Featured  Speakers:

Jennifer A. Shuford, MD, MPH

Commissioner, Texas Department of State Health Services

"DSHS Update" (Invited)

Dr. Shuford currently serves as the Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Under h​er​ leadership, the agency strives to achieve the vision of “A Healthy Texas” and fulfill the mission of improving the health, safety, and well-being of all Texans.

Dr. Shuford worked in Austin, Texas, as an infectious disease physician in private practice prior to joining Texas Department of State Health Services in 2017. Before becoming Commissioner, Dr. Shuford served DSHS as the Chief State Epidemiologist.

Dr. Shuford graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, where she served as chief resident. She completed an infectious disease fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and earned her Master of Public Health degree from Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Shuford serves on the faculty of the DSHS Preventive Medicine and Public Health Residency Program. She is a member of Travis County Medical Society, Texas Medical Association, and Infectious Disease Society of America.

AAron Davis, MPA, MBA

Director, Center for Public Health Initiatives, Community Engagement Institute, Wichita State University, Kansas

"Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Public Health"

AAron is the director of the Center for Public Health Initiatives, which is housed in the Community Engagement Institute at Wichita State University in Kansas. He specializes in project management and strategic operations. He has master's degrees in Public Administration (MPA) and in Business Administration (MBA), as well as undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Integrated Marketing Communications. His previous work includes both government and private industry. He has previously worked at Sedgwick County Health Department and now works to assist and improve all areas of Public Health in the state of Kansas through his role at Wichita State University. With more than a decade of experience in Public Health, AAron is an advocate for advancing the Public Health 3.0 model. He has been recognized as a 40 under 40 in public health by the de Beaumont Foundation.

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Derek Lee, Regional Administrator, HHS Administration for Community Living

"Healthy Aging: Public Health Challenge"

Derek Lee is the Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service Administration for Community Living, (ACL) at the Dallas regional office, providing policy guidance and technical assistance on Older Americans Act home-and-community-based services to state and tribal grantees in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. 

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