Physicians for Peace is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation headquartered in Norfolk, Va. The work of the organization is developed and managed by the Physicians for Peace staff and guided by our Board of Directors.
CHARLES E. HORTON, Sr.,
MD, FACS, FRCS (1925 - 2006)
Founder
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
JOHN T. SCHULZ III, MD, FACS
Chair
Chair, Development Committee
Medical Director, Division of Burns
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
John T. Schulz III, M.D., Ph.D., is currently the Medical Director of the Division of Burns at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston MA and an attending surgeon at Shriners Hospitals for Children — Boston. He received an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Texas A&M University, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard University and earned a medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine. His interest in burn care began almost 30 years ago during the first year of his surgical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital when he rotated to the Shriners Hospital for Burned Children and found himself moved by the suffering of badly burned children. After residency he spent eight years as an attending surgeon at MGH and Shriners Hospitals for Children — Boston.
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Dr. Schulz is a member of the American Burn Association, the American Association of Surgery for Trauma, the New England Surgical Society, the Eastern Association for Surgery of Trauma and the American College of Surgeons.
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His involvement with Physicians for Peace started in 2016 when he served as an IME in a mission to Bogota, Colombia. PFPs mission of “teach one. heal many.” resonated strongly with Dr. Schulz. He currently serves on the PFP Board, as well as on the Board of Burn Survivors of New England. In his leisure time, Dr. Schulz reports that he is an avid reader, walker, swimmer, cook, and speaker of broken (but improving) Spanish.
CYNTHIA ROMERO, MD
Vice-Chair,
Chair Governance Committee
Director, M. Foscue Brock Institute for
Community and Global Health, EVMS
Norfolk, Virginia
A Hampton Roads native, Cynthia Romero, MD, joined EVMS in 2014 as director of the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health.
Dr. Romero previously served as the principal health adviser to the Governor, Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Virginia General Assembly and Board of Health from January 2013 to January 2014.
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Prior to her appointment as Virginia’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Romero was Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Quality and Medical Affairs for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center. Dr. Romero was in private practice for 16 years at Romero Family Practice with her mother as her partner and her father as her office manager.
Dr. Romero has been a strong advocate for her patients and for the medical profession through leadership in professional medical organizations. She served as President of the Philippine Medical Association of Southeastern Virginia, Inc., Tidewater Academy of Family Physicians, Virginia Academy of Family Physicians and Norfolk Academy of Medicine. In 2011, she was the President of the Medical Society of Virginia, the statewide organization representing over 10,000 physicians, residents and medical students across the Commonwealth.
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Dr. Romero received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology and Economics from the University of Virginia and her Doctor of Medicine from EVMS. She completed her training in family medicine at the Riverside Family Medicine Residency in Newport News. She completed a Primary Healthcare Policy Fellowship through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources. She was recognized with the Mead Johnson Award by the American Academy of Family Physicians for excellence in clinical medicine and community services.
JENNIFER M. SCHLENER-THOMAS
Immediate Past Chair
Chief of Staff, Association of American Medical Colleges
Washington, DC
As chief of staff at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Jennifer M. Schlener-Thomas supports and serves the President and CEO in his role in leading and advancing the mission of the AAMC.
Serving as an advisor on governance matters, she is responsible for the work of the Governance, Nominating, and Leadership Development committee of AAMC’s Board of Directors. She has spoken nationally on governance matters, including executive compensation, the imperative for board assessment, and continuous board improvement.
In her executive role, she oversees the functioning of the office of the president, which includes the AAMC’s strategy and innovation development function and internal audit function. Her team supports the President and CEO, the work of the Board of Directors, the effective functioning of the executive Leadership Team, the association’s presidential awards program, and internal executive searches.
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She is a highly rated speaker nationally, an expert facilitator of strategic and organizational development retreats, and is a certified trainer of Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability.
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Prior to joining the AAMC in 2007, Ms. Schlener worked at Penn State University for seven years, last serving as the Director of Development & Alumni Relations for Health Affairs at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine. She began her career as a development and alumni relations professional at her alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College, in Lancaster, PA. Ms. Schlener is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Physicians for Peace; a member of the Board of Directors of National Medical Fellowships; a member of Franklin & Marshall College’s Leadership Council; and she served as a past board member of the American Heart Association – Lancaster Division, Ephrata Performing Arts Center, and Hershey Area Playhouse.
JENNIFER BARKER
Secretary
Chief Executive Officer
BNY Mellon Treasury Services
Dallas, Texas
Jennifer Barker is Chief Executive Officer of BNY Mellon's market-leading Treasury Services business, which provides domestic and cross-border payments, U.S. dollar clearing, trade finance and liquidity management capabilities to clients across the globe.
Jennifer is also a member of BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee.
Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Jennifer spent 19 years with JP Morgan and held a wide variety of global Treasury Services roles across the Commercial Banking and Corporate & Investment Banking businesses, including head of Commercial Banking sales in APAC, head of digital solutions, and head of wholesale payments product delivery.
Jennifer holds a BA in English and Public Relations from James Madison University and an MBA from the University of Michigan
SHEMAINE ROSE, MAcc, CPA
Treasurer
Chair, Finance and Audit Committee
Controller, Chesapeake Hospital Authority
Chesapeake, Virginia
Shemaine Rose currently serves as the Controller of Chesapeake Hospital Authority (CHA) in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Prior to CHA she worked as a financial statement auditor with KPMG specializing in audit services for not-for-profit healthcare organizations in Virginia and North Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Saint Michael's College and a master’s degree in accounting from Old Dominion University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in Virginia.
DIRECTORS
SERENA KEITH
CEO, Me360
San Francisco, California
Serena Keith is the Co-founder and CEO of Me360, a virtual-first skills training platform specializing in leadership and communication skills for professionals.
Prior to that, she served in leadership roles at a variety of technology companies including RentPath, Lovely, and Wimdu where she focused in building and scaling teams and software products.
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She received her undergraduate degree with honors in Social Studies from Harvard College.
Serena volunteers as a Steering Committee member of workplace development initiatives for Tech Equity Collaborative in the bay area, and recently served on the Steering Committee for LifeMoves and as a volunteer for Crisis Textline, a national hotline providing free mental healthcare and crisis intervention.
SOWMYA MURTHY, PhD
Group Product Director, Multiple Myeloma Portfolio
The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of
Johnson & Johnson
Horsham, PA
Dr. Murthy began working with Physicians for Peace in 2013 as an awardee of the Richard T. Clark Merck Fellowship, a three-month consultancy in which she led PFP in developing a 3-5 year strategic plan.
In her current position as Group Product Director of the MM Portfolio at Janssen, Dr. Murthy oversees the development and implementation of a portfolio strategy that optimizes value across all Multiple Myeloma brands. She has spent the majority of her career in strategic marketing and business development roles in pharmaceutical healthcare at Janssen and, previously, at Merck & Co.
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Dr. Murthy received her Bachelor's degree in engineering at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Penn State University.
ATUL GROVER, MD, PhD
Executive Director, AAMC Research &
Action Institution
Washington, DC
Atul Grover, MD, PhD, is an internal medicine physician, health services researcher, and nationally recognized expert in health policy.
As executive director of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Research and Action Institute, he leads the organization in convening experts to examine issues affecting American healthcare. Dr. Grover has held multiple roles at the AAMC Research & Action Institute since 2005 and became its inaugural executive director in 2020.
Previously, Dr. Grover worked in health care finance and applied economics consulting and held positions at the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Public Health Service; The Lewin Group, Inc.; and the Center for Workforce Studies at the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Grover earned his medical degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and his doctorate in health and public policy from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He holds faculty appointments at both.
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CAROLYN RAMWELL RN, MSN
Advanced Practice Nurse in Electrophysiology
Children's National Medical Center
Washington, DC
Carolyn Ramwell is a dedicated global nurse educator volunteer with Physicians for Peace. With over thirty years of diverse nursing experience spanning hospital,
critical care, and home health care in the USA, Central America, Sri Lanka, and Africa, Carolyn is passionate about enhancing nursing care worldwide through education.
Her clinical training encompasses emergency/trauma nursing, critical care, medical-surgical nursing, pediatric/adolescent nursing, and home health care. Carolyn's commitment to global healthcare was recognized at the White House in 2008 when she was honored as a volunteer for her work in Sri Lanka with Project Peds, funded by the Clinton Bush Tsunami Initiative.
As an invited presenter at conferences focused on pediatrics, pediatric intensive, and burn care in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Guatemala, Carolyn has actively promoted nursing education and professionalism throughout Central America and the Caribbean. Currently serving as an adjunct faculty for the University of Maryland Global Campus, she also works as an Advanced Practice Nurse in Electrophysiology at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.
Carolyn holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree in Nursing with a specialization in Clinical Nurse Specialist/Pediatric Nurse Practitioner from the University of Hawaii.