SPEAKERS

Our Foundation’s speaking ambassadors connect through stories to raise awareness, advocate, inspire, and advance solutions to support the professional well-being and mental health of health workers. If interested fill out our speaker request form below.

Pam Cipriano

Pamela Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN
Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH

Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH
Nathalie Dougé, MD

Nathalie Dougé, MD
Corey Feist

Corey Feist, JD, MBA
Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH

Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH
Tina Shah MD MPH

Tina Shah, MD, MPH
Stef Simmons, MD

Stef Simmons, MD
Dr. Christopher Thomas Veal

Christopher Thomas Veal, MD

Pamela Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN

Pamela F. Cipriano is dean of the UVA School of Nursing and the Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing. Prior to becoming dean, she served two terms as the president of the American Nurses Association, from 2014 until 2018, and represented the interests of the nation’s four million registered nurses. She also has extensive experience as an academic medical center executive and served for nine years as the chief clinical officer/chief nursing officer at UVA Health where she was responsible for all inpatient and outpatient clinical services. Under her leadership, the Health System earned its initial American Nurses Credentialing Center “Magnet” designation in 2006. Dean Cipriano’s advocacy for the nursing profession is well-recognized. She is known nationally and internationally as a strong advocate for quality, growing nursing’s influence on healthcare policy, and leading efforts to advance the role and visibility of nurses. She served as a public-sector adviser in the U.S. Delegation to the 69th World Health Assembly in 2016, and currently serves as the first vice president of the International Council of Nurses. She was named among the “Top 100 Most Influential People in (U.S.) Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare magazine for four consecutive years (2015 to 2018), and one of its “Top 25 Women in Healthcare” in 2015. Dean Cipriano earned a nursing diploma from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 1976, a BSN from American University in 1978, and an MSN in 1981 from the University of Washington. In 1992, she earned a PhD in executive nursing administration from the University of Utah’s College of Nursing. She holds certification in Advanced Executive Nursing Administration.

Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH

Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Section Head of the Massachusetts General Hospital Endocrine Surgery Unit, Associate Director of Mentoring in the Department of Surgery. She is the immediate Past-President of the Association of Academic Surgery, a national organization with over 4,000 members with the mission “to inspire and develop young academic surgeons”. The focus of her presidency and her presidential address (available on YouTube) “Removing the Mask” was mental health. Through her owned lived experience, she continues to speak out and advocate for mental health awareness, reducing stigma and enacting change to increased resources for those who are struggling in our community.

Nathalie Dougé, MD

Nathalie Dougé, MD is a board certified internal medicine physician. She served as a hospitalist and assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, an affiliate of Northwell Health. During her time there, she was involved in the Department of Medicine’s Task Force for Racial Equity and Quality Improvement Committee. She has since transitioned to locum tenens work as an independently contracted physician. She is featured in the National Geographic documentary, The First Wave, which chronicles the lives of healthcare workers, patients and their families at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City during 2020. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from Penn State College of Medicine and completed her medical training at Montefiore Medical Center Moses-Weiler internal medicine residency program.

Corey Feist, JD, MBA

Corey Feist, JD, MBA is a health care executive with over 20 years of experience. Corey is the Co-Founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Virginia Physicians Group, the medical group practice of UVA Health. Additionally, Corey has authored over a dozen publications on the need to support the well-being of the healthcare workforce. He has served as an expert in multiple forums including as a keynote speaker, panelist, and moderator as well as provided formal testimony in the United States Congress. Corey holds his Masters in Business Administration from the UVA Darden School of Business, his Juris Doctorate from Penn State Dickinson School of Law, and his Bachelors degree from Hamilton College.

Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH

Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH is a Professor of Medicine, Medical Education and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Dean for Well-Being and Resilience, and Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). In the role of chief wellness officer, Jon oversees efforts to assess and provide direction for system- and individual-level interventions designed to improve well-being for all students, residents, fellows, and faculty in the Mount Sinai Health System. Additionally, Jon is the Co-founder and Co-Director of CHARM, the Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine, a national group of medical educators, academic medical center well-being leaders, experts in burnout research and interventions, and learners all working to promote learner and trainee wellness.

Tina Shah, MD, MPH

Tina Shah, MD, MPH is a physician, healthcare executive and health policy expert. Dr. Shah proudly served in the Obama and Trump White House Administrations in a dual role with the US Dept. of Veterans Affairs where she was VA’s first national director of clinician wellbeing. In 2022, she served as Senior Advisor to our current Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, where she spearheaded the nation’s strategy to address burnout and the great resignation across health workers. Dr. Shah now advises health systems and startups on how to build technology that reduces burnout. She also actively practices pulmonary and critical care at RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey. As a recognized wellbeing expert, she has been featured at the National Academy of Medicine, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and as a commentator on CBS and NBC news.

Stef Simmons, MD

Stef Simmons, MD is the Chief Medical Officer at the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. Stef serves as the Vice President of clinician engagement for Envision Physician Services, serving over 26,000 physicians and advance practice providers with a focus on professional well-being, including translational research and programs designed to bring well-being best practices to clinical environments. She serves as lead clinical faculty for the Clinician Experience Project Wellbeing program.

Christopher Thomas Veal, MD

Dr. Christopher Thomas Veal is a Certified Trauma-Informed Care Physician and Family Medicine Resident Physician at Carle Foundation Hospital at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has established himself as a leading advocate for change in the areas of suicide prevention, mental health, and LGBTQ+ Health. He is an award-winning writer who has been published in several peer-reviewed journals including the Annals of Internal Medicine and Academic Medicine and has been a contributing writer to MedPage Today. His most recent publication “We Burn Out, We Break, We Die” was awarded the John A Benson Professionalism Article Prize for “Best Article of 2021” by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He has worked closely with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AAFP) in developing a revised blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention in the United States. He also serves as Faculty for AAP and AAFP ECHO Course for Youth Suicide Prevention. He was recently featured on NPR and was the keynote speaker at the NIH’s LGBTQ Youth Suicide Prevention Summit- speaking on the importance and need for greater access to Gender Affirming Care. Upon the completion of his residency training in 2024, Christopher will be joining Howard Brown Health in Chicago, IL as a Primary Care Physician focusing on Trauma Informed Care, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Gender Affirming Care, and LGBTQ+ Health.

SPEAKING INVITATION REQUEST FORM

Please complete this form to request a representative to speak on behalf of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation.

About You

Your Name(Required)
     
Please click and drag the available speakers ordering them based on who would be the most suitable speaker for the event (bios are available at the top of this page):
  • Pam Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN
  • Carrie Cunningham, MD, MPH
  • Nathalie Dougé, MD
  • Corey Feist, JD, MBA
  • Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH
  • Tina Shah, MD, MPH
  • Stef Simmons, MD
  • Dr. Christopher Thomas Veal
     

About Your Event

Please rank our available speakers based on who would be the most suitable speaker for the event (bios are available at the top of this page):
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Speaking duration with proposed speaking donations:(Required)
 
(frontline workers, nurses, providers, healthcare leadership, government officials, etc.)
(e.g.: keynote request, specific speaking theme/topics, speaking invitees, distinguished guest invitees, etc.)
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Thank you for submitting this form, we will get back to you within a couple business days.
We look forward to an exploratory speaking engagement!
 
All our best, 
Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation team❤︎