Long COVID Webinar 

Please Join us for a webinar about Long COVID on Friday, January 20, 2023 from 12:00pm- 1:00pm featuring Bruce Levy, MD, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Linda Sprague Martinez, PhD, from Boston University. The webinar will be co-moderated by Representative Mindy Domb and Jessica Collins, Executive Director of the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts. There will be a Q&A session after we hear from both speakers. You may submit questions during registration or ask them live at the event.

For interpretation or other accessibility needs, please contact Keleigh Waldner at KWaldner@PublicHealthWM.org or 413-794-2897 by Friday, January 13, 2023.  We will do our best to fulfill any requests. Advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.

Speaker Bios

• Dr. Bruce Levy is the Interim Chair of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Bruce received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine and his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He serves as the medical director of the BWH Lung Center where he sees patients in clinic and the medical intensive care unit. He is also the incoming director of the Brigham Research Institute. Research undertaken in the Levy laboratory focuses on the roles of endogenous counter-regulatory mechanisms in the lung that promote the resolution of inflammation, infection and/or injury and the translational relationships between these homeostatic processes and the pathogenesis of important diseases, including severe asthma, Long COVID, sepsis and ARDS. Bruce was Paul Farmer and Jim Kim’s chief medical resident during their clinical training and they inspired Bruce to volunteer providing care to homeless veterans in Boston for nearly 20 years.

• Linda Sprague Martinez, Ph.D., is associate professor and former chair of the Macro Department at the Boston University School of Social Work. She is also the co-director of the BU Clinical Translational Science Institute Community Engagement Program. Her research focuses on advancing equity and centers participatory and action research approaches to improve living environments and health. Dr. Sprague Martinez has expertise in community, student and youth engaged research; photovoice; community assessment and mobilization; and qualitative research methods.

• Mindy Domb has served as the State Representative from the 3^rd Hampshire District since 2018. Immediately prior to taking office, Mindy served as the Executive Director of the Amherst Survival Center. The Center is a one stop location for basic needs, providing food, free health care, and community for residents of Hampshire and Franklin Counties. While there she expanded programs and launched Project HungeRX to support assessments of food security in medical settings and increase referrals to hunger relief programs. She also worked to amplify people’s lived experiences and share their challenges to elected officials through the Feed Democracy project. Previously, she worked extensively in the HIV/AIDS epidemic as an educator, trainer, program planner, advocate, community organizer, and congressional aide.She most recently served on the Joint Committees on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA), COVID-19 Oversight, Higher Education, and Revenue. She also served on the Special Committee on the Holyoke Soldiers Home COVID-19 Outbreak and on the Special Task Force on Human Service Transportation. She serves as a commissioner on The Ellen Story Commission on Postpartum Depression and is a House co-chair of the Legislature’s Food Systems Caucus.

• Jessica Collins has dedicated her career to collaborative efforts that build equitable communities and sustain programmatic, policy and infrastructure change that supports quality of life.  Ms. Collins is the Executive Director of the Public Health Institute of Western MA which does research assessment, evaluation, and convening of initiatives that address health inequities that stem from unjust systems and policies. Ms. Collins also serves as the Co-Director of the BeHealthy Partnership, the ACO made up of Health New England, Baystate Health, and Caring Health Center.  She was awarded the BusinessWest "Women of Impact" award in 2021.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Human Service Forum and was twice elected to the South Hadley Board of Health.  She was President of the MA Public Health Association (2017-2019). Before moving to Western MA, Ms. Collins led the nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention effort "Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart. Play Hard." Ms. Collins has a master's degree in Food Policy from Tufts University and is a proud graduate of Wellesley College.