Dr. Poznansky and Dr. Park are founders and co-chairs of the newly formed Jewish Employee Resource Group (ERG) at Mass General Brigham. They took the initiative to organize the ERG in response to the growing antisemitism in the healthcare profession and recognized the need for Jewish doctors, staff and faculty to be supported. They are dedicated to fostering community, culture, and support for the Jewish and Jewish affiliated community in healthcare in the face of growing antisemitism in healthcare and in the US in general. They will explain the challenges in healthcare today, why there is a need for an employee resource group, how they created one and what you can do as a patient, carer in a hospital or center of healthcare or in your workplace.
About the Speakers
Mark C Poznansky, MD, PhD, is a Professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician in infectious diseases medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Director of the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at MGH. He holds a doctoral degree Cambridge University and a medical degree from University of Edinburgh. His clinical subspecialization includes the treatment of infection in immune-compromised patients. The Poznansky laboratory works at the interface between scientific discovery and medical product development, discovering novel immune processes, defining their molecular mechanisms and exploring their relevance to the development of vaccines and immunotherapies for cancer, infectious diseases and type I diabetes. Dr. Poznansky is also the co-founder of Harvard Medical School – Kalaniyot which sets as its mission to foster academic relations between Israeli academic medical centers and HMS here in Boston. He also serves on the Board of the newly formed American Jewish Medical Association.
Elyse R Park, PhD, MPH is a Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at MGH/Harvard Medical School and Director of Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research (HPRIR) Center. She is a clinical health psychologist and health services researcher who designs interventions to improve health-related behaviors among cancer survivors and populations at risk for cancer and chronic disease. Her research focuses on developing and implementing behavioral interventions to enhance resiliency, decrease tobacco use, and improve access to healthcare. Her work is funded by the National Institute of Health and several foundations. Clinically, she treats cancer survivors. She founded the MGH Division of Clinical Research’s Qualitative Mixed Methods Research Unit and directs behavioral research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.
Moderated by Michelle S. Robinson, Senior Rabbi
Rabbi Michelle Robinson was ordained in 1999 as part of the first graduating class of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Since then, she has been blessed to call Temple Emanuel home. She loves community building, sharing the joy of traditional text study, and facilitating personal connections to the beauty of prayer. Rabbi Robinson has also spent three years and many summers learning and traveling in Israel, where she was blessed to meet her husband, Mike. Together they are the proud parents of four children who remind them of God’s blessings every day.
