Health Equity Advisory Committee

Dr. Rosas is a nephrologist and epidemiologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, MA, and the President-Elect of the National Kidney Foundation. She is the Director of the Latino Kidney Clinic and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She also is a nephrologist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Her primary research focus is on the epidemiology of metabolic and cardiovascular disease complications in patients with chronic kidney disease particularly diabetic kidney disease. She has also evaluated health disparities in individuals with CKD particularly in those of Hispanic/Latino background.

Dr. Rosas is the clinical center PI in the NIDDK-funded multicenter APOL1 Long-term Kidney Transplantation Outcomes Network (APOLLO) that evaluates the role of the APOL1 gene in kidney transplant outcomes. She is also the PI for the Kidney Precision Medicine Program (KPMP) Chronic Kidney Disease recruitment site at Joslin Diabetes Center. KPMP aims to ethically obtain and evaluate human kidney biopsies in order to create a kidney tissue atlas, define disease subgroups, and identify critical cells, pathways, and targets for novel therapies. She has received numerous awards including the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) of New England Physician of the Year in 2017 and National Hispanic Medical Association Fellow of the Year Award. She has been a longtime volunteer with the NKF including been a member of the Spring Clinical meeting planning committee, a judge at the Young Investigator Forum and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at the National Kidney Foundation. On a local level, she has been a member of the medical board of the NKF NE chapter. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and the Advances of Chronic Kidney Disease Journal. Dr. Rosas served as the Chair of the Minority Affairs Committee of the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Dr. Rosas has been the secretary for Women in Nephrology as well as Program Committee Chair for the NIDDK Network for Minority Health Research Investigators.

Luz currently works for the Atlanta school district as a Bilingual Community Liaison assisting and guiding English speaking families of other languages. She is also a certified interpreter in education and special education. She was diagnosed with end stage renal disease 2018 and is currently on dialysis and is awaiting a kidney transplant. After experiencing first-hand what it is like to not be able to receive the care you need simply due to citizenship status, Luz joined the NKF Kidney Advocacy Committee in hopes to share her story and raise awareness on this issue.

Beatrice P. Concepcion, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a member of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, the Vanderbilt Center for Kidney Disease, and the Vanderbilt Transplant Center. She is the Associate Medical Director of the Vanderbilt Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program.

Dr. Concepcion received her medical school degree in 2004 from the University of the Philippines in Manila, graduating cum laude. She pursued further training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL, from 2005-2010 where she was Chief Fellow. She completed a fellowship in Transplant Nephrology at Vanderbilt in 2011. After her training, she returned to the Philippines where in addition to pursuing private practice, she joined the Nephrology faculty at her medical school. In 2013, she joined the faculty at Vanderbilt as a transplant nephrologist on the clinician-educator track. Dr. Concepcion is a busy clinician caring for kidney transplant recipients and evaluating recipient and living donor candidates. Since 2015, she has led the Vanderbilt Transplant Center’s outreach efforts to increase access to transplantation for patients living in rural areas. In addition to her numerous clinical and administrative responsibilities, she is actively involved in the education of nephrology fellows, medical residents and medical students, with a focus on kidney transplantation, immunosuppression, and transplant immunology.

Her research interests include increasing access to kidney and pancreas transplantation and improving clinical and patient-centered outcomes of kidney transplant recipients. Dr. Concepcion serves on the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Kidney Committee as the Region 11 representative. She is an editorial board member of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases and a visual abstract editor for the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Greer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine (Division of General Internal Medicine) and a Core Faculty Member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research. She is also the Education Director of the Johns Hopkins Brancati Center for the Advancement of Community Care.  Dr. Greer is a health services researcher, educator, and a practicing general internist.  Dr. Greer’s research program focuses on identifying and addressing ethnic/racial disparities in care and clinical outcomes of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and CKD risk factors, including diabetes and hypertension. As an educator, she leads several educational initiatives to promote health equity focused on: 1) increasing the diversity of the health-care workforce; 2) developing and implementing curricula to improve the competency of health professionals to understand and address the social determinants of health with and within the communities they serve; and 3) providing research and career mentorship to trainees from diverse backgrounds.  She is a Fellow and Education Committee Member of the National Kidney Foundation and holds membership in the Society of General Internal Medicine the Society of General Internal Medicine, Network of Minority Research Investigators (NMRI), American College of Physicians, and the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Vanessa Grubbs is a nephrologist and a writer. She completed undergraduate and medical degrees at Duke University and internal medicine, primary care residency at Highland General Hospital in Oakland, California. She went on to complete a masters in public health from University of California, Berkeley and general medicine clinical research and nephrology fellowships at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). After completing the UCSF nephrology fellowship in 2009, she maintained a clinical practice and research program at San Francisco General Hospital until 2019 at which point she chose to leave academia to focus on writing. She is an alumna of the California Health Care Foundation and Cambia Foundation Sojourns Scholar Leadership Programs for her work in renal palliative care. Her book, HUNDREDS OF INTERLACED FINGERS: A Kidney Doctor’s Search for the Perfect Match (Amistad, 2017), tells her story of becoming a kidney donor, then nephrologist, and her experiences with ethical and controversial topics in nephrology.

Dr. Mohottige is a Nephrologist and Medical Instructor in the Division of Nephrology at Duke University Hospitals. She received a B.A. in Public Policy and a Health Policy Certificate from Duke University in 2006, where she was a Robertson Scholar. She then earned an MPH in Health Behavior/Health Education from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and a medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, followed by Internal Medicine and Nephrology training at Duke University. She now works under the mentorship of Dr. Ebony Boulware and Dr. Clarissa Diamantidis to engage in patient and community-centered, inequity-focused research around the impact of socio-structural factors on kidney health and kidney transplantation.

Dr. Morrow is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. Dr. Morrow holds a doctorate degree in clinical nutrition from Rutgers University.  Dr. Morrow is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Renal Nutrition; and is the Diversity and Inclusion Liaison for the Renal Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  His research interests include energy expenditure, obesity, and sleep apnea in chronic kidney disease.

Dr. Seliby Perkins is a graduate of the University of California, Davis; and the University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Medicine. She received her residency training from the Spartanburg Regional Family Medicine Program in South Carolina, and the former Health and Media fellow of Georgetown SOM’s Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Seliby is currently a College Health physician here at Georgetown’s Student Health Center, an Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine, and Medical Editor of Heart & Soul magazine.

Her accomplishments include: Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) 2016 & 2017 Annual Legislative Conference panelist, Congressional Tri-Caucus Minority Health Disparities Summit speaker, 2015 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine New Faculty Scholar and CBC/NMQF 2016 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health Honoree. She recently became a young professional member of the National Minority Quality Forum Advisory Board; and was featured on Upworthy.com for her advocacy and work in Preventive Medicine. Dr. Seliby’s hope is to aggressively influence positive change in health care disparities, health education of underserved populations, and mentorship to impact success rates of diverse students in medicine.

Dr. Velma Scantlebury-White is a Barbadian-born American transplant surgeon. She was the first African American woman transplant surgeon of the United States. She has received many honors in her career, having been named to both the "Best Doctors in America" and "Top Doctors in America" lists multiple times, most recently in 2018 and 2019.

Dr. Scantlebury has been awarded the Woman of Spirit Award for inspiring others and the "Gift of Life Award" from the National Kidney Foundation. In addition to recognition by the Caribbean American Medical and Scientific Association, she received the Order of Barbados Gold Crown of Merit, for her efforts to educate minorities about organ transplant. She has performed over 2,000 transplants and published many peer-reviewed papers.

She received her training with the renowned pioneer, Dr. Thomas Starzl, MD, PhD at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she worked her way up to associate professor of Surgery by 2002 and was recruited by the University of South Alabama (USA) as a surgical professor and as director of the USA's Gulf Coast Regional Transplant Centre . In 2008 she moved to Delaware to join the Christiana Care Health System, as Associate Director of the Kidney Transplant Program and Director of Outpatient Services, serving until 2020.

Dr. Scantlebury has been involved with the need to educated minority communities regarding the need for more organ donors and the rising number of patients in need of transplantation. She has worked with National MOTTEP (Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Educational Program), promoting education regarding the higher incidence of renal failure and the need for dialysis within the African American community.

She has also served on the Board of Donate Life America, and currently is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Gift of Life, here in Philadelphia PA.

Dr. Scantlebury continues to mentor young students, both high school, college and medical school and is actively involved in her community through her volunteer work with the Wilmington Chapter of the Links, Inc, as well as an Honorary Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Wilmington DE chapter.

Dr. Scantlebury is married to Dr. Harvey White, a Professor at University of Delaware, and is the mother of 2 young ladies, Akela and Aisha White.

Dr. Thavarajah is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the division of Nephrology. Much of her work has focused on the development of patient education programs including videos, live classes and patient conferences with a focus on understanding kidney disease, dialysis modalities and transplant options. She has a strong interest in clinical operations.  She currently serves as the Medical Director for the JHBMC Nephrology clinic, acute dialysis services at JHBMC, and outpatient dialysis units. Dr. Thavarajah joined the BMC Nephrology editorial board in October 2019 as a Blog Editor for the journal. She has been committed to education and dedicated to bringing community awareness on kidney disease through her work with the National Kidney Foundation serving Maryland and Delaware.

Dr. Vargas is the Assistant Dean for Health Policy and Inter-Professional Education at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, and the Direct of Health Services Research and Policy Core at the Urban Health Institute. His professional interests combine health services research, clinical care, and community collaborative partnerships towards the design, implementation, and testing of interventions to promote equal access to quality health care and to reduce health disparities. This currently includes serving as Principal Investigator on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) R24 funded partnership with community-based organizations and safety-net health care providers to reduce disparities in cardiovascular disease detection, treatment, and poor health outcomes in South Los Angeles. He also serves as the academic chair for the Community Academic Council of the NIH National Cancer Institute funded U54 CDU/UCLA Cancer Center Partnership to Eliminate Cancer Health Disparities. Aside from research activities he serves on the Medical Executive Advisory Board of the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. Dr. Vargas is board certified in Internal Medicine. He completed a fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University School of Medicine and a master’s degree in Public Health at the Harvard School Public Health. He did his residency and chief residency in the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program, received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College, and his undergraduate degree in the History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Curtis Warfield is a Senior Quality Analyst for the State of Indiana. In 2012, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) due to FSGS and started peritoneal dialysis in 2014. On January 8, 2016 Curtis received a kidney and a new lease on life. Curtis, a passionate advocate for CKD, organ donation and living donors provides peer counseling with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Peer Mentoring Program. A member of NKF’s Kidney Advocacy Committee (KAC), he advocates on Capitol Hill and in Indiana with members of congress for kidney and organ donor issues. Curtis advocates with other kidney, organ donor and chronic disease networks supporting patients, families and caregivers. Curtis serves on several Technical and Medical Review panels, speaks publicly at many events and conferences, contributes to articles and blogs, and conducts media interviews about CKD and organ donation. In 2020, Curtis was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Kidney Foundation of Indiana and Home Dialyzors United. Curtis has a B.S. Degree from Central Michigan University, and a M.S. degree from Oakland City University.

Dr. Washington is an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia’s School of Social Work. She received her MSW at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University/University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her PhD in Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include caregiving and chronic kidney disease self-management. She is the recipient of several research and training grants, including the John A. Hartford Doctoral Fellowship, and has authored or co-authored peer-reviewed articles in The Gerontologists, Social Work in Public Health, and Social Work Research. She currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Nephrology Social Work and BMC Nephrology. Dr. Washington’s teaching interests encompass aging and health, social work practice in health care settings, generalists social work practice, and service-learning.