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Join Roper and MUSC for this FREE event.

AGENDA
7 a.m. Registration check-in and coffee

8:10 a.m. Opening and acknowledgement of special guests: Toni Flowers, Roper St. Francis Healthcare
Diversity & Inclusion Consultant; Anton Gunn, MUSC Health Executive Director of Community
Health Innovation and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer

Dr. Mary “Toni” Flowers is an accomplished healthcare executive with nearly 30 years of
industry experience. She is an award-winning diversity professional with certifications from such
prestigious universities as Cornell and Georgetown. Most recently, she was named among
Becker’s Top 68 (2019) and 50 (2018) African American Healthcare Leaders in the country.
She serves as a consultant and subject matter expert for the AHA’s Institute for Diversity
& Health Equity and the Health Research and Education Trust’s Hospital Improvement &
Innovation Network. Dr. Flowers is a nurse and medical anthropologist. She has traveled as
a Medical Missionary for over 20 years providing treatment and training to village health
workers in countries throughout Africa, South America and The West Indies. Through her
various experiences working as a nurse, a quality improvement professional for The Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid and as a system Vice President, she offers a comprehensive perspective
on healthcare and health equity issues to audiences across the country.

Anton J. Gunn is a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama and the world’s leading
authority on Socially Conscious Leadership. He has a Masters Degree in Social Work from
the University of South Carolina and was a Resident Fellow at Harvard University. He is the
bestselling author of The Presidential Principles and has been featured in TIME magazine, Inc.
Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, NPR and on Good Morning America. As an
international speaker and consultant, he has worked with organizations like Microsoft, KPMG,
Verizon Wireless, ACHE, Aetna, American College of Surgeons, the Financial Regulatory
Authority, and the Boeing Company. From playing SEC Football and being the first African
American in history elected to the South Carolina legislature from his district early in his career,
to now working as the Executive Director of Community Health Innovation & Chief Diversity
Officer of MUSC Health and serving on multiple boards, he has spent his life helping people
build diverse high performing teams and world-class leadership culture.

8:20 a.m. Welcome: Lorraine Lutton, Roper St. Francis Healthcare President &
Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Patrick Cawley, CEO of MUSC Health
Lorraine Lutton, a senior healthcare leader known for her progressive leadership and focus on
patient access and outcomes, serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Roper
St. Francis Healthcare. Under Lutton’s leadership, Roper St. Francis Healthcare has been honored
as one of the Top 15 Health Systems in the country for its overall performance. In addition, Bon
Secours St. Francis Hospital and Roper Hospital earned five out of five stars for overall hospital
performance by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – an honor only 6.4 percent of
hospitals nationwide earn. Prior to her 2016 appointment and full endorsement by the Roper
St. Francis Board of Trustees, Lutton spent 24 years with the BayCare Health System in Tampa,
Florida, a community-based healthcare system made of 14 not-for-profit hospitals and outpatient
facilities with more than 25,000 employees. Lutton most recently served as president of
St. Joseph’s Hospital, the healthcare system’s flagship facility with 529 licensed beds.

Dr. Patrick J. Cawley is the chief executive officer of MUSC Health and vice president for
health affairs of MUSC. In this role, he oversees all clinical matters as they relate to MUSC.
During his leadership, MUSC has significantly expanded its clinical enterprise with a new
children’s hospital, multiple ambulatory sites, development of additional clinical affiliates, and
numerous novel joint ventures. Additionally, MUSC has become a national leader in telehealth
and has continued as South Carolina’s #1 hospital/health system per U.S. News and World
Report. Under Dr. Cawley’s leadership, MUSC continues to receive a number of quality awards
across all domains of quality: safety, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, timeliness and patient
centeredness.

8:30 a.m. Purpose: Dr. Brian Cuddy, Neurosurgeon and Chairman of Roper St. Francis Healthcare
Board of Directors
Dr. Cuddy graduated from Albany Medical College and completed his internship in general
surgery and residency in neurological surgery at MUSC. Following completion of his residency
training, he completed a fellowship in spinal surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
He is board certified in neurological surgery and holds an appointment as Clinical Professor
of Neurosurgery at MUSC and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Clemson
University. In July of 2000, he was appointed by the South Carolina governor as Chairman
of the South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund. He is an active member of several
national neurosurgical societies and is a past President of the South Carolina Spine Society.
Dr. Cuddy has served as Chief of Staff for Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital and Chairman of the
Roper St. Francis Physician Partners Board. He is Chairman of the Roper St. Francis Board of
Directors.

8:35 a.m. Local Perspective of Health Disparities: Dr. Thaddeus Bell, Founder of Closing the
Gap in Healthcare
Dr. Thaddeus J. Bell has been a Family Practice Physician in Charleston since 1986. He is
Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine and the Associate Dean for Diversity in
the College of Medicine at MUSC. Dr. Bell was appointed in 1996 as Director of University
Diversity and Executive Assistant to the President for University Diversity at MUSC. In 1995, he
received the Outstanding African American in South Carolina for Southern Bell Black History
Calendar, and in 1995 was inducted in the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame for 100 Black
Men of South Carolina. Dr. Bell received the South Carolina State University Distinguished
Graduate Award in 1993, and in 1992 he received the Medical University of South Carolina
Outstanding Alumnus Award. Dr. Bell is also a World-Class Runner in Masters Track and Field.
8:45 a.m. Symposium overview and introduction of guest speakers: Toni Flowers
8:55 a.m. Guest speaker: John M. Flack, MD, MPH, FAHA, MACP, FASH, Professor and Chief
Hypertension Specialized Services, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine
Hypertension Care: The Win-Win Equation of Quality + State of the Art Care = Health
Equity and Optimal Outcomes for All

Dr. John Flack is a board certified Internal Medicine specialist and an internationally renowned
hypertension specialist/cardiovascular epidemiologist. He is a widely recognized clinical/research
expert in hypertension in African Americans. Dr. Flack is the president of the American Hypertension
Specialist Certification Program. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and
book chapters and is an associate editor for the American Journal of Hypertension. He has been
repeatedly named to the Top Doctor, Best Doctor and Super Doctors list. Previously he served a stint
as a voting member of the FDA-Cardio Renal Advisory Board. Dr. Flack was recently conferred the
status of Masters by the American College of Physicians (ACP); he also is a current member of the
ACP Board of Regents.

10 a.m. Break

10:10 a.m. Guest speaker: Robert C. Like, MD, MS, Professor and Director of the Center for Healthy
Families and Cultural Diversity in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in Clinical Practice
Dr. Robert Like received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1979 and
completed his residency and master’s degree fellowship training in family medicine from Case
Western Reserve University in 1984. He is a family physician with a background in medical
anthropology and has carried our fieldwork throughout the world. He has served as a member
of the DHHS Office of Minority Health’s CLAS Standards National Project Advisory Committee;
co-chair of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine’s Group on Multicultural Health Care
and Education; and as the Medical Society of New Jersey representative to the AMA/NMA/
NHMA Commission to End Health Care Disparities. He is dedicated to leadership, advocacy
and excellence in promoting culturally-responsive, quality healthcare for diverse populations.

11:10 a.m. Guest speaker: Gloria Ramsey, JD, RN, FNAP, FAAN
Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Marching Toward Health Equity & Social Justice: Nurses Making a Difference
Gloria Ramsey is the first person to serve in her current role at Johns Hopkins School of
Nursing. She is nationally recognized for her expertise in policy and research. Ramsey most
recently served as an associate professor in the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing
with secondary inter-professional appointments in the Departments of Medical and Clinical
Psychology and Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University
of the Health Sciences (USU). She has made significant contributions in continuing education
and training in military healthcare settings as a member of the Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center Ethics Committee, faculty of its Medical Ethics Short Course, and as an
End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Core and Veterans trainer. She was also a
designated subject matter expert of the Defense Medical Ethics Center established at USU.

12:10 p.m. Lunch

1 p.m. Panel discussion & questions from the audience

1:55 p.m. Wrap-up and symposium closing remarks: Dr. Brian Cuddy

2 p.m. Refreshments and break

3 – 5 p.m. Keynote address: Andrew Young, Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Andrew Young is a prominent civil rights leader and former politician. He became an ordained
minister after graduating from Hartford Theological Seminary in 1955 and took a job as a
pastor in Thomasville, Ga., where he first became active in the Civil Rights movement. He
organized voter registration drives in the African American community, enduring death
threats along the way. He became an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. early in King’s
career, working closely to teach nonviolent organizing strategies. Young gained a reputation
as a negotiator and a strategist. At the time of King’s death in 1968, Young had become the
executive director of King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
where he organized desegregation efforts throughout the South, including the May 1963
march in Birmingham, where participants were viciously attacked by police dogs. In the
early 1970s, Young was elected to Congress, representing the region of Atlanta, Ga. During
the administration of President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, Young was appointed to be
the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In the 1980s, he was elected twice as mayor of
Atlanta. In the 1990s, he was instrumental in bringing the Olympic Games to Atlanta. In the
2000s, Young served as the president of the National Council of Churches and as co-chair of
GoodWorks International.