Workshop #3

Rev. Doug Christgau, with his wife Christine, served as outreach pastor in three churches from 1985-2019. During his tenure these churches sent 40 long-term missionaries all over the world.  Doug has led over 100 short-term mission trips in various U.S. cities and 40+ countries.  “Making disciples” has been a key part of Doug’s impact in the context of sending long-term missionaries and leading short-term teams.  The churches Doug has served have also doubled or tripled their missions giving during his period of service.

Doug is now the Global Ambassador for MedSend (MedSend.org), an agency that gets long-term health care missionaries to the field by paying their educational debt and keeps them on the field through member care specific to health care professionals. Doug has spoken to student groups to present the unique Gospel opportunity of health care missions in 50 different schools.  Many have invited him to return after hearing him once.  Doug is supported by donors and visits campuses as a service of MedSend to students and health care professionals.

Contact info:  Doug@MedSend.org or 630/886-4005

What are the greater things Jesus promised us?  Learn about the power Jesus gave you by believing in Him, through the Holy Spirit, to heal, release the captives and transform lives in your medical practice through faith in Him!  Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  John 14:12.  Let my testimony from clinic rooms to treating patients in the streets and riverbed inspire you! (Revelation 12:11)

Just like in medicine, risks and benefits are constantly being evaluated. Learn how to decipher when the Holy Spirit is moving in your life and medical practice as you step out in faith to help others.

Matthew 21:22 – And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.

Luke 1:37 – For nothing will be impossible with God.

2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.

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Dr. Zamora currently works as the Director of Inter-Professional Education at UCR School of Medicine and is clinical faculty. She is clinically a certified physician assistant (PA-C) and has a Doctorate of Health Science in Global Medicine from AT Still University. She has a combined decade of teaching experience in classroom settings, higher education, and as a clinical preceptor. She trained in medicine at the University of Southern California (USC), Keck School of Medicine, Primary Care Physician Assistant Program.

She has clinical experience in pediatric, family and urgent care medicine and she currently works at Upland Medical Center. After precepting and guest lecturing for USC, she went on to help develop the PA program of California Baptist University (CBU MSPAS) from August 2015 through July 2020 as a founding faculty member. She coordinated/interviewed all guest lecturers, new faculty and personally taught across most of the clinical courses (especially in the clinical medicine and clinical skills courses, as well as women’s health, pediatrics, pharmacology and research). She also designed and executed the live model exam-program, OSCE exams, simulations, hands-on workshops and incorporated inter-professional education (IPE) and inter-professional practice at CBU and the University of La Verne. She continues to love teaching in the classroom and out in the field, especially taking students out of their comfort zones to various street medicine sites and many outreaches.

Spirituality and religion (S/R) are increasingly recognized as critical elements of whole-person care and as integral to the principles of person-centered care, particularly in serious illness and at the end of life. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that spirituality is associated with improved quality of life and better health outcomes near the end of life. Yet, despite this evidence, the integration of spiritual care into end-of-life practice remains inconsistent. This session will review the evidence linking spirituality with health outcomes, examine barriers and facilitators to integrating spiritual care in end-of-life care, and reflect on the Christian imperative to love and serve those approaching the end-of-life. Practical strategies will be presented to help clinicians engage in sensitive, respectful, and patient-centered spiritual conversations.

Dr. Andre Cipta serves as the Program Director of the Kaiser Permanente Palliative Medicine Fellowship, Founding Director of the Kaiser Permanente Palliative Medicine Mid-Career Fellowship, Palliative Medicine Clerkship Director at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, and Associate Medical Director of the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Hospice Agency. He is board-certified in Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is a recipient of the 2022 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Leadership Scholar Award and holds the rank of Assistant Clinical Professor at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine.

His interest in serving those in need led him to study Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley, spend a year at the Master’s Seminary, and complete a Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a palliative medicine physician, he finds profound meaning in supporting those living with advanced illness and is passionate about training future generations of clinicians to further optimize the care of the seriously ill.

Dr. Cipta has a particular interest in innovation. As Fellowship Director, he created an innovative mid-career fellowship track in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania through the ACGME Advancing Innovation in Residency Education (AIRE) program and expanded the program from two to four fellowship positions (two traditional, two mid-career), which is embedded in a unique, longitudinal curriculum spanning across palliative care settings. He created the Palliative Extubation Simulation-Based Formative Activity for both graduate and undergraduate medical learners, and co-created a novel wellness curriculum entitled, “iRISE (Initiative for Resiliency Self-care and Empathy) which was awarded an innovations grant and presented at numerous national conferences.

His research interests lie primarily in exploring the role of spirituality in optimizing whole-person, patient-centered care, which led him to train at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Glendale Adventist Medical Center for medical school and residency, respectively. He was awarded the Christian Academic Physicians and Scientists Faith and Medicine Research Fellowship Award and most recently published on the topic of spiritual distress in serious illness in the BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care.

Dr. Cipta serves as a deacon at Immanuel Bible Church in Los Angeles, CA.

Many healthcare professionals begin their careers with virtuous visions of serving forgotten people. As they advance, however, this focus often becomes diverted. In Launching Your International Healthcare Career, Nicholas Comninellis illuminates a tested path in this laudable journey. He begins with an appeal to apply principles of wise decision making – prayer, weighing pros and cons, soliciting advice, ample patience – with the promise that the quality of one’s decisions can indeed improve.

Next, Dr. Comninellis analyzes career-oriented choices, including the selection of a professional specialty, a community to serve, a sending organization, and language learning needs. These he approaches in light of the particular career challenges connected serving forgotten people: unusual diseases, minimal resources, and challenging cultures. Personal decisions are then explored, including money management, personal health, and family relationships, and legal guidance. Finally, Launching Your International Healthcare Career ends with an appeal for healthcare professionals follow through with their original virtuous passion.

Nicholas Comninellis is President and Professor of INMED, the Institute for International Medicine. He also practices emergency medicine. Over a two-year period Dr. Comninellis served inner-city citizens at Shanghai Charity Hospital. Over another two years, he led a healthcare ministry in the war-besieged nation of Angola in southern Africa. Dr. Comninellis next served for six years in the Kansas City public hospital before launching INMED in 2003.

He graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine and Saint Louis University School of Public Health and was a family medicine resident at John Peter Smith Hospital. Dr. Comninellis also earned a professional diploma in tropical medicine from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and became board certified in both public health and family medicine. Among his authored books are Shanghai Doctor, Where Do I Go From Here, and INMED International Medicine & Public Health. Dr. Comninellis is a classical guitarist and faculty co-advisor for UMKC Cru. He was recognized as the 2009 United Nations Association of the United States World Citizen and the 2015 University of Missouri-Kansas City Alumni of the Year.

In every country, on every continent there are men, women and children trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived and cannot leave. Around the world, it is estimated that there are 25 million people subjected to human trafficking or forced labor. Almost 90% of victims are seen in a clinic or hospital while in slavery. Human trafficking disproportionately affects the underserved and vulnerable such as teenagers, runaways, refugees and those living in poverty. It is important to learn the indicators and signs of human trafficking and then take action to fight against this horrible crime. Learn what you can do to help prevent, rescue and restore victims of human trafficking in your own backyard and around the globe.

Sharmayne attended medical school while continuing to work in missions. She completed her doctorate in medicine at the American University in Managua and specialized in Infectious Disease.  On a sabbatical year, she obtained an MPH degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, as well as received training in Tropical Medicine.  Sharmayne later participated in the John Hopkins Infectious Disease fellowship program in Peru researching prevalent tropical diseases.  Recently she earned a research doctorate in health and behavior studies from Columbia University, with a focus on human trafficking and the health care. Sharmayne became involved in prevention efforts in several developing countries and founded an anti-trafficking NGO that supports safe houses and awareness/ prevention efforts. She serves as a medical liaison for the Rio Grande Valley Anti-Trafficking Taskforce and the Amazing Grace Ministries anti trafficking team and is the current chair of the CMDA Human Trafficking Commission. Additionally, Sharmayne is serving at COLM, a clinic staffed solely by volunteers on the Texas- Mexico border offering free health care in an underserved community. Each year she leads and participates in medical mission teams around the world including Latin America, Jamaica, Samoa, Nigeria and Sudan.

See details at Poster Session Page