Greater San Antonio Healthcare Diversity Summit

Francisco González-Scarano, M.D. was educated at Yale (BA 1971) and Northwestern (MD 1975). He received his medical training as an intern in Medicine and resident in Neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and was then a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Neal Nathanson in the Department of Microbiology at Penn between 1979-1981, following which he spent a year as a visiting worker at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, UK. He returned to Penn in 1982 as an assistant professor of Neurology, rose to Professor of Neurology as well as professor in the Department of Microbiology and chaired the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999-2010. He held many leadership positions at Penn, including co-Director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), a member of the Executive Committee in the Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania (CPUP), and co-Director of the University of Pennsylvania Comprehensive Neuroscience Center. Dr. González-Scarano became the Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice-President for Medical Affairs at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in August, 2010. Dr. González-Scarano is an expert in HIV neuropathogenesis as well as in other aspects of neurovirology and brain inflammation. Prior to becoming a dean, he was the principal investigator of many NIH grants, including a program project centering on the biology of HIV infection of the brain, and of training grants in neurovirology, in the scientific development of students from underrepresented minorities, and for the promotion of research by residents in neurology. He also held many roles in national organizations, is the author of many publications in neurovirology, AIDS, and Multiple Sclerosis, and is co-editor of two books. Between 1993 and 1997 he was the Chairman of the Board of Scientific Councilors of the NINDS; before and since he has served on several NIH and Multiple Sclerosis Society study sections. He was on the Council of the American Neurological Association in 2001-2003, chaired its Scientific Program Committee, and was its first vice-President 2008-2010. He was previously a member of the American Academy of Neurology’s Scientific Program Committee. He was a member of the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council (2004-2008), and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2006-). In addition to his clinical work in Multiple Sclerosis and his laboratory activities, he has been on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Virology, Virology, Virus Research, the Journal of Neurovirology, and Glia, and he edits a section of the electronic textbook Up-to-Date.

Dr. Junda Woo is medical director at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, which is our city and county health department. She received her medical degree from the State University of New York, trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, practiced at a federally qualified health center in San Antonio, and received a masters in public health at the University of Texas School of Public Health. Before joining the health department, she was medical director at Planned Parenthood South Texas. Her interests include reproductive and sexual healthcare, adolescent care, intimate partner violence, and care of LGBT patients.

Dr. Janie Canty-Mitchell is a native of Sumter, South Carolina with 40 years of experience as a professional registered nurse. Her career includes experiences in psychiatric/mental health nursing, public health nursing, supervision and administration, program development, project management, coalition building, teaching, and research. Community partnerships have been a core component of her public health nursing practice, teaching in academic settings, and research and scholarly endeavors. She earned a diploma in nursing from Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in 1971 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Florida State University in 1979. Later she matriculated at the University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida earning both a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN 1988) and a PhD in Nursing (1993). She is dedicated to education and lifelong learning as evident from her 24 years of teaching, research, and service in higher education in Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, and now Texas. Dr. Canty-Mitchell's activities in academic settings have included teaching at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels. She has taught courses in community/public health nursing, family and population health nursing, health policy, leadership and management, professional role development, research, community health outreach: service learning, child and adolescent health disparities, and doctoral dissertation seminars. In collaboration with community organizations and interdisciplinary groups, Dr. Canty-Mitchell has partnered with both undergraduate and graduate students to develop, plan, and implement health interventions designed to promote child and adolescent health and decrease health disparities. Projects have included grief and loss counseling for juvenile offenders; parenting programs to incarcerated women with children; family strengthening programs to promote healthy behaviors in school-children; asthma education programs for minority, low income, and migrant children and families; and parenting and child health programs at risk families. Dr. Canty-Mitchell has presented at local, regional, national, and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed conference proceedings, journals, and books. Her areas of expertise are public health nursing, health disparities, child and adolescent mental health, positive youth development, university-community partnerships, nursing research, grant writing, and administration in higher education. Nationally, she was appointed a charter member and nurse consultant on the Children and Family Study Section, Center for Scientific Review (2004-2008); Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows Program (2009-2012); and the Leadership America (2012-2013). In August, 2012, Dr. Canty-Mitchell began her appointment as Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Health Systems in the School of Nursing at UT Health Sciences Center San Antonio. She was also honored to receive the Lillie Cranz Cullen Endowed Professorship in Nursing by the university. She looks forward to ongoing university-community partnerships to promote health in underserved and diverse populations in San Antonio and the surrounding Texas communities.

I am the Sr. Vice President/Chief Nurse Executive for University Health System (UHS), an acute care public hospital with several community and specialty clinics. UHS serves as the teaching facility for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and provides health care and Level 1 Trauma Care to the residents of Bexar County and South Texas. University Health System achieved Magnet Designation February 2010.

Ms. Valenciano is a seasoned strategist with over fifteen years of experience in Human Resources, where ten of those years have been dedicated to Diversity, Organizational Change and Development. Ms. Valenciano has been recently appointed as president of the Healthcare Diversity Council. The mission of the Healthcare Diversity Council is to engage in dialogue with the healthcare community regarding inclusion and leadership best practices. A major goal is to build cultural awareness in the healthcare industry in order to create a positive impact on individuals, organizations and the community at large. In addition to her appointment as president, Ms. Valenciano is also named executive vice president of the National Diversity Council (NDC). In this role, she will oversee the growth of several national markets including California and Arizona. For the past several years, Ms. Valenciano served as vice president of business development for the Texas Diversity Council (TXDC), one of the state councils under the NDC umbrella. Prior to accepting the position of vice president of development with the TXDC, Ms. Valenciano was the director of diversity and inclusion for 84 Lumber Company, a private organization headquartered in Pittsburgh PA. As director, she provided leadership and direction in the infrastructure, design, formulation, implementation and execution of the organization’s overall diversity strategy, which included external communications, public relations and community engagement. She was also responsible for ensuring that business practices, processes and procedures to support 84 Lumber’s commitment to diversity and Inclusion were in place and effective. In addition, Ms. Valenciano was involved in the company’s business expansion into Mexico and Canada. Ms. Valenciano was the Texas Diversity Council’s first executive director with responsibility to oversee the day-to-day operations of the organization and implement policies as adopted by Board of Directors. Her responsibilities also included helping to direct the agendas of the then four regional Diversity Council’s Advisory Boards formed by Human Resources directors and executives of various corporate member organizations located in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Under her leadership, the annual Women in Leadership Symposium was created and is now a national event held in more than twelve states. Prior to joining the TXDC, Ms. Valenciano was key in managing the strategic direction and execution of organizational-wide development processes, diversity programs and initiatives, which included leadership development, coaching, training and organizational consulting for JPMorgan Chase. As an assistant vice president, she served in the capacity of Leadership Development Consultant in Credit Card Services and Organizational Development Consultant to Customer Services’ clients. In this role, she was afforded the opportunity to serve as subject matter expert on global diversity with responsibility to oversee the company’s initiatives in Latin America, Canada and Mumbai, India. Active in charitable and civic affairs, Valenciano is a graduate of the Instituto Tecnologico Y de Estudios Superiores de San Luis Potosi located in the City of San Luis Potosi in Mexico with a Degree in Business and Computer Information Systems. She holds a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) Certificate from University of Villanova (Dec. 2003). She has completed various Leadership and Professional Development Programs from ongoing continuous studies and associations across the country and abroad. Ms Valenciano serves on the board of the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) at St. Mary’s University. She is also very involved and is a strong advocate for people with disabilities in the workplace and chairs several committees. She is also a proud ally to the LGBT community and is active with several chambers of commerce across the country.