At Independence Blue Cross (IBX), we are focused on whole-person health and health equity. We believe that everyone should have the same chance to live a longer, healthier life. We invite you, our members, to help us make this vision a reality.
We will host our second annual Independence Health Equity Summit this October. Our 2023 theme is Equitable Whole-Person Health, and we are honored to welcome distinguished author Dr. Sandro Galea as our keynote speaker.
The schedule will include:
We would like to thank our holistic health partners for their participation!
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Achieving optimal health and wellness doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. HUSK offers fitness, nutrition, and mental health services for IBX members. |
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Sandro Galea, a physician, epidemiologist, and author, is dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. He previously held academic and leadership positions at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the New York Academy of Medicine.
Born in Malta, Galea is an immigrant twice over, moving to Canada at the age of 14, then to the United States in his late 20s. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Toronto, Galea traveled to Somalia through Doctors Without Borders. It was there that he had a defining realization. “I got this feeling, like I’m standing on the side of the river, pulling people out. I was doing that over and over and over again. And I felt I was doing a lot of good, but I also knew that once I left, the same thing would keep happening. So I really wanted to understand who was throwing people in the river to begin with.” This experience inspired him to switch careers, “leaving the immediate gratification of medicine to labor in the vineyard of public health.” Read more about Galea’s experiences in The Other End of the River by Barbara Moran.
Galea went on to receive graduate degrees in public health from Harvard University and Columbia University. In 2015, he became the youngest public health dean in the country, assuming leadership of the Boston University School of Public Health.
Rebecca Thurston is the Pittsburgh Foundation Chair of Women’s Health and Dementia; Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, Epidemiology, and Clinical and Translational Science; and Director of the Women’s Biobehavioral Health Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Thurston is an expert in midlife women’s health; a practicing clinical psychologist, leading the integration of behavioral health into gynecology care for midlife women; and a scientist whose research has yielded breakthroughs in the understanding of the menopause transition, trauma, sexual violence, and their implications for women’s cardiovascular and brain health.
Thurston is a Principal Investigator of the MsHeart and MsBrain studies, which leverage novel wearable technologies to investigate midlife women’s cardiovascular and brain health. She is also a Principal Investigator of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, a 25+ year longitudinal study that has provided seminal information about the menopause transition among a racially/ethnically diverse cohort of women. She is Director of the NIH T32-funded Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine Research Training Program, which trains the next generation of scholars in the interface between psychological/behavioral factors and cardiovascular health. In recognition of her work, Thurston has received the Henry Burger Award from the International Menopause Society — the top award for menopause research internationally. Thurston is Past President of the North American Menopause Society and an elected fellow of both the American Psychosomatic Society and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.
Michael Glick is Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Integrative Global Oral Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He has an extensive publication record including many original research articles, editorials, and book chapters, and has authored, edited, and co-edited ten textbooks.
Glick previously served as Dean of the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo. He is also a past President of the American Board of Oral Medicine, and served as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of the American Dental Association from 2005 to 2020.
Jerome Shabazz is the founder and executive director of the Overbrook Environmental Education Center and JASTECH Development Services, Inc. Shabazz is a 2022 Sustainable Philadelphia award winner and an active member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Board (NEJAC). He also chairs the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) and is a member of its Environmental Justice Advisory Board (EJAB). In addition, he is an inaugural member of the City of Philadelphia’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council (PEJAC). Shabazz is a lifelong Philadelphian and earned his master’s degree in Environmental Protection and Public Safety from St. Joseph’s University.
Heidi Gorniok is a registered dietitian and the Director of Community Nutrition at The Food Trust. Over the last 17 years, she has provided support and expertise to a variety of programs that promote nutrition security. She is passionate about finding ways to make new connections and foster collaboration between different components of the food system to ensure that everyone has access to delicious, nutritious food.
Gorniok received her B.S. in Human Physiology in 2003 and became a registered dietitian in 2013. In addition to her work at The Food Trust, she has been involved with multiple professional organizations, including serving on the board of the Delaware Valley of the Society for Nutrition Education and joining the national Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Competencies Committee. Gorniok is also a Servsafe instructor, a regular presenter at conferences, and the author of Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds: Nutrition Workshops for Teachers, a SNAP-Ed Toolkit intervention.
Kier Gaines is a licensed therapist who uses his platform — comprised of 27 million viewers and growing — to speak on the importance of mental health. Gaines advocates for the importance of mental well-being while disrupting the stigma against mental illness. He has empowered countless individuals to embark on proactive journeys toward nurturing their mental health. He challenges audiences to reframe the way they view life, relationships, and parenting. He has appeared on Good Morning America and The Today Show. His message has been amplified by celebrities like Viola Davis, Idris Elba, Oprah Winfrey, and Justin Baldoni. Gaines was asked by the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, to become a continued advisor and counselor for White House mental health initiatives. Since beginning his career, he has been invited to speak to corporations and organizations like the NAACP, Black Love, NASA, Amazon Movie Studios, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, and more. He was also honored by Emmy award-winning actor Sterling K. Brown and Oprah Winfrey on OWN’s special, Honoring Our Kings: Celebrating Black Fatherhood.