WSMA Leadership Development Conference

Jim Krieger, MD, MPH, is a clinical professor emeritus at the University of Washington School of Public Health and executive director of Healthy Food America. He previously worked for 25 years at Public Health – Seattle & King County as chief of chronic disease prevention and assessment, policy development, and epidemiology.

He has contributed to implementation of the nation’s second menu labeling regulation, adoption of sweetened beverage taxes, front-of-package food labels, and development of ultra-processed food policy.

He received his undergraduate degree at Harvard, medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco, and master of public health at the University of Washington.

Kelly Casperson, MD, is a board-certified urologic surgeon, CEO, and founder of The Casperson Clinic, a modern practice dedicated to hormones and sex medicine. She is a renowned public speaker, sex educator, and host of the top-ranking podcast You Are Not Broken. Dedicated to empowering women, Dr. Casperson blends humor, candor, and science to demystify sexual health, intimacy, and midlife wellness. Through her podcast and online courses, she tackles myths about desire and normalizes conversations around healthy, fulfilling sex. Her work also provides essential education on hormones and midlife health. Connect with Dr. Casperson on Instagram at @kellycaspersonmd or visit kellycaspersonmd.com.

David Ansell, MD, MPH, will talk with conference attendees about how health systems can adopt anchor missions to hire, purchase, and invest locally; and how a focus on reducing gaps in health outcomes and experiences advances health equity. He’ll discuss his experience implementing universal social determinants of health screenings at primary care clinics and how clinic staff responded to patients’ needs (i.e., referrals to nutrition programs, utilizing telehealth for those with transportation issues).

Dr. Ansell is the Michael E. Kelly presidential professor of internal medicine and senior vice president and associate provost for community health equity at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. His research and advocacy have been focused on eliminating health inequities.

In 2011 he published a memoir of his times at Cook County Hospital, “County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital.” His latest book, “The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills,” was published in 2017.

Dr. Bindu Nayak is an endocrinologist with Mission Medical Specialists NCW. She has provided clinical endocrinology care in North Central Washington since 2009, with a focus on advancing equitable, community-informed models of care.

From 2023 to 2025, Dr. Nayak served as Medical Director of Health Equity at Confluence Health, where she previously founded the Health Equity Council in 2017 to advance system-wide strategies addressing disparities in care. Her leadership bridged clinical care with structural approaches to improving health outcomes.

Deeply engaged in her community, Dr. Nayak served on the Chelan-Douglas County Board of Health from 2022 to 2025 and is a founding board member of the NCW Equity Alliance, a community-based organization in Wenatchee dedicated to advancing equity across North Central Washington.

Dr. Nayak currently serves as Vice President of the Washington State Medical Association, where she contributes to statewide physician leadership and advocacy.

Patricia Burgin is a recognized expert in bringing together and facilitating motivated groups and teams. She believes they can produce magic.

As the founder, CEO, and Chief Inspiration Officer of SeattleCoach, Patricia ("Patty") Burgin has coached and mentored thousands of individuals and teams toward better performance, communication and meaning. And over 600 leaders have become certified as executive coaches through the SeattleCoach professional training and development program.

She is the author of the best-selling overview of leadership coaching, The Essential Coaching Leader, and of The Coaching for Leaders Playbook.

Dr Rumeena Bhalla is an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and UK-trained physician with 15 years’ experience of coaching and facilitating. Rumeena has built a portfolio career as an ER physician, film producer, educator, business owner, CEO of a not-for-profit and coach. She brings this wide-ranging experience to her coaching practice. Rumeena coaches both seasoned leaders in healthcare and high -potential emerging leaders. She is an expert in time management, burnout, leadership skills, executive presence and creating a healthy, sustainable professional life.

Rumeena lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and two daughters. She loves to play tennis and sing jazz.

Karen Souter is an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and a board-certified physician anesthesiologist with an international medical career spanning over 30 years. She holds the rank of full professor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine at the University of Washington and served for 12 years as the anesthesiology residency program director at UW. Dr Souter has held national leadership roles in the Society for Education in Anesthesia and the Association of Anesthesiology Core Program Director. Dr Souter has an active coaching practice working primarily with physicians and business executives whose coaching goals include, establishing themselves as leaders, growing sustaining their careers and making meaningful transitions.

Dr Souter has a master’s degree in medical education (MACM) and is a certified mentor coach (CMC). She leverages her experience as an educator to lead coach training courses aimed at teaching coaching skills to physician leaders.

Jackie Litzau is the Partnership Manager for Child Health at WithinReach working on the Help Me Grow Washington initiative. Help Me Grow WA aims to ensure that families, children, and caregivers have what they need, when they need it. With her experience in public health and clinic management, Jackie focuses on engaging, coaching, and problem-solving with health professionals who support children and their caregivers. Her work involves an understanding of the unique context individuals are practicing healthcare in to best understand how Help Me Grow WA can enhance the support already being given. She is a life-long Washingtonian (with a handful of years spent in other states) and a double graduate of the University of Washington with her Master of Public Health and her Bachelor of Arts in Geography. She is proud to practice public health in the communities she has long been a part of and is always eager to learn about others.

Dr. Francie Chalmers has been the Help Me Grow Skagit Provider Outreach Physician Champion since 2022, helping to facilitate referrals by healthcare providers to the HMG Family Resource Navigators. Dr. Chalmers serves on the Board of the Children’s Council of Skagit County, The Arc of Whatcom County, and is a past Board member of Brigid Collins Family Resource Center and the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (WCAAP). She was recently honored by the WCAAP as 2025 co-recipient of the Dr. Ed Marcuse Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Advocacy.

Lyndie Simmonds is the Supervisor of the Thriving Children & Families Pillar at United General District 304 in Skagit County. She coordinates the Children's Council, the county's early childhood coalition, bringing together cross-sector partners to align strategy, strengthen systems, and improve outcomes for young children and families. As part of this work, Lyndie oversees Help Me Grow Skagit, the countywide system connecting families to developmental screening, resources, and local community-based services. Lyndie began her career working as a teacher in the secondary education system and enjoys the opportunity to work with families from the very beginning to ensure every child and family have the support they need to thrive.

Dr. Gregory Engel is a family physician, epidemiologist, and public health educator with more than 25 years of experience in clinical care, medical education, and community health. He is the founder and director of Firearm Injury Prevention Educators, a Washington State–based initiative that has delivered nonpartisan, evidence-based firearm injury prevention education to more than 13,000 high school students.

He serves as Vice President for Education at Ceasefire Northwest, where he leads the development and expansion of public health–informed curricula designed to empower young people to prevent firearm injuries and build safer communities. A former disease-transmission researcher and longtime clinical faculty member at the University of Washington, Dr. Engel continues to work at the intersection of science, education, and community engagement to advance effective, prevention-focused approaches to firearm harm.

Dr. Bindu Nayak is an endocrinologist with Mission Medical Specialists NCW. She has provided clinical endocrinology care in North Central Washington since 2009, with a focus on advancing equitable, community-informed models of care.

From 2023 to 2025, Dr. Nayak served as Medical Director of Health Equity at Confluence Health, where she previously founded the Health Equity Council in 2017 to advance system-wide strategies addressing disparities in care. Her leadership bridged clinical care with structural approaches to improving health outcomes.

Deeply engaged in her community, Dr. Nayak served on the Chelan-Douglas County Board of Health from 2022 to 2025 and is a founding board member of the NCW Equity Alliance, a community-based organization in Wenatchee dedicated to advancing equity across North Central Washington.

Dr. Nayak currently serves as Vice President of the Washington State Medical Association, where she contributes to statewide physician leadership and advocacy.

Dr Jennifer Maxwell is a family medicine physician who practices in Yakima, Washington at Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic. She also teaches in the family medicine residency program at Community Health of Central Washington, faculty for pre-clinical years at Pacific Northwest University, and is the Reserve Health Officer for the Yakima County Health District. She received her MD/MPH from the University of Toledo College of Medicine with an emphasis in health education. She is also obesity medicine certified through the American Board of Obesity Medicine. She is passionate about social determinants of health, access to healthful options, and their impact on public health and her patients.

Gabrielle Frank, MS, RDN, IBCLC, is a public health dietitian and nutrition services leader with expertise in preventative health, chronic disease management, food insecurity initiatives, and food is medicine programs. As Nutrition Services Manager at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, she oversees the care team delivering medical nutrition therapy at multiple primary care clinics, teaching kitchen programming, fruit and vegetable incentive programs, and clinic based emergency food pantries. Her experience includes teaching family focused cooking classes, expanding WIC services, leading food access initiatives, and serving on boards focused on hunger relief and equity. In her free time, Gabrielle can be found reading, cooking, or doing crafts with her two young daughters.

Sen. Marcus Riccelli was elected to the state Legislature in 2012, serving 12 years in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2024. In the Senate, he is the majority floor leader and also serves on the Ways and Means Committee; Health and Long-Term Care Committee; State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee; and the Rules Committee. Outside his duties with the Legislature, Sen. Riccelli is the community relations manager for the Community Health Association of Spokane.

Sen. Riccelli worked with advocates and colleagues from both sides of the aisle to prime sponsor and pass legislation creating the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, which trains homegrown doctors to help fill the needs of our state’s rural and underserved communities. He championed funding to expand oral health access to an additional 60,000 people, increasing dental visits by 150,000 annually. He also passed multiple bills expanding access to free school meals, benefiting 670,000 Washington students.

Lora Shahine will talk with attendees about approaching fraught issues with patients and colleagues, and what techniques may foster openness to discussion, paving the way to productive conversations.

Marie Spiker, PhD, RDN, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health in the Program in Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health and Department of Epidemiology. Dr. Spiker conducts research at the intersection of public health nutrition and food systems. She co-leads the Washington State Food Security Surveys (WAFOOD), which have collected state-level data on household food security since 2020. Her current research projects focus on food insecurity on college campuses, the use of micropantries to address food insecurity and food waste, food systems infrastructure, livestock sustainability, and public polarization related to food and nutrition issues. Prior to her current role, Dr. Spiker was the Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems Fellow at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation and a CLF-Lerner Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. She has served on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Council on Future Practice, and her work has been recognized with an Abell Award in Urban Policy and the Mary P. Huddleson Award. Dr. Spiker completed her PhD in human nutrition at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is a registered dietitian nutritionist.

Heather Sulejman will talk with attendees about approaching fraught issues with patients and colleagues, and what techniques may foster openness to discussion, paving the way to productive conversations.

Sulejman is the co-founder of Disagreeing Better, where she delivers engaging, effective trainings dedicated to translating behavioral science insights into practical conflict- management tools for professionals, including those in health care. Sulejman and co- founder Julia Minson recognized the recurring issue of well-meaning individuals leaving challenging conversations feeling misunderstood, frustrated, and defensive. Their research-based approach informs their work to teach teams how to navigate disagreement in an actionable and measurable way. Sulejman is also the managing director of The Constructive Disagreement Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

As a trained mediator, coach, and facilitator, Sulejman’s expertise centers on process design for conflict management and negotiations. She has facilitated leadership workshops for the Washington State Hospital Association and the Council for Medical Specialty Societies.