GME
UHSA Graduate
Medical Education
Public Health & Preventive Medicine Residency Program 40th Anniversary Celebration & Graduation
Celebrating a Legacy Empowering a Future
June 8, 2026 | 6 p.m.
MSM NCPC Auditorium & Calvin Smyre Education Conference Center
Agenda
Reception & Hors d’oeuvres
Welcome
Occasion
Anniversary Greetings & Remarks
Tabia Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH
Professor and Chair, Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean, Community Engagement
Video Greeting from Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice President and CEO
Sandra Harris-Hooker, PhD
Interim Dean
Chinedu Ivonye, MD
Professor of Medicine
Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education
Stephanie Miles-Richardson, DVM, PhD
Professor and Founding Chair, Department of Public Health Education
Associate Dean, Graduate Education in Public Health
Jeneita Bell, MD, MPH
Residency Advisory Committee/Program Evaluation Committee Representative
Bessie Chapman Jones, MD, MPH
MSM MD Alum and First PH/PM Residency Program Graduate
Preventive Medicine Ethical Principles
Sonja S, Hutchins, MD, MPH, DrPH, FACPM
Professor, Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Associate Program Director, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency
Prayer & Blessing of the Meal
Dinner, Program Video, and Silent Auction
Keynote Speaker
Bonzo Reddick, MD, MPH
District Health Director for the Coastal Health
District, District 9-1 MSM MD Program Alumnus
Recognition of Graduates
Presented by Ingrid Glenn
2026 Graduates
Victor Bowden, MD, MPH • Nicollette Lewis, MD, MPH
Remarks from the 2026 PHPM Residency
Closing Remarks & Announcement of Silent Auction Winners
Music & Dancing
Featured Speaker
Bonzo Reddick, MD, MPH
Dr. Reddick serves as the District Health Director for the Coastal Health District, District 9-1, in Savannah, Georgia. He is a native of Savannah, GA, and he received his B.S. degree from Morehouse College and his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Reddick completed a family medicine residency, two faculty development fellowships, and a master’s degree in public health (M.P.H.) at the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Reddick has held several administrative and leadership roles, including serving as the associate residency director for Family Medicine at Memorial University Medical Center. He also spent six years as the Associate Dean of Diversity & Inclusion and almost three years as the Chair of the Community Medicine Department at Mercer University School of Medicine. He has received 16 teaching awards in his career, and he was named the state of Georgia’s Family Physician of the Year by the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians in 2021. He has published numerous articles in scientific and medical journals, and he recently finished authoring a book on achieving health equity.
2026 Graduates
Victor Bowden, MD, MPH
Dr. Victor Bowden is graduating from Morehouse School of Medicine, where he completed his residency in Public Health and Preventive Medicine and earned a Master of Public Health degree. Originally from Atlanta, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology at Georgia State University, his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine and finished two years of an Orthopedic Surgery residency at University of South Alabama. His research focused on “Flexitarian Dietary Patterns and Obesity Risk in Adults in the United States.” Dr. Bowden will work in Occupational Medicine as a Medical Director beginning this fall.
Nicollette Lewis, MD, MPH
Dr. Nicollette Lewis is graduating from Morehouse School of Medicine, where she completed her residency in Public Health and Preventive Medicine and earned a Master of Public Health degree. Originally from Birmingham, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Georgia, her medical degree from Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and previously completed a residency in Family Medicine at Texas A&M University. Her research focused on “Educational Attainment and Pregnancy-Related Deaths Among NonHispanic Black Women Aged 45 to 64 in the United States.” In the fall, Dr. Lewis will begin practicing primary care in Woodstock.
About the Program
For 40 years, the Public Health & Preventive Medicine Residency Program at Morehouse School of Medicine has prepared physician leaders dedicated to advancing public health, preventive medicine, health equity, and community-centered care. Through education, advocacy, research, and service, the program continues to cultivate leaders committed to improving health outcomes for underserved communities.
Program History
The Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) Public Health and General Preventive Medicine Residency Program was established in 1986 under the leadership of the Department Chair, Dr. Daniel S. Blumental, and Dr. Beverly Taylor, the Founding Director, in partnership with the Georgia Division of Public Health. The program was created to address the shortage of preventive medicine physicians in the state and has since earned a strong reputation for excellence in training and public service.
Over the past 40 years, the program’s 73 graduates have made significant contributions to public health locally, statewide, nationally, and globally. Approximately one-third remain actively engaged with the program as lecturers, preceptors, core faculty, Residency Advisory Committee members, and donors. Graduates have assumed leadership roles in local, state, and federal agencies, overseeing programs in cancer prevention and control, HIV/AIDS prevention, child and adolescent health, juvenile justice health services, drug safety, research, and employee health. Others have pursued careers in private practice, industry, and academic medicine, extending the program’s impact across the state and beyond.
There have been three program directors during the program’s 40-year history: Dr. Beverly Taylor (1986-2017), Dr. Sonja Hutchins (2017-2025), and Dr. Alex Crosby (Interim Director, 2025-Present).
Graduate Leadership and Contributions in Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Global/International Service
• Served on World Health Organization (WHO) committees
• Served on Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) committees
• Contributed to international public health and disaster response efforts
National
Service
• Served on National Academy of Sciences committees
• Contributed to multiple U.S. Surgeon General Reports
• Served in the U.S. Public Health Service, receiving distinguished service awards
• Held leadership roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including Team Lead and Branch Chief
• Served in the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS)
• Received CDC awards for excellence in epidemiology and workforce leadership
• Held leadership roles at the National Cancer Institute
• Served on the Department of Veterans Affairs National Advisory Committee
• Contributed to preventive medicine standards through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Preventive Medicine
• Led public health responses to emergencies and disasters, including hurricanes and civil disturbances
• Held leadership roles in national medical and public health professional associations.
• Authored numerous book chapters, peer-reviewed publications, and government reports
State Service
• Medical Director, Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice
• Director, Georgia Department of Public Health Cancer Prevention Division
• Lead Epidemiologist, Georgia Department of Public Health Office of Women’s Health
Local Service
• Founded community-based health organizations
• Served as Medical Director and CEO of Federally Qualified Health Centers
• Director of Occupational Health for a major Midwest health system
• Director of Occupational Medicine, Atlanta VA Medical Center
• Regional leadership role in the pharmaceutical industry
Program Publications
Taylor, B. D., Buckner, A. V., Walker, C. D., & Blumenthal, D. S. (2011). Faith-based partnerships in graduate medical education: the experience of the Morehouse School of Medicine public health/preventive medicine residency program. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 41(4), S283-S289.
Crosby, A. E., Buckner, A. V., & Taylor, B. D. (2011). Addressing self-directed violence prevention for preventive medicine practitioners. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 5(5), 418-427.
Taylor, B. D., Buckner, A. V., Walker, C. D., & Azonobi, I. (2012). Training residents to address cancer health disparities. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 4(1), 72-75.
Saraiya, P., Hutchins, S. S., Crump, S., Morgan, J., Wilkinson, T., Walker, C. D., & Taylor, B. (2021). Availability of naloxone in 2 underserved urban communities in Georgia. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 27(Supplement 3), S179-S185.
Akintobi, T. H., & Miles-Richardson, S. (2025). Community-Centered Public Health: Strategies, Tools, and Applications for Advancing Health Equity. Springer Publishing Company.
Rowley, D. L., Anyanwu, K., Crosby, A., Phillips, K. S., & Hutchins, S. (2024). Pregnancy-related mortality disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Journal of Public Health, 114(S9), S723-S730.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the faculty, alumni, partners, leadership, supporters, and families who continue to support the Public Health & Preventive Medicine Residency Program and its mission of advancing health equity and preventive medicine. We extend special thanks to the 2026 donors and supporters of this anniversary celebration’s Silent Auction:
Dr. Olabisi Badmus
Dr. Alecia Blake Banks
Ms. Debrica Clyburn
Dr. Sherry Crump
Dr. Stephen Dawkins
Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Dr. Bess Jones
LinkCarCare Mobile Care Wash & Detail Service
Dr. Rita Livingston
Mr. Myles Logan, Myles Lindsey Photography
Dr. Brandon Morgan and Iconic Orthodontics
The Morgan Family
Dr. Sunny Onyeabor
Dr. Brian Palmer
Ms. Tequilla Parker
Ms. Teresa Staley
Dr. Tramaine Wilkinson
Endowment Support
You may support the future of the Public Health & Preventive Medicine Residency Program through contributions to the: Dr. Beverly D. Taylor Endowed Fund
Dr. Beverly Deaderick Taylor was the founder and first PHPM residency program director. This fund was established in acknowledgement of her retirement and to support educational activities in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, including student/resident specialty conferences and membership sponsorship, community-based service-learning and research projects, faculty professional development support, and other activities that promote the specialty of Preventive Medicine. Your support is valuable to us. To make a gift or support today’s silent auction, scan the QR code below.
Greetings from the Chair
It is with tremendous pride and profound gratitude that I share in the celebration of the 40th Graduation Anniversary of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency Program at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). Since its founding in 1986 through a landmark collaboration with the Georgia Division of Public Health, this program has stood as a beacon of excellence, equity, and service. It has been a privilege to witness this program’s enduring legacy and to now serve as steward of the department it calls home.
Forty years ago, visionary leaders recognized the urgent need for qualified minority physicians in public health. That founding vision — to train physicians who would serve communities most in need — remains as vital today as it was then, and it is the north star that continues to guide this program. Under the current leadership of Alex Crosby, MD, MPH, dedicated faculty, staff, and partners have built upon the extraordinary foundation laid by Beverly Deaderick Taylor, MD, FACPM, FAAFP, the program’s Founding Director and department founder, Daniel S. Blumenthal, MD, MPH. We have graduated more than 70 residents who serve in academia, local, state, and federal health agencies, and private industry across the nation and around the world.
The program’s success is rooted in comprehensive training, qualified and committed faculty, and the steadfast support of co-sponsoring partners, chief among them the Georgia Division of Public Health. Our residents benefit from practicum experiences at the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ Division of Public Health, local health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and clinical venues across Atlanta and the United States. This breadth of training produces physicians uniquely equipped to address the complex, intersecting health challenges of our time.
I am especially proud that this program has consistently reflected MSM’s mission to lead the creation and advancement of health equity. Our residents are trained to address health disparities and promote healthy behaviors and policies among underserved urban and rural populations in Georgia and beyond. In 2006, the program received the Physicians Training Award in Preventive Medicine from the American Cancer Society to develop a Cancer Prevention and Control track — a testament to the national recognition this program has earned. MSM ranks number one among all U.S. medical schools for its commitment to producing physicians who care for underserved communities, and this residency is a crown jewel of that distinction.
To our graduates: you are the living proof of what is possible when excellence meets purpose. Many of you have returned to teach, serve on advisory committees, and mentor the next generation. You carry with you the values of this institution — and you carry them well. I look forward to the next forty years of this program’s contributions to public health and to the communities we are privileged to serve.
With deepest pride and warm regards,
Tabia Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH
Professor and Chair, Department of Community
Health and Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean for Community Engagement
Principal Investigator, Prevention Research Center
Morehouse School of Medicine
Letter from the Program Director
Greetings and welcome to the fortieth celebration of our first graduate from the Public Health and General Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the Morehouse School of Medicine. We are pleased that you decided to spend time with us, and we are honored by your presence.
As the residency program celebrates forty years of uninterrupted outstanding service to the community, we also want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for helping us to succeed. We hope that you understand that it is because of your contributions that this event can happen. When this program graduated its first resident in 1986, no one knew exactly how the program and its participants, contributors, and those it interacted with would change, grow, adapt, and improve over the years. We owe a great debt of thanks to the visionaries who got the program started, our partners who shared their expertise and resources, and our staff and faculty who devoted time and effort to making the program the best it could be.
Though the program is small in its number of learners, it is gigantic in its wealth of resources and support that it receives from partners, affiliates, and former members over the years. We thought it was worth pausing to celebrate and thank those who helped to make this day possible.
This accomplishment could not have been achieved without the very strong support of our current and previous Chairs of the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine - Drs. Daniel S. Blumenthal, Beverly D. Taylor, and Tabia Henry Akintobi, plus the faculty and program managers, program assistants, and staff of the department. We have also enjoyed strong institutional support from the leadership of Morehouse School of Medicine and the Office of Graduate Medical Education, as well as the other residency programs.
The residency program has been administered by a group of extremely dedicated public health and medical professionals who have worked tirelessly, sometimes with minimum financial reward, to make this program one of the best in the country. There are none better than our Residency Advisory Committee, Program Education Committee, Clinical Competency Committee, core faculty, and residency staff. Several members of these committees have been involved with the program since its beginning.
We also want to congratulate our current graduates and those graduates who have gone on to represent the program well by their superb work in the field of public health. Many of our graduates return to make major contributions through teaching, advising, mentoring, and serving on committees. Thank you for making this a model program for the nation. We look forward to the next forty years and beyond.
Sincerely,
Alex E. Crosby, MD, MPH Professor, Medical Epidemiologist
Morehouse School of Medicine, Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Interim Director, Public Health/General Preventive Medicine Residency Program