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
JENNIFER M. SCHLENER-THOMAS
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.
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.
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.
JOHN T. SCHULZ III, MD, FACS
Vice-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.
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.
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.
RICHARD A. AUSTIN, CPA
Treasurer, Immediate Past Chair
Audit Partner, KPMG LLP
Richmond, Virginia
Richard Austin is an Audit partner in KPMG’s Global Audit Methodology Group, currently based in New York, having also served in KPMG’s Nashville, San Francisco, and Norfolk offices.
Richard has 31 years of experience with KPMG providing audit services to a variety of companies within the healthcare sector. Since 2016, Richard has worked in KPMG’s Department of Professional Practice, focusing his energy on the development and refinement of KPMG’s audit methodology and knowledge utilized by KPMG’s audit engagement teams throughout the globe.
Richard currently serves as Board Chair of Physicians for Peace and has been a Board member since 2009. During his tenure on the Physicians for Peace board, he has also served the roles of Vice Chair and Treasurer. He also served as a Board member of Volunteer Hampton Roads from 1997 through 2004, including holding the position of Board Chair in 2003. He also served as a Board member of the San Francisco United School District’s National Academy Foundation advisory board from 2013 to 2015.
Richard graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1989 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting.
MARK ASPLUND, MD, FACS
Chair, Medical Advisory Committee
Community Volunteer
Birnamwood, Wisconsin
Dr. Mark Asplund received his medical degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed his residency in general surgery at Iowa Methodist Medical Center and fellowship training at the University of
Pennsylvania and then associate professor at the University of Iowa. He then went into private practice in his home state of Wisconsin working as a general and vascular surgeon for more than 30 years at Aspirus and The Plastic Surgery Group and Vein Clinic until his retirement in 2016.
His passion to give back by sharing his knowledge and skills with others has motivated him to participate in international surgical missions in Haiti, Palestine, and Malawi. In 2016 Dr. Asplund first volunteered with PFP as IME for a three-month rotation at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, providing theoretical and practical training, as well as mentorship to residents and clinical officers.
CYNTHIA ROMERO, MD
Chair, Governance Committee
Director, M. Foscue Brock Institute for
Community and Global Health
Eastern Virginia Medical School
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.
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.
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.
JAMES E. MORGAN, CPA
Ex-Officio
Chief Executive Officer, Physicians for Peace
Norfolk, Virginia
James E. (Jamie) Morgan was named Chief Executive Officer of Physicians for Peace in October, 2016. He joined Physicians for Peace in 2011 as CFO and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Morgan has worked in senior Finance roles with a division of DuPont Corporation and Barnett Banks of Florida and as practice executive for multispecialty medical practices in Georgia and Virginia. He holds bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia, and a master’s degree in theology from Saint Leo University.
Throughout his career, Morgan has served on nonprofit boards with organizations that improve quality of life for families and communities. He is a member of the board of directors of InterAction, the largest alliance of international NGOs and partners in the United States who mobilizes 180-plus member organizations to think and act collectively to serve the world’s poor and vulnerable, with a shared belief that we can make the world a more peaceful, just, and prosperous place – together.
Morgan also serves on the Permanent Council of The G4 Alliance, a coalition of more than 60 organizations working in 160 countries, advocating for the neglected surgical patient. He is an ordained permanent deacon for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, currently serving in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
DIRECTORS
R. BARRETT NOONE, MD, FACS
Executive Director - CEO Emeritus
American Board of Plastic Surgery
Haverford, Pennsylvania
Dr. Noone is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and he completed residencies in both General Surgery and Plastic Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Long involved in academic surgery, he was Clinical Professor of Surgery at Penn, and throughout his career he directed the residency affiliation between Penn and Main Line Health hospitals in plastic surgery. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
Dr. Noone served as Chief of Plastic Surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital, Bryn Mawr Hospital and Lankenau Hospital and was the Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at Bryn Mawr Hospital from 1991-2001. A Director of the American Board of Plastic Surgery from 1988 to 1994, he was selected as the first Executive Director of the Board in 1997 which he served until his retirement in August 2015.
Dr. Noone was President of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. In 2013, he was the recipient of the Honorary Award, the highest honor the Association bestows, recognizing outstanding contributions in either the humanities or sciences related to medicine and surgery. Dr. Noone was instrumental in introducing the early concepts and techniques of breast reconstruction at the time of mastectomy, a pioneering concept in the late 1970’s, that has become a standard of care for the breast cancer patient. He was also the founder and 3rd President of the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons and was a Governor of the American College of Surgeons.
He and his wife, Barbara Atkins Noone, reside in Haverford. They are the proud parents of five children and 12 grandchildren.
EDWIN K. BURKETT, MD, COLONEL, USAF, Ret
Medical Director and Family Physician/
Primary Care Provider
Wake County, North Carolina
Dr. Burkett grew up in Southern California, but in his 35-year career has travelled both nationally and internationally as a United States Air Force Family
Physician, Flight Surgeon, and International Health Specialist. In his final Air Force assignment, he served as the Director for the Defense Institute for Medical Operations. He earned bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, an M.D. from the Uniformed Services University (USU), and completed his Family Medicine residency at Malcolm Grow USAF Medical Center. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and earned an MBA in Strategic Leadership from Western Governor’s University.
Dr. Burkett retired from the Air Force and joined Alliance Medical Ministry in June 2021 as Medical Director and Family Physician/Primary Care Provider. Alliance Medical Ministry is a charitable clinic that serves the uninsured of Wake County, North Carolina. Dr. Burkett holds appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is the course director for Medical Anthropology, teaching it annually via distance learning. Dr. Burkett is fluent in Spanish and has participated in, or planned and led, multiple global health engagement missions to countries on the African continent and Latin America. He has led research and published on the value of embedded health engagement teams to improve execution in global health activities.
Dr. Burkett is passionate about his Christian faith and his family, and in his free time enjoys fitness activities, kempo karate, and reading a good book.
SHEMAINE ROSE, MAcc, CPA
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.
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.
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.
JENNIFER BARKER
Chief Executive Officer, Treasury Services
BNY Mellon
New York, NY
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.
Bio coming soon
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 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.
Dr. Murthy received her Bachelor's degree in engineering at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, and her PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Penn State University.