About the panelists:

SAMEERAH BILAL-ROBY

SameerahBilal-Roby is Program Manager for the Integrated Care High Risk Pregnancies Initiative (ICHRP) and Director of the African American Babies Coalition (AABC). Her focus is early childhood brain development and toxic stress, infant mortality and low birth weight, equity and disparities in training and health – specifically in the African American community. Sameerah was educated at Metropolitan State University in Early Childhood Education and Adult Education. She is a Master ACE, seasoned trainer highlighting trauma and toxic stress awareness, travel team member of CityMatCH and Co-chair of BECC (Birth Equity Community Council). She also sits on many community action committees. Her leadership experiences heighten a natural energy to respond to mounting developments that negatively impact a family’s health and well-being. She is passionate about influencing grassroots people’s ability to speak at important tables and as a catalyst for systemic change.

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NICOLE GURNEAU

Nicole Gurneau is a Family Spirit Parent Support Specialist at Headway Emotional Health. She is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe tribe in Minnesota, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and is completing a Master’s degree in Co-Occurring Disorders. With her education and the Family Spirit home visiting training, Nicole has tailored her approach to build trust with the families she works with; this has ensured participant retention, family engagement and increased positive Maternal and Infant outcomes. Nicole is mindful of historic disruptions in Native American parenting patterns and her personal goal is to create positive ripple effects into future generations by increasing parenting skills. Outside of her career she is a wife and mother of six. As a mother, she feels honored to be such a positive force for other parents.

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JEFF SCHIFF, MD, MBA

Jeff Schiff, MD, MBA is the Medical Director for Minnesota Medicaid at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). His work focuses on evidence-based benefit policy, improved care delivery models, and improvement of clinical quality. His interests include the role of social and family risk factors on health outcomes, integrated delivery systems and mechanisms to improve quality measurement. He is committed to interweaving input from diverse communities to decrease health disparities and address heath equity directly at all levels. Dr. Schiff is the past chair of the Medicaid Medical Directors network. He has served on and chaired numerous national and state policy and quality advisory committees for the CMS, the PCORI, National Quality Forum, and the AHRQ. He practices clinical pediatric emergency medicine and is committed to creating an equitable patient and family centered learning heath care system.

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NOYA WOODRICH, MSW, LISW

Noya Woodrich, MSW, LISW is Athabascan (Alaskan Native) from the Village of Tok near the Alaskan/Canadian border. She has lived in the Midwest for nearly her entire life. She has an undergraduate and Master’s Degree in Social Work from Augsburg University. In 1992 she was asked to be part of the Minneapolis Health Department’s Lowering Infant Deaths project and since then has been working in and around infant mortality issues, particularly as it impacts the American Indian community. For 25+ years she worked in the American Indian community of Minneapolis at the Division of Indian Work, starting as an intern and ending as the Executive Director. She also recently spent over a year working with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe as Executive Director of their Health and Human Services. Currently, Noya is the Deputy Commissioner of the Minneapolis Health Department.