NAAMA Nextgen – Second Summit

NAAMA NextGen Second Summit
February 16, 2019
The Henry, Dearborn
Speakers : Hadeel Assad, MD
Department of Oncology, Medical Oncology
Karmanos Cancer Institute

Dr. Hadeel Assad is a hematologist/oncologist and Assistant Professor in the department of Oncology at Wayne
State University (WSU) and the Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI). She is a member of the Breast Multidisciplinary
Team and is an expert in the oncologic management of breast cancer.
Dr. Assad completed her Internal Medicine residency in 2014 and then completed dual fellowship in
Hematology and Oncology in 2017 at the Southeast campus of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in
Providence-Providence Park Hospital. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine as well as the American
Board of Hematology and Medical Oncology. She is an active member of the National Arab American Medical Association, the
American Society of Clinical Oncology; the Michigan Society of Hematology/Oncology; and American College of Physicians.
She is also affiliated with the Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at Karmanos Cancer Institute, and her primary
research interests are in communication and disparities in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. She is also interested in drug
resistance as well as new therapies in management of breast cancer in the adjuvant and metastatic setting.

Richard Baker, M.D.,
Vice dean of Medical Education for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

An ophthalmologist, he formerly served as executive director of the Center for Health Services Research and
chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. He held a
joint faculty appointment at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and was a member of the Jules Stein
Eye Institute, where he served as associate director of the Jules Stein Center for Eye Epidemiology. His
previous positions at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science include provost, dean of the College of Medicine, president
of the Charles Drew University Multi-Specialty Practice Group, associate vice president for Research, associate dean for Research,
assistant dean for Medical Student Research and director of the Charles Drew National Institutes of Health – Research Centers in
Minority Institutions Biomedical Research Center. He has also served as associate dean for the UCLA David Geffen School of
Medicine.
Dr. Baker received his undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford University in 1977. He received a medical doctorate degree
from Harvard Medical School and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. His postdoctoral training includes a
fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School and a National Institutes of Health fellowship in chronic disease
epidemiology at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Dr. Baker has been recognized for his scientific and civic
contributions by National Medical Fellowships as a Distinguished Alumnus, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the
National Association of Public Hospitals, the California legislature, Tavis Smiley/Microsoft, the City of Lynwood and numerous
community organizations. He is an elected member of the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society and has been recognized as one
of “America’s Top Ophthalmologists” by the Consumer Research Council of America.
He is the founding director of the Drew Health Services Research Center and co-founder and executive director of the Drew Urban
Telemedicine Center of Excellence. He has served on the Board of Directors of the California Medical Association, the Los Angeles
County Medical Association, the Latino Physicians of California and Healthy African American Families. He also has served on the
boards of the Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools, the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools, the UCLA
School of Medicine Board of Visitors, the California Black Health Network, the Drew Economic Development Corp., the Drew
Faculty Practice Plan and the Los Angeles Eye Institute.
Dr. Baker has been the principal investigator for multiple studies and has published more than 200 articles and book chapters in
the areas of ophthalmology, telemedicine, epidemiology and health services research. He has served on numerous expert panels
for the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Abdul El-Sayed, MD, DPhil
Former health commissioner for the City of Detroit.

Abdul has a medical degree from Columbia University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University where he

earned a doctorate in public health. He is a native Michigander who grew up in Metro Detroit.
Abdul left his position as an assistant professor in Columbia University’s Department of Epidemiology to return
to Michigan. Abdul became the youngest health official in a major American city when Mayor Mike Duggan appointed Abdul to
rebuild Detroit’s Health Department after it was privatized during the city’s bankruptcy. As Health Commissioner, he was
responsible for the health and safety of over 670,000 Detroiters. Abdul worked tirelessly to ensure government accountability
and transparency, promote health, and reduce cross-generational poverty.
Abdul launched his gubernatorial campaign after witnessing the systematic failures in Flint and across the state. He was the first
candidate to release a comprehensive policy platform with a bold, progressive agenda focused on Michigan’s future.
Abdul lives in Detroit with his wife, Sarah, a mental health doctor. He loves working out, good biographies, coffee, and Michigan
sports.