Dr. Maria Espinola is the CEO of the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Dr. Espinola is a Harvard-trained psychologist with over 12 years of experience providing vision, leadership and strategic planning for the development and implementation of mental health and DEI initiatives in multifaceted organizations. She has a record of successful collaboration with leaders across universities, Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and the three branches of government.

Dr. Espinola has received over 25 awards for leadership, diversity initiatives, innovation, and community impact. Dr. Espinola has been featured by a wide range of media outlets, including the U.S. News and World Report, Teen Vogue, CNN and Reuters Health.

Jeremiah Kirkland is is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Jeremiah is the President and Chief Operating Officer of TriHealth Hospital Inc. consisting of five locations. Jeremiah manages the strategy, growth, finance, logistics, and support services including technical components of perioperative operations.

Kirkland previously worked for 14 years at Rochester General Hospital, the flagship of the Rochester Regional Health System in New York. Kirkland earned a master’s in health administration from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester. He is also board certified in health care management through the American College of Healthcare Executives and completed the Business Certificate Program from Harvard University.

Dr. Odayme Quesada, MD, MHS, is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Dr. Quesada is a graduate of Yale Medical School, and an award-winning, board-certified, cardiologist and translational clinical investigator. Dr. Quesada is the Medical Director of the Women’s Heart Center at The Christ Hospital Heart and Vascular Institute. Dr. Quesada completed an NIH cardiovascular research fellowship in women’s cardiovascular disease at Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute in Los Angeles. Dr. Quesada is the recipient of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) K23 Career Development Award for her work to better understand the increased cardiovascular risk associated with preeclampsia. Dr. Quesada also leads numerous multicenter clinical studies to advance care in women’s cardiovascular disease at Lindner Center for Research and Education.

Robert Elias, Esq. is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Mr. Elias is the founder of The Elias Law Firm, PLLC. Mr. Elias has practiced real estate and corporate law in Miami Lakes since 2001. He has closed commercial and residential real estate transactions well in excess of $1,000,000,000 on behalf of clients during that time. In 2011, Mr. Elias was honored by Ronald McDonald House Charities as one of their “12 Good Men” for community involvement, civic service and commitment in and to South Florida. Mr. Elias was elected President of the Miami Lakes Bar Association in 2010. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida, Inc. in 2007-2008, among the largest chapters in the nation’s premier wish granting organization, and remains an active member of the Advisory Board of Directors of the Foundation. Mr. Elias is a former founding member of the Jr. Board of Directors of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. In 2001, he was appointed by the Chairperson of the Miami-Dade County School Board to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Ethics. The Mayor of Miami Lakes appointed Mr. Elias to the Town of Miami Lakes Economic Development Committee in 2003. In 2014, Mr. Elias was awarded an AV PreEminent Lawyer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest peer rating for professional excellence. Mr. Elias was named to the exclusive list of South Florida’s Top Rated Lawyers in 2015 by American Lawyer Media.

Charnella Grossman is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Charnella is a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager for Fifth Third Bank. With over 15 years of experience, Charnella provides a unique perspective on the economy and global markets to retail investors, foundation boards, and company leadership teams to inform their future investment decisions. She uses that perspective to design and execute an investment strategy for Fifth Third’s Private Banking clients. Prior to joining Fifth Third Bank, Charnella worked for JP Morgan’s Asset Management Group, First Republic Bank in San Francisco, and Merrill Lynch in Washington, DC. She is a Registered General Securities Representative, holding both her Series 7 and 63 securities licenses. Charnella has shared her insights on the global markets for different professional associations and has been a guest speaker on NBC, Bloomberg, and other news outlets. Charnella received her Masters of Business Administration from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University. Currently, Charnella serves on the investment committee for UC Health’s Board of Directors. She is a recipient of Cincinnati’s 40 under 40 Award and is a member of Georgetown University’s regional Admissions Program, Impact 100, and serves as an investment advisor for the University of Cincinnati’s Johnson Investment Council Fund.

Dr. Kip Thompson is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. He is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Psychological and Educational Services at Fordham University at Lincoln Center. Dr. Thompson also serves as the VP for the Public Interest and Diversity for Division 43 (Society for Couples and Family Psychology) in the American Psychological Association and the Divisions of Social Justice. Dr. Thompson’s research interests include sociocultural differences in coping from traumatic stress from Hurricane Katrina, program evaluations for school-based interventions, and the impact of COVID-19 on various populations. He is a Morehouse Man who earned his PhD in clinical-community psychology from the University of South Carolina. He completed his predoctoral internship at the Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology at Boston Medical Center, and the Leadership Education in Adolescent Health post-doctoral fellowship in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Deeptankar DeMazumder, MD is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Precision Medicine Center of Excellence, and PI of the Neurocardiology Research Lab in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati, and an Attending Physician in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Before joining the faculty at University of Cincinnati in 2017, he completed his Ph.D. at SUNY Stony Brook in Synaptic Electrophysiology, his M.D. at Medical College of Virginia - Virginia Commonwealth University, Internship in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, Residency in Internal Medicine at University of Virginia, Clinical Fellowships in General Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Research Fellowship in Neurocardiology at Johns Hopkins University through the NIH K99-R00 career development pathway. Dr. DeMazumder’s research has been supported by the NIH NHLBI K99, R00, U54 and DP2 New Innovator grants, two Department of Defense grants, an award from the Leducq Foundation, and five grants from the American Heart Association including the AHA Transformational Project Award, and four grants on Artificial Intelligence from the AHA Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine.

Stevi Gable Carr is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Stevi is the Founder + CEO of WISe Wellness Guild, a platform aimed at advancing women through whole-self wellness, partnering with companies like The Christ Hospital, Crunchmaster Crackers, Fifth Third Private Bank, P&G, Paycor and Sibcy Cline. A Cincinnati native, Carr has 16 years of brand-building experience at companies like P&G, Newell Rubbermaid and UC Health. As a working mother, wife and engaged community member, Carr is a fierce advocate to support the retention of women in the workforce. Stevi serves as a co-founder of Power to Pursue Summit, AHA Go Red Woman of Impact, SoCap Accelerate Ambassador and UC Athletics Bearcats Air Committee. Recently Stevi was named P&G Alumni Association Visionaries Under 40 Honoree, a 2020 Cincinnati Business Courier’s 40 Under 40 Honoree, 2020 Women Who Mean Business Honoree and Venue’s 2022 Influential Women of Cincinnati.

Harold Brown is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Institute for Health Equity and Innovation. Harold Brown is the first-ever Nathaniel R. Jones Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), a new role created to catalyze, guide and implement DE&I initiatives and practices across the organization. Previously, Harold served as Vice President, Strategy & Policy at Interact for Health and Vice President of Community Strategies at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF). For 16+ years prior to joining GCF, Harold served in a variety of leadership roles at KnowledgeWorks, which involved creating opportunities for investment and partnerships to dramatically improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged youth in cities across the nation. An Oxford, Ohio native and graduate of Harvard University, Harold began his career as a Senior Researcher at WGBH Boston. Upon returning to Ohio, Harold directed Multicultural Enrollment Services at Miami University, where he led the University’s successful efforts to dramatically increase minority student enrollment and retention. Photo Credit: JP Leong