A Focus on Your Journey

The BASCE fellowship is all about YOU. 

Although each experience will be different for participants, all will: 
•Have an opportunity to be a part of a community and learn from others with different levels of experience in medicine. 
•Learn concepts and practices that are transferrable to your career goals. 
•Participate in individualized coaching for your unique projects. 

A Focus on Care and Well-Being 

At BASCE, we care not just about content, but also about process. 

Activating our minds goes with nourishing our bodies. As such, we will be providing a light dinner for all in-person meetings. We will also be employing somatic practices to ensure that participants are centered during difficult conversations. 

A Social Media Presence

The BASCE culminating activity will be an in-person presentation followed by a dinner reception. These presentations will be placed in a YouTube channel and participants can utilize this for career advancement, grant proposals, and their own social media platforms. 

BASCE will also support its participants in creating a short (~1 min) video that can be uploaded to Instagram, X, or TikTok.

Effective and rigorous social justice work relies on continuous learning in each of the following domains:

• The "Head" - Increasing your knowledge.

• The "Heart" - Reflecting on your positionality and how this impacts your work moving forward.

• The "Hand" - Planning for, implementing, and evaluating change. 

While most people are excited to jump right into the "hand", we encourage our participants to reflect on their journey first. After all, effective and sustainable projects are often implemented by those who have had significant opportunities to think deeply about change. 

Regardless of where you are on your journey, the BASCE fellowship will be there to support you. You can work on your selected project individually, or in groups of 3. Please read more about each project below.

Fahad Ali, MD

Dr. Fahad Ali is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he also serves as the Director of Diversity Recruitment, Education, and Community Engagement. Dr. Ali completed his undergraduate studies at Baylor University and earned his medical degree from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Brown Emergency Medicine here in Providence, where he was the first Chief Resident of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Libertad Flores, MD, MPH, FACOG

Dr. Libertad Flores completed a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Cornell University, a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and completed both her medical degree and postgraduate training at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where she has been recognized with several teaching awards. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, mentoring, and presentations to her credit. Dr. Flores sees patients at the Providence Community Health Centers. She has interests in promoting reproductive justice and inclusion in medicine, and is a graduate of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Equity Leadership Initiative. In her free time, Dr. Flores enjoys exploring Rhode Island through running, day hikes and backyard gardening.

Joshua E. Goldenberg, MD'24

Dr. Joshua Goldenberg is a PGY1 Psychiatry resident at the BIDMC (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)  Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Originally from Long Island, New York, he attended Middlebury College where he studied neuroscience and music before working in a psychiatric neuroimaging laboratory in Boston, MA. He is interested in the intersection of child/adolescent psychiatry with community psychiatry, specifically working with college/transition-aged youth, and the accessibility of electroconvulsive therapy for treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions. He is grateful for the opportunity to have participated in BASCE at the start of his career, and is excited to pursue avenues for advocacy in this next chapter.

Ricky Grisson, MD

Franklin Iheanancho, MD'25

Zain Khalid, MD

Isaac Kim, MD, Ph.D.'25

Amanda Laguna, MD'25

Amanda Laguna is a fourth-year medical student at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Originally from California, Amanda attended Brown University where she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biology before moving on to The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She plans to pursue Internal Medicine. She looks forward to bringing what she has gained from BASCE into her next chapter and engaging in new advocacy work.  

Tanya Orie Rogo, MD, MPH&TM, FAAP, FPIDS

Dr. Rogo is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is the Program Director of the Fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, the Global Health Educator in the Department of Pediatrics, and the Medical Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, RI. In addition, she co-directs the global health scholarly concentration for Brown medical students. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then received her medical degree and Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from Tulane University. She went on to complete residency in general pediatrics at the Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children in Falls Church, VA, followed by fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Brown University/Hasbro Children's Hospital.

Jinen Thakkar, MD

Neishay Ayub

Neishay Ayub is a Neurology/ Epilepsy Attending and Assistant Professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She was born in Pakistan and grew up in the suburbs of Massachusetts. She attended Wellesley College, where she studied Neuroscience. She completed her MD and internal medicine preliminary year at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She completed her Neurology residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and her Epilepsy fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Throughout her career, she has been interested in global and domestic health disparities, quality improvement and global neurology. She serves as the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer at Brown Neurology, and is grateful to join the BASCE community in order to better incorporate advocacy, diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice into her practice as well as the larger Neurology community as a whole.

Ana Sofia Debrito

Ana Sofia goes by she/her/hers pronouns. She was born in Cape Verde Islands and immigrated to the United States as a 5 year old where she lived in Pawtucket, RI —a very heavily Cape Verdean community. She attended Dartmouth College and then went on to earn her midwifery degree from Yale School of Nursing. She currently practices midwifery at Women and Infants hospital and is a clinical educator for Brown University, teaching medical students and residency doctors. She is interested in equitable healthcare and reproductive health justice, particularly for Black and Brown identifying and gender diverse folks. She has a two year old child who makes her laugh every day and makes her remember the wonderful-ness about humanity.

Giovanna Deluca

Giovanna is a PGY3 Emergency medicine resident at Brown University. She has focused most of her work outside the hospital on social medicine and global health. She holds a master’s degree in nutrition from Columbia University. At Columbia, she focused her research on determinants of childhood stunting in East Timor and other post-war zone countries and worked to provide multi-disciplinary care for high-risk CHF patients at Harlem Hospital.

She earned her medical degree at SUNY Upstate Medical University in 2019. At Upstate she was the president of the student chapter of Physicians for Human Rights and helped teach medical literacy and nutritional education at the Women’s Rescue Mission in Syracuse. She also worked closely with the large refugee population within Onondaga County and with the Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment program. At Brown University, she focuses her work on increasing the diversity within the residency program and works with Discussing Antiracism and Equity in Emergency Medicine, a program developed as an educational intervention for frontline providers. She has also been involved with the global health department at Brown University, working on research and teaching projects in Kenya, Rwanda, and Nepal.

Kyla Dewar, MD

Kyla Dewar, MD, FACP, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Clinician Educator at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Division of General Internal Medicine. She is also a primary care physician at Brown Medicine. Kyla is Canadian and did her undergrad in Physiology at McGill University and earned her medical degree at Saba University School of Medicine. She did her Internal Medicine residency and Chief Resident year at St Mary’s Health Center in St Louis. She moved to Rhode Island at the start of the pandemic  with her husband, two year old twins and dog. While exploring antiracism work within the division she found a need for pipeline programs to help increase diversity in medicine.  She is now the physician advisor for AMS  Pathways to Medicine Pipeline program and is working on developing a shadowing program for these high school students. Kyla is honored to be accepted as a BASCE fellow and strives to continue to educate herself about structural racism in medicine, to act as an ally, and to advocate for changes needed to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone.

Carroll Arrindell Medeiros

Carroll Arrindell Medeiros was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City in a multilingual home. A National Hispanic Scholar, she was part of the first class of the Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) at Brown University, graduating from the College in 1989 and the medical school in 1993.  She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School. After completion of her residency, she returned to Brown and Women and Infants Hospital. She currently works at Southern New England Healthcare for Women in Pawtucket.  Dr. Medeiros has been a clinical assistant professor at Alpert Medical School since the early 2000s and has served as preceptor in the Ob/Gyn clerkship, Doctoring, longitudinal electives, and the LIC program. Dr. Medeiros has been fortunate to be able to care for women-especially in Hispanic communities- throughout the whole span of their lives and she feels privileged to care for large extended families. Apart from medical care, she has been actively involved in mentoring and counseling her patients about college admission and health careers. As a BASCE Fellow, Dr. Medeiros would like to learn how to facilitate discussions around race and diversity in medical care specifically in the field of ob/gyn where differences in access to and equity of care among women of color and their children have translated into severe disparities in pregnancy outcomes. Dr. Medeiros has three great kids and she enjoys jazz, tennis, and all things Harry Potter.

Olutosin "Tosin" Ojugbele

'Tosin' is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. She is a native New Yorker. After attending the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education in New York City, she completed her MD and an MPH in community health science at SUNY Downstate as well as a T32 post-doctoral fellowship in primary care research at Dartmouth before coming to Brown. She has co-authored articles on mental health in marginalized populations and the inclusion of racial justice curricula in medical education. She is interested in social medicine and is focused on quality improvement in primary care pediatrics as it pertains to health equity and social justice. She enjoys reading, traveling, eating global cuisines, and spending time with her young family.

Gerry Ovide

Gerry Ovide is a chief medical resident of internal medicine at Brown University. He completed his undergraduate degree at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and medical school in Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA. A second-generation immigrant from Haiti, he grew up in Philadelphia where exposures to the healthcare field guided him towards a career in medicine. His career interests include medical education and advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He is currently pursuing a cardiovascular disease fellowship where he hopes to continue these endeavors.

Sudheesha Perera

Sudheesha Perera is a third-year medical student at Alpert Medical School. Originally from New Jersey, he completed his undergraduate degree at Brown majoring in applied mathematics and computer science. His interests broadly include access to care, policy reform, and health data science. Wherever the future takes him, he hopes to use his position to advocate on behalf of marginalized patients and communities. In his free time he enjoys being outside and watching international cricket.

Linsey Pileika

Lindsey Pileika is a medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She came to medicine after working in population health analytics in Miami, FL and Chiapas, Mexico with Partners in Health. She is passionate about reproductive health, harm reduction, and social medicine. As a white-identifying fellow participating in BASCE, she is committed to listening and serving in solidarity with BIPOC physicians, medical trainees, and community members.

Phillip Sojka

Originally from West Lafayette, Indiana, I completed my undergraduate and medical degrees at Indiana University. Between those degrees, I spent a year with the Americorps project City Year in Boston, working with underserved youth as a mentor and tutor to help kids get back on track to graduate. The City Year experience has a strong focus on social justice and equity, which helped ignite a passion for both within me. I am now a 4^th year resident in the triple board (Pediatrics/Psychiatry/Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) program. My hope is to continue in academic medicine after residency, with a focus on medical curriculum and equity in medicine.  Beyond work, I am an avid runner, exploring the outdoors and reading realistic fiction. Most importantly, I closely follow NCAA college basketball, forever hoping my alma mater will win its 6th national championship. Go Hoosiers!

Margie Thorsen

Margie Thorsen is a third year ob/gyn resident at Women and Infants Hospital. A lifelong Rhode Islander, Margie went to Brown for undergrad and medical school and is grateful to care for patients in the community where she grew up. She hopes to pursue a career in maternal fetal medicine, partnering with pregnant patients and advocating for structural changes to promote health equity in RI. In her free time, she enjoys mentoring, playing with her puppy Winnie, and kayaking with her husband, Yao.

Eloho Ejiro Fidelia Akpovi, BS

After graduating from MIT in 2014 with a B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Eloho served as a Community HealthCorps member (AmeriCorps) at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center in Boston. She then went on to pursue her M.S. in Medical Sciences at Boston University School of Medicine. Through various research OB/GYN projects at Boston Medical Center, she researched anal cancer prevention in the HIV+ population and examined the use of participatory-action research to improve prenatal care delivery with both low-SES pregnant women and pregnant women with substance use disorder. Eloho’s passions include advocating for health equity, racial justice, and the appreciation of intersectionality through education, research, policy change, and practice. Born in Nigeria but raised in Boston, she enjoys visual arts and fashion design, listening to audiobooks, singing, and binge watching shows on Netflix, and she is a connoisseur of Afro-Caribbean and West African food.

Saurabh Agarwal, MD

Saurabh Agarwal, MD is a Cardiothoracic Radiologist at Rhode Island Medical Imaging and Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Imaging at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He completed his training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is on Executive Council and Chairs the Awards Committee for the national Society of Thoracic Radiology as well as holds committee positions in the Radiological Society of North America, American College of Radiology, American Roentgen Ray Society, and American Board of Radiology. He is also the current treasurer of the Rhode Island Radiologic Society. He serves as the medical director for the 3D Advanced Imaging Laboratory at Rhode Island and Miriam Hospital and as the Diversity Officer for the Department of Diagnostic

Pranav Aurora, BA

Pranav Aurora is the son of Indian immigrants, born and raised in the Virginian suburbs of Washington, DC. Pranav is now a third year medical student in the Primary Care-Population Medicine program at Alpert Medical School. He focuses his energy on volunteering at the student-run free clinic Clínica Esperanza, supporting asylum evaluations with the Brown Human Rights Asylum Clinic, and resisting housing injustices with the Rhode Island Medical Navigator Partnership. He has also co-facilitated the first year community orientation experience, student electives Health & Structures of Oppression and Health & Housing, and the development of a bilingual certification program for medical students. Pranav strives for justice work to anchor his identity and practice as a future physician and aspires to be a medical educator grounded in critical pedagogy and structural competency. You can also find him trying new food around Providence, running along the Bike Path, and continuing to cultivate his South Asian roots.

Leticia Dwomor, MD

Born in Kumasi, Ghana, Leticia moved with her family to the Bronx, NY at 9 years of age. In the Bronx, Leticia was quickly introduced to the melting pot that is America and learned to appreciate the multiculturalism of her neighbors and the open mindedness that one gains from living side by side with people of all cultures. From the Bronx, Leticia moved to Concord, New Hampshire for boarding school. From Concord, Leticia attended Yale University in New Haven, CT for undergraduate where she studied Psychology and Neuroscience while on the pre-med track. At Yale, she pursued her passions of mentorship of young women in the New Haven community and basic science research. It is here that she discovered her love of science and service and she decided to pursue both passions by going to medical school to become a doctor. After taking a year off after college, during which time she continued to do research in her undergraduate lab, Leticia moved to Pittsburgh, PA for medical school. She graduated medical school in May of 2018 and is now in her first year of residency as an OB-GYN at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, RI. Leticia plans to remain in academic medicine to help train the next generation of physicians. She also plans to practice OB-GYN in a global setting.

Chelsea Graham, DO

Chelsea Graham is a recent graduate of the Brown Family Medicine Residency. She is currently a Global Health Fellow and practices family medicine with a focus on transgender care at Thundermist Health Center. She is also a clinical instructor for family medicine at Brown and at Kent. In addition, she has interests in teaching and family planning in Mexico where she will be doing her fieldwork this year. She is a bilingual provider and volunteers at Clinica Esperanza. She is excited to learn more about racial justice and put this into practice in the clinical and residency setting.

Sabina Holland, MD

Sabina Holland is a proud graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana. She earned her medical degree Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport, Louisiana. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of Florida Pediatric Residency Program at Orlando Health where she was selected to serve as the Chief Resident. After residency, she moved her family to Rhode Island where she completed a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Brown University/Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Following her fellowship, Sabina joined the faculty where she serves as the Medical Director of the Pediatric HIV Clinic, the Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program, and the Diversity Officer for the Department of Pediatrics. Her research interests include improving the transition from pediatric to adult care for HIV-infected adolescents and young adults and developing innovative ways to increase diversity in medicine by creating an inclusive working environment.

Anais Ovalle, MD

Anais Ovalle obtained her MD at Universdad Iberoamerica in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island and is currently Chief Resident at Kent Hospital. Throughout medical school Anais worked with youth addressing safe sex practices. During residency, she was an active member in community health outreach programs across Pawtucket and Central Falls area. She is passionate about understanding and resolving healthcare disparities, with her current focus on the Latinx population.

Daniella Palermo, MD

Daniella Palermo, M.D. is a psychiatrist with Lifespan Physician Group Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, working on both the Rhode Island Hospital inpatient unit as well as the Young Adult Behavioral Health Program. She is the Curriculum Assistant Director for the Adult Psychiatry Residency Program at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She completed her adult psychiatry residency at Brown University, where she served as chief resident and was the recipient of the Martin B. Keller Award for Outstanding Resident.  She has a history, personally and professionally, of advocating for underrepresented communities and young adults as it relates to socioeconomic and cultural barriers to accessing mental health care.  Dr. Palermo is also an appointed member of the Rhode Island Commission for Health Advocacy and Equity, which informs statewide policy to address health disparities.

Rebecca (Becca) Raymond-Kolker, BA

Becca is a second-year medical student at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Becca graduated from Smith College in 2013 with a major in Latin American Studies. After college, Becca worked as a case manager in a supportive housing program, where she supported clients diagnosed with severe mental illness and HIV/AIDS. From her undergraduate and post-college experiences, Becca brings a particular interest in social justice, trauma and mental health, and integrative approaches to wellness to her work in medical school. Becca is one of the 2018 co-leaders of Spectrum, is a part of the Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration, volunteers at the Adolescent Medicine Gender and Sexuality Clinic at Hasbro, and practices yoga and bakes bread in her free time.

Eric Chow, MD, MS, MPH

Eric Chow currently works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Influenza Division. He completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics here at Brown followed by a chief resident year in Pediatrics. Originally from California, he went to Stanford for undergraduate and graduate school and then completed an MD/MPH at Eastern Virginia Medical School. While at Brown, he served as a representative to the GME committee and vice chair of the Brown Minority Housestaff Association. He has a strong interest in promoting and advocating for marginalized communities. He created MED Talks with Dr. Dom Tammaro as a way to connect the healthcare community and their patient communities which was recognized by the Gold Foundation. With other residents, he founded TEACH or Teens Empowered to Advocate for Community Health, a partnership organization to help turn high school students into public health advocates. He has an interest in infectious diseases and has published articles with Drs. Leonard Mermel and Nicole Alexander Scott. He has been recognized by the AMA foundation, the ACGME, ACP and the National Med-Peds Residents' Association for his work.

Ligia Fragoso, MD-ScM

Ligia Fragoso is a 4th year in the dual-degree PCPM program at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She has worked on initiatives that seek to incorporate a structural and justice-based framework into medical education, such as the 1st year orientation week Community Health Connection event, RIMNP, and curricular updates on racism in medicine, working with interpreters, and clinical work with the Olneyville Latinx community through Clinica Esperanza. She also has a strong interest in developing humane, trauma and structurally-informed behavioral health care both in outpatient and inpatient settings in response to the neurobiological approach that currently dominates medicine. She is looking forward to gaining more facilitation training as she continues to work with BASCE and the Office of Diversity, and Multicultural Affairs (ODMA). During her spare time, Ligia enjoys reading, dancing, singing, seeing live music, and spending time with her dog Cemí.

Ry Garcia-Sampson, MD, MPH

Luwam Ghidei, MD

My name is Luwam Ghidei and a resident physician in the Department of Ob/Gyn at Brown. I am beyond excited to be a BASCE fellow this year, especially since I truly consider advocating, mentoring, and organizing events for communities that have been subject to systematic discrimination the second most important work one can do; the most important being working to rebuild the system so there are no barriers to begin with.

Bryan Leyva, MD

Anne Murray, MD

Anne Murray is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist. She completed medical school at UCSF after which she moved to Providence for her residency at the Brown/Women and Infants program.  After finishing residency, she landed her dream job at the Providence Community Health Centers where she has been practicing for the past 10 years.  She is passionate about providing medical care to women from communities that are traditionally underserved.  In her free time she enjoys being with her partner and their seven year old daughter and enjoying the beautiful New England outdoors.

Srav Puranam, MD-ScM

Srav Puranam is a current fourth year medical student in the MD-ScM program and is humbled and thrilled to be part of the BASCE Fellowship! At The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Srav is actively involved with the Student Health Council, Brown's Human Rights Asylum Clinic, and Spectrum LGBTQ. She is also deeply committed to the principles of trauma-informed care and has been working to incorporate trauma-informed care principles into the medical education curriculum. Srav's research interests include digital health and global health and believes strongly in the role of technology in better connecting underserved communities to the resources, contacts, and services they need to level the playing field. She is looking forward to learning from everyone involved with BASCE and becoming a better facilitator around racial justice and allyship through this fellowship!

Sean Sanker, MD

Sean Sanker is a current 2nd year Internal Medicine- Pediatrics resident at Brown. He was born in Queens and graduated from NYU (New York University) with a major in Analytic Philosophy and minor in Chemistry. Prior to attending medical school at the University of Florida, Sean worked in QI and CMS compliance, and lived in Guatemala where he served as a Peace Corps health volunteer. In medical school, Sean was active in URM recruitment and retention, admissions, and sat on the University’s Executive Diversity Committee. He served as Vice Chair of the Brown Minority Housestaff Association (BMHA) in 2017-2018 and as Co-Chair of BMHA in 2018-2019.

Katherine Sharkey, MD, PhD

Katherine M. Sharkey, MD, PhD is associate professor of Medicine and Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Assistant Dean for Women in Medicine and Science at the The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.  She is Medical Director of the University Medicine Sleep Center, where she maintains a busy clinical practice, and Associate Director of the Sleep for Science Research Laboratory of Brown University. Dr. Sharkey’s research focuses on sleep and circadian rhythms as they relate to mood regulation and women's health. She completed her MD-PhD at Rush University in Chicago, IL where she was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA).  She completed a combined internal medicine and psychiatry residency at Rush and joined the Brown faculty in 2007.  Dr. Sharkey is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, where she has held several leadership positions, most recently serving as Chair of the Academy’s Young Investigator Research Forum.  She is an Associate Editor of Behavioral Sleep Medicine and serves on the editorial board of Sleep Health.  Dr. Sharkey is also a member of the Society for Women’s Health Research Interdisciplinary Network on Sleep. In 2011, Dr. Sharkey was awarded the Christian Guilleminault World Association of Sleep Medicine Award for Sleep Research. Her current research studies are supported by an R34 Pilot Effectiveness Studies and Services Research Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health and a grant from the Seleni Institute. 

Janet Singer, CNM

Janet Singer is a Senior Clinical Teaching Associate at Women and Infants Hospital. Janet graduated from Yale University School of Nursing. Janet is the Coordinator of Resident Abortion Provider Support Group (RAPS) and has been involved in the evolution of the Abortion Rights framework changing to the Reproductive Justice framework. Janet is Interested in gaining knowledge/skills to better facilitate complex conversations around race and abortion work.