request a speaker

Experts in building partnerships with diverse community members

Rev. Tony Carter, Jr.

Rev. Tony Carter, Jr. is a native of Pearl, Mississippi, where he enjoyed the teaching opportunities that were afforded him as the eldest child. He was baptized at the Mt. Elam Missionary Baptist Church at an early age and soon was drawn to the word of God and a yearning to learn from it. He was called to preach at the age of 15 but began running away from that call. After graduating from Pearl McLaurin High School (Pearl High) in 1973, he attended Jackson State University. Then, in 1981, he joined the U.S. Army.

Rev. Carter accepted his call to ministry in 1991 at the Second Missionary Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas, immediately enrolling in Western Baptist Bible College where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education Degree in 1994 and has also studied at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas. In December of 1994, Rev. Carter accepted the call to pastor the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atchison, Kansas, where he served faithfully for eight years. Then, in 2002, Pastor Carter felt God’s call to pastor at the Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas, where he has served faithfully for the past eighteen years.

Pastor Carter has served in various positions in connectional work in the Kaw Valley District Association, Missionary Baptist State Convention of Kansas and the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Inc. Currently, he serves as General Chairman of KCK Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Celebration, Chairman of the Mayor’s Law Enforcement Advisory Board and member of Wyandotte County Health Equity Task Force and Mayor’s Task Force for Community and Policing. He loves serving his community and does so on a regular basis.

Thirty-seven years ago, while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, he met and married Francine Toombs. They have four wonderful adult children, two daughters, Latonia and Jasmine, and two sons, Tony III, Bruce II. They also have twelve cherished grandchildren!

Yvonnes Chen, Ph.D.

Yvonnes Chen, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. She is one of the five 2017 Outstanding Educators awarded by the KU Torch Chapter of the Mortar Board (a senior honor society). She is also a 2017-2018 Keeler Intra-University Professorship recipient and was a visiting professor program fellow awarded by the Advertising Educational Foundation in New York. Dr. Chen teaches courses on research methods, strategic campaigns, health communication, grant writing and data analysis. Her research centers on designing effective programs to promote healthy lifestyles. Her most recent research focuses on how the brain is a window to understanding the effects of persuasive messages.

Dr. Chen’s scholarship is informed by her research background in health communication, professional experience in the media industry and teaching expertise in strategic communication. Her current projects include: 1. Investigating how different types of cues in mis/disinformation affect public members’ evaluations of information credibility; 2. Using media/health literacy messaging to reduce vaping in youth; 3. Exploring ways to train public health professionals and community-based organizations to communicate and disseminate COVID-19 health risk information to diverse populations and stakeholders.

Dr. Chen’s industry experience also enables her to provide consultations and trainings for government agencies, non-profit organizations and university-affiliated research centers in order to help them improve communication messaging, design and promotional strategies (e.g., trainings in social media writing and analytics, website audits and usability testing), as well as improve their health communication efforts (e.g., raising awareness of rare diseases and childhood obesity, tobacco/vaping prevention and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic). She has experience tailoring communications for hard-to-reach, racially and ethnically diverse communities in an effort to promote health equity in underserved and vulnerable populations.

Broderick Crawford, B.S.

Broderick Crawford has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Mr. Crawford previously served as the executive director of the NBC Community Development Corporation, which was created as an outreach arm of the New Bethel Church of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, KS. As president of the organization, he manages and oversees multiple projects to improve overall health in Wyandotte County and leads the NBCCDC to fulfill its mission in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan area “to empower our youth for a greater future, cherish our seniors to honor the past, increase quality of life in health, education, business, and hope…honoring our God so residents are celebrating life, the community is strengthened, and we foster reconciliation.”

Mr. Crawford serves on numerous community boards and committees and has a rich background of volunteerism and leadership. He has dedicated much of his time in helping those who are less fortunate and working with vulnerable populations. He has been a member of the New Bethel Church since 1974, having served as a member of the board of directors, executive staff, men’s ministry, health & wellness ministry and altar evangelism. He is a long-time member of the National Week of Prayer for the Healing of HIV/AIDS in Kansas City, advocate for the Arthritis Foundation, a board member at KC United, and most recently, a mayoral appointee to the KCMO HIV Planning Council.

Mr. Crawford also serves on several boards and committees related to research. Mr. Crawford is a member of the KU Cancer Center’s PIVOT (Patient and Investigator Voices Organizing Together), which seeks to build productive and long-lasting relationships between cancer researchers and research advocates. He is a member of the NCATS Recruitment Innovation Center National Advisory Board and the KU Medical Center Frontiers (CTSA) Patient partners group and the KU Medical Center Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Cabinet. He also serves as board chair of the KU Cancer Center Advisory Committee. Mr. Crawford serves as the president of the Missouri Prostate Cancer Coalition and is a former board member of the National Alliance of State Prostate Cancer Coalitions. He is also a Kansas Leadership Center Champion and has also served as a board member of the 8th St. YMCA, Duchesne/Caritas Clinics and Better Together, Inc.

Andrew K. Godwin, Ph.D.

Andrew K. Godwin, Ph.D., the Chancellor’s Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences Professor, is a leader in the field of translational research and precision medicine. Dr. Godwin is the deputy director of the NCI-designated KU Cancer Center and serves as the director of molecular oncology at the KU Medical Center, where he oversees the Clinical Molecular Oncology Laboratory. He was appointed the division director for Genomic Diagnostic at KUMC in 2020. He is an NCI-funded investigator and a highly published and cited scientist.

Dr. Godwin is internationally recognized for his molecular biology/genetic studies of sarcoma, breast and ovarian cancer, and for his efforts to help bridge the gap between basic and clinical science in order to improve patient care. His research program continues to focus on various aspects of both basic and translational research, with an emphasis on early detection of cancer, predictive and prognostic biomarkers, liquid biopsies based on extracellular vesicles, molecular therapeutics, companion diagnostics, clinical trials and biosample ascertainment. He has extensive experience in leading multi-investigator studies and in mentoring junior scientists.

Dr. Godwin was named a Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar in 2010 and the University of Kansas School of Medicine Chancellor’s Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences Endowed Professor in 2012. He has received numerous awards and recognitions from the KU School of Medicine and KU Cancer Center for his excellence in teaching, research and mentoring of students. He was also the recipient of the Dolph C. Simons, Sr. Higuchi Award in the Biomedical Sciences in 2019—the state higher education system’s most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence.

Dr. Godwin serves on the Early Therapeutics and Rare Cancers Committee and was named the vice chair for the Breast Translational Medicine subcommittee of the Southwest Oncology Group in 2018. He has dedicated his scientific career to improve the care for patients diagnosed with cancer and is the director of the Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence at KU Medical Center.

To address the COVID-19 pandemic, the private clinical reference laboratory he co-founded with Dr. Ziyan Pessetto, Sinochips Diagnostics, began providing SARS-CoV-2 testing in April 2020. The company now supports over 35 health departments, clinics, schools and assisted living facilities in the KC metro region, many in underserved regions, and performs SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic, surveillance and serology testing.

Mariana Ramirez

Mariana Ramírez, LCSW, is the director of the JUNTOS Center for Advancing Latino Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, KS. She oversees a growing number of research projects and academic-community partnerships to eliminate health disparities experienced by Latino communities in Kansas. Ramírez is fluent in Spanish and English and has over ten years of experience working with medically underserved Latino populations in the US and Mexico.

She is Co-Principal Investigator of the "JUNTOS RADIO," an outreach program funded by the National Network of the Library of Medicine (NNLM) to improve access to reliable health information among the Spanish-speaking community. Ramírez is highly involved in the Kansas City community and, in 2018, she received the prestigious Nuestra Latina award from the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for her active role seeking to improve the health of the Kansas City community.

request a speaker