-time member of PNHP committed to the need to implement a universal, single payer health care system in the United States. Dr. Weinberg hopes that his experience in consulting on local political campaigns can help West Tennessee PNHP.

James S. Powers, MD, AGSF – Middle Tennessee Chapter
james.powers@vanderbilt.edu

Dr. Jim Powers is associate professor of medicine Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where he is director of the Vanderbilt-Reynolds Geriatrics Education Center, director of the geriatric medicine residency program, and chief of geriatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Powers received his medical degree from the University of Rochester. He completed residencies at the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve and a fellowship through the US Public Health System.

In Memoriam: J. I. Hudson Jr., MD – Middle Tennessee Chapter

Dr. Hudson was instrumental in starting the Middle Tennessee chapter of PNHP. His medical career included private practice in pediatrics, associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine, Associate Dean for Academic Medicine at the Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine, and associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management. He participated in efforts to establish nation-wide networks for quality assurance for acute hospital care in The Netherlands and Peninsular Malaysia, and consulted on matters of health care quality with the U.S. Health Care Financing Agency, the Select Committee on Aging of U.S. Congress, and USAID-supported primary health care programs in West Africa and the Middle East. Dr. Hudson passed away in 2012.

Raymond Feierabend, MD, FAAFP – East Tennessee, State of Franklin Chapter
feierabe@etsu.edu

Dr. Feierabend is professor and Director of Graduate Medical Education in the Department of Family Medicine at East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine. A native of Louisiana, he received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed his residency at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. He established a rural National Health Service Corps practice in Dungannon, Virginia, before moving to the Quillen College of Medicine in 1982.

Robert Funke, MD – East Tennessee, State of Franklin Chapter
r_funke@charter.net

Dr. Bob Funke is a family physician at Mountain Region Family Medicine in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he is a founding member and past president of the board of directors. He is also a member of the executive committee at Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center. Dr. Funke received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed his residency at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem.

In Memoriam: Arthur J. Sutherland III, MD, FACC – Tennessee Coordinator

Dr. Art Sutherland practiced cardiology in Memphis for 33 years and was the founder and director of the Methodist Healthcare Cardiac Laboratories, and the founder of Sutherland Cardiology Clinic. Dr. Sutherland served as state coordinator of the Tennessee chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program and as a member of the national board of directors. He received the Dr. Quentin Young Health Activist Award from PNHP in 2013.

Dr. Sutherland received his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and medical degree from the University of Tennessee. He completed an internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and residency at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. His cardiology fellowship was at the UTHSC in Memphis, and St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. He was a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease, and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Sutherland passed away in 2021.

State Organizations Endorsing Single Payer

  • Warren County, TN

Local Unions Endorsing Single Payer

  • Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 9-ABG 1, Kingsport, TN
  • Plumbers Local Union #17, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (UA), Memphis, TN

Kentucky Information

Contact Information

Email us for information on local activists.

Media Contacts

Garrett Adams
502.895.8847
kyhealthcare@aol.com

Dr. Adams Received his training at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee and Wake Forest School of Medicine. He completed his Pediatric Residency at Vanderbilt University Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado. He also has a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology), Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (Bloomberg School of Public Health).

Dr. Adams is a specialist in Infectious Diseases of Children and Infectious Disease Epidemiology. He is retired from the full-time faculty of the University of Louisville School of Medicine where he was Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Medical Director of Communicable Diseases at the Louisville Metro Health Department. He is immediate past president of Physicians for a National Health Program.

State Organizations Endorsing HR676

  • Kentucky House of Representatives
  • Louisville, KY
  • Morehead, KY
  • Falls City Medical Society, Kentucky
  • Kentucky Psychiatric Medical Association

Local Unions Endorsing HR676

  • United Steelworkers, Local 1693, Louisville, KY
  • Laborers International Union of North America Local 576, Louisville, KY
  • Jefferson County Teachers’ Association (NEA), Louisville, KY
  • AFSCME Local 2629, Louisville, KY
  • PACE Local 5-2002, Louisville, KY
  • Laborers International Union of North America Local 576 Retirees’ Council, Louisville, KY
  • Nurses Professional Organization, Louisville, KY
  • CWA Local 3310, Louisville, KY
  • UAW CAP Council, 3rd & 4th Areas, Kentucky
  • GCU/IBT Local 619, Louisville, KY
  • Kentucky State AFL-CIO
  • Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Louisville, KY
  • Greater Louisville Building & Construction Trades Council, Louisville, KY
  • Tri-County Council of Labor, AFL-CIO, Henderson, KY
  • Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Louisville, KY, April 2006.
  • Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 9-UR 7, Hickman, KY
  • Northern Kentucky Central Labor Council, Covington, KY
  • Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council, Paducah, KY
  • Plumbers, Pipefitters and Service Technicians Local 502, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Louisville, KY
  • UAW Local 2164

Illinois Information

Contact Information

PNHP Illinois
Email: illinois@pnhp.org
Instagram: @ilpnhp

Illinois Single-Payer Coalition
Website: http://ilsinglepayer.org

PNHP Illinois is an organizational member of ISPC.

Speakers and Media Contacts

DAVID ANSELL, MD, MPH, FACP

Dr. David Ansell is the Senior Vice President for Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

He is an internal medicine physician, trained at Cook County Hospital in the late 1970s, where he spent 17 years holding a number of positions including chief of general medicine/primary care. After leaving County, he spent 10 years as chair of the department of internal medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, located in one of the highest hardship communities in Chicago. He has been particularly involved in health equity work, bringing attention to higher rates of breast cancer mortality for African-American women in Chicago. In 2007 he co-founded the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Taskforce, a not-for-profit that focuses on eliminating the racial disparities in breast cancer mortality.

He is the author of numerous papers and book chapters on health disparities. In 2011 he published an acclaimed memoir based on his experiences as a doctor in Chicago, County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital. His most recent book, The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills, was released by the University of Chicago Press in 2017.

Dr. Ansell is a graduate of SUNY Upstate Medical University and received his Masters of Public Health from the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

SYDNEY DOE, MD

Dr. Sydney Doe serves as a Chair of the Illinois Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. She is faculty at the RUSH-Esperanza Family Medicine Residency in Chicago and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Rush University.

She provides primary and HIV care at Esperanza Health Centers and leads the health policy, scholarly activity, and HIV medicine curricula for the residency program. Her research interests include medical education and healthcare workforce issues.

Dr. Doe received her medical degree at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency at the Northwestern University McGaw Family Medicine Residency Program at Erie Family Health.

CLAUDIA FEGAN, MD, CHCQM FACP
773.753.5509
one4singlepayer@gmail.com

Dr. Claudia Fegan is national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. In her current and past leadership roles in PNHP she has appeared on national television and radio programs on behalf of the organization, and has testified before congressional committees on a wide range of health care issues. She has lectured extensively to both medical and community audiences on health care reform in the U.S. and Canada, and is a co-author of the book “Universal Healthcare: What the United States Can Learn from Canada” and a contributor to “10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care.”

Dr. Fegan is Chief Medical Officer of Cook County Health. She is also president of the Chicago-based Health and Medicine Policy Research Group. In 2016, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Fegan one of “10 Minority Executives to Watch,” noting her achievements in the medical profession and her single-payer activism.

Dr. Fegan received her undergraduate degree from Fisk University and her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She is also certified in health care quality and management and is a diplomate of the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians.

PETER GANN, MD, ScD

Dr. Peter Gann is currently semi-retired as Professor Emeritus in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He grew up within walking distance of the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. He has been involved in campaigns for a just system of universal health care since serving as a summer intern at the Health Policy Advisory Center in New York in 1971.

His career experience includes primary care practice, investigation of environmental and occupational hazards in the New Jersey Department of Health, and a stint in the 1980’s as a Project Director at the National Academy of Sciences. This was followed by decades of work in academia, teaching and conducting research in cancer epidemiology and prevention. He is especially appreciative to have had the opportunity to work with so many dedicated research participants, clinicians, and community activists in collaborative studies to improve population health.

Dr. Gann attended the University of California at San Francisco and received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also received an MS in epidemiology and biostatistics. He later earned a doctoral degree (ScD) in epidemiology from Harvard. He has served on national advisory committees at the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, the American Urological Association, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

WINNIE LIN, MD

Dr. Winnie Lin is one of the co-chairs of the Illinois chapter of PNHP. She was born and raised in the Chicago area. She received her MD from the University of Pennsylvania and completed pediatric residency at the University of Chicago.

She is a primary care pediatrician at Mile Square Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center on the South Side of Chicago. She is also an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she teaches pediatric residents and medical students.

Dr. Lin is a board member and past board president of the Illinois Single-Payer Coalition. In addition to chairing the IL chapter of PNHP, she is also an active member of PNHP’s Pediatric Organizing Team.

Peter Orris

PETER ORRIS, MD, MPH, FACP, FACOEM, AOA

Dr. Peter Orris, a founding member of PNHP, is professor and chief of Occupational and Environmental Medicine for the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System. He has been an attending physician in the Division of Occupational Medicine at the Stroger Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital) for over three decades, where he practiced and taught internal and occupational medicine on the teaching services. He has been an active member of the Chicago Medical Society and Illinois State Medical Society, as well a member of the Illinois Board of Health for over a decade. He maintains an active clinical and teaching practice and holds professorships as well in internal and preventive medicine at Rush University Medical College and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His research and teaching have focused on the U.S. and international health care systems, occupational and community effects of toxic chemicals, and sustainable health care and climate change. He has lectured broadly and published numerous articles in these areas, as well as conducted a series of medical student and public health study groups for in depth study of the Cuban health care system.

Dr. Orris is in leadership of both housestaff and attending physician unions, and serves on the executive board of 1199 and as an advisor to the SEIU Health Care Division. He has a long history of advocacy for the elimination of profits and racism in health care and opposing corporate policies that poison the environment of the developing world. Dr. Orris graduated Harvard College in 1967, Yale School of Public Health in 1970, and the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University in 1975.

ZACH PELLIS, MD

Dr. Zach Pellis is a Board Director of the Illinois Chapter of PNHP. He is completing his Internal Medicine residency and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship at the University of Chicago. He received his medical degree from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. In addition to his work with the IL chapter of PNHP, Zach is involved at the national level in the Communications Committee and in early career physician recruitment and retention.

Chapter Leadership

Co-Chairs:
Sydney Doe, MD
Winnie Lin, MD

Board Directors:
Peter Gann, MD, ScD
Monica Maalouf, MD
Zachary Pellis, MD
Ameer Sharifzadeh, MD

Wisconsin Information

Contact Information

Linda and Gene Farley Wisconsin Chapter of PNHP
Contact: Lydia Starkey
Email: wisconsin.pnhp@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/wipnhp
Twitter: twitter.com/WisconsinPNHP

Employment Opportunity: Administrative Assistant

The Linda and Gene Farley Wisconsin Chapter of PNHP is seeking a part-time Administrative Assistant; please review the job description HERE.

To apply, please send your resume to wisconsin.pnhp@gmail.com with “Administrative Assistant” in the subject line.

Tribute to Dr. Beth Potter

On March 31, 2020, we lost our dear friend, colleague, and fellow PNHP member, Dr. Beth Potter, and her husband, Robin Carre. Continue reading…

Petition to the WI Secretary of Health Services

Uniform, transparent, and affordable pricing for all healthcare services

Local Unions Endorsing HR676

  • South Central Federation of Labor, Madison, WI
  • Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

Louisiana Information

PNHP Louisiana Leadership

Chair: Elmore Rigamer, MD, MPA: elmorerigamer@cox.net

Media Contacts

ELMORE F. RIGAMER, MD, MPA
504.836.7375
elmorerigamer@cox.net

Elmore F. Rigamer, MD, MPA, is currently Medical Director for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans where he currently directs several disaster relief programs for victims of the Katrina hurricane disaster. Rigamer received his training in psychiatry at The New York Hospital- Cornell University an Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He received his MPA from Harvard University.

Prior to joining Catholic Charities, Dr. Rigamer served the US Department of State as Medical Director advising the Secretary of State on international health issues while overseeing the health care of Foreign Service diplomats and their families. He also served the US Department of State as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Medical Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Mental Health, Director of Mental Health Services, and Regional Psychiatrist for Europe, the Soviet Union, and South Asia. Dr. Rigamer has also held positions with Kaiser Permanente Health Maintenance Organization and the Ochsner Clinic as well as served as a Peace Corps Volunteer Physician in Monrovia, Liberia.

Missouri Information

Contact Information

PNHP – Missouri
Website: www.pnhpmo.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PNHPMO?fref=ts
E-mail: pnhpmo@gmail.com

Contacts:
Chair: Ed Weisbart, MD, 314-265-3412, edweisbart@gmail.com

State Organizations Endorsing HR676

  • University City, MO

Local Unions Endorsing HR676

  • CWA Local 6355, Missouri State Workers Union
  • Sheet Metal Workers Local 36, St. Louis, MO
  • Building & Construction Trades Council of St Louis, AFL-CIO
  • Southeast Missouri Building & Construction Trades Council, Cape Girardeau, MO
  • Greater St. Louis Labor Council, AFL-CIO, St. Louis, MO
  • Central Trades & Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Cape Girardeau, MO
  • Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR), Chapter 11-3, St. Louis, MO.
  • Missouri AFL-CIO
  • District 3, Missouri Nurses Association (MONA), St. Louis City and County

Iowa Information

Chapter Leaders

Arya Zandvakili, M.D., Ph.D.
Email: iowa@pnhp.org

Local Unions Endorsing Single Payer

  • Hawkeye Labor Council, Cedar Rapids, IA
  • Southern Iowa Labor Council, AFL-CIO