Keynote Panelists and Moderator

Panelists

Dr. Aletha Maybank

Physician, Chief Health Equity Officer, and Senior Vice President of the American Medical Association

Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH currently serves as the Chief HealthEquity Officer and Senior Vice President for the American Medical Association (AMA) where she focuses on embedding health equity across all the work of the AMA and leading the Center for HealthEquity. She joined the AMA in April 2019, to launch AMA’s Center for Health Equity as their inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer. Prior to joining the AMA, Dr. Maybank served as the Founding Deputy Commissioner for the Center for Health Equity at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (2014). Aimed at strengthening equity efforts and transforming organizational culture, the Center became a model of success recognized by NYC leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. She was instrumental in infusing equity at the neighborhood level and advancing the Department’s place-based approach to addressing health inequities. She also set precedence with groundbreaking work at the Office of Minority Health in the Suffolk County Department of Health Services (2006) while serving as the Founding Director.

Dr. Maybank has taught medical and public health students on topics related to health inequities, public health leadership and management, physician advocacy, and community organizing in health. In 2012, along with a group of Black woman physician leaders, Dr. Maybank co-founded “We Are Doc McStuffins”, a movement inspired by the Disney Junior character Doc McStuffins serving to shine a light on the critical importance of diversity in medicine.

She is a highly sought-after health expert in media appearing on national and influential media outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, NewsOne, Roland Martin, the Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association to name a few. More recently, due to her leadership in the COVID response efforts, she has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and authored the New York Times Op- ed, “The Pandemic’s Missing Data” to bring more awareness to the structural inequities in the United States. She moderates the AMA monthly web series, “Prioritizing Equity” that elevates the voices and stories of physicians centering equity in COVID-19 response efforts.

Dr. Maybank holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University, a MD from Temple University School of Medicine, and a MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is a pediatrician and preventive medicine/public health physician.

Mr. Edward Buckles

First-Time Director and Best New Documentary Director Winner of The Albert Maysies Award for the documentary, Katrina Babies

Edward Buckles, director, is a son of New Orleans. His non-linear path to filmmaking has birthed a brand of visual storytelling – an aesthetically beautiful marriage between fine art and guerilla-style documentation. Buckles’ work calls his audience towards remembrance and to see the beauty in imperfections. The ground-breaking filmmaker, director, and producer continues to find inspiration in his people and innovative ways to share the stories of Black communities that would otherwise be lost in the passing of time. He was 13 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. His family fled the city just in time, but the storm changed him forever. After years spent as an educator and filmmaker, Buckles decided to make a film about the children—including himself—who were affected by the storm.

His production company, House of the Young Ent. is a beacon in the New Orleans’ arts community and a platform for the culture of the city. His debut documentary, Katrina Babies, is currently on HBO Max and has recently won two awards at Tribeca Festival, including its inaugural Human/Nature Award and The Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director. Katrina Babies also was nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards. Buckles’ award-winning film also landed the August 2022 digital cover of Time Magazine which included a conversation between Buckles’ and award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien.

Jalen Rose

Founder and President of the Board of Directors for the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, ABC/ESPN Analyst, Former U-M and NBA Basketball Star, Civil and Human Rights Awardee, Philanthropist, and Author

Current ABC/ESPN analyst and former 13-year NBA star, Jalen Rose, has maintained a high profile athletically and professionally in diverse venues and enterprises, consistently showing his versatility in the broadcast booth, the entertainment world, and as a philanthropist.

Jalen was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan where he attended Southwestern High School. Entering college at the University of Michigan in 1991, he was part of the legendary “Fab Five”, where he and his teammates revolutionized the sport of basketball on and off the court as they led the Wolverines to back-to-back NCAA Championship game appearances.
In 1994, Jalen was drafted in the first round by the Denver Nuggets. He made an impressive bold leap amid his NBA career in 2002 by becoming a multi-faceted reporter for BET Mad Sports and an on-air personality for Fox Sports Net’s famed Best Damn Sports Show Period. Shortly after retiring from basketball in 2007, Jalen (a mass communications major at U of M), went full throttle pursuing his passion in the multi-media sports and entertainment world, signing with ABC/ESPN as an analyst. In 2012, Jalen was named a studio analyst for NBA Countdown, ABC and ESPN’s pre-game show.

Jalen’s commitment to community and education is exemplified in his establishment of the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA). The Academy is an open enrollment, tuition-free, public charter high school on the Northwest side of Detroit. It currently serves over 400 ninth through twelfth-grade students with one hundred percent of the Academy’s graduates having gained college, trade/technical school, or military acceptance. Jalen leads this educational endeavor, serving as the President of the Board of Directors and inspires by example, JRLA students as well as thousands of youth nationally, to pursue excellence in education as a means to success.

A philanthropist who truly gives from the heart, Jalen has donated nearly $2 million via his charitable fund to support his hometown’s charter school. In a movement to transform public education, he is also an Ambassador for the American Federation for Children.

In 2016, Jalen was awarded the 11th Annual National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award for his significant contributions to civil and human rights and for laying the foundation for future leaders through his career in sports in the spirit of Dr. King.

The Detroit News has recognized Jalen with the prestigious Michiganian of the Year Award in recognition of his excellence, courage, and philanthropy to uplift not only the metropolitan area but all of Michigan. In 2016, he was awarded the 11th Annual National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award for his significant contributions to civil and human rights, and for laying the foundation for future leaders through his career in sports in the spirit of Dr. King.
Jalen released his first book in October 2015. One of the most outspoken and original voices in sports sounds off while revealing his incredible life story in “Got to Give the People What They Want.” This colorful collection of stories and opinions about basketball was a New York Times Bestseller and made the list of Michigan Notable Books from 2016.

Moderator

Professor Earl Lewis

Social Historian, Award-winning Author, Educational Leader and Director of the UM Center for Social Solutions

Noted social historian, award-winning author, and educational leader, Earl Lewis, is the founding director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions. Also the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies, and public policy, Lewis is president emeritus of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2013-18), one of the premier philanthropies supporting the arts, humanities, and higher education. At Michigan, Lewis and colleagues in the center are addressing four core areas of social concern: diversity and race, slavery and its aftermath, water and security, and the dignity of labor in an automated world. Prior to returning to Michigan and before leading the Mellon Foundation, he served as the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Emory University as well as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies (2004-2012). Lewis was previously on the faculty at the University of Michigan (1989-2004) and the University of California at Berkeley (1984-1989). In addition to professorial roles and titles (Robin D.G. Kelley and Elsa Barkley Brown Collegiate Professor), he served Michigan as Vice Provost and Dean of the Rackham School of Graduate Studies (1998-2004).

As a scholar and leader in higher education and philanthropy, he has examined and addressed critical questions for our society including the role of race in American history, diversity, equity and inclusion, graduate education, humanities scholarship, and universities and their larger communities. A frequent lecturer, he has authored or edited nine books, scores of essays, articles and comments, and along with Robin D.G. Kelley served as general editor of the eleven-volume Young Oxford History of African Americans. He currently partners with Nancy Cantor in editing the Our Compelling Interests book series. That effort, published in partnership with Princeton University Press, investigates how diversity pairs with democracy to enhance the likelihood of shared prosperity. A member of numerous boards of directors or trustees, he was an Obama administration appointee to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, and is the outgoing chair of the board of regents at Concordia College-Moorhead, vice chair of the board of the Educational Testing Service, and a past president of the Organization of American Historians.

The Norfolk, Virginia native is an alum of Concordia College-Moorhead, where he graduated with honors in history and psychology (1978), and the University of Minnesota (PhD, history, 1984), which honored him most recently with the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Alumni Award (2018). Lewis is the recipient of eleven honorary degrees, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008).