Taking Public Health on the Road

We can make our communities healthier, stronger and safer!  As we celebrate the 27^th National Public Health Week, appropriately titled -  “Public Health is Where You Are”, we want everyone to know they can make their communities healthier and safer for all.  Join us as we learn more about one of UB’s valued interprofessional partnership with Remote Area Medical (or RAM) a community-based organization that epitomizes collaboration and resilience.

RAM provides interprofessional educational and service opportunities for health care professionals and students to come together to work in a mobile clinic setting. RAM sets up mobile medical centers at fairgrounds, schools and arenas in order to provide the underserved in impoverished areas in the United States with general medical, dental, vision and preventive care and education. This partnership provides valuable hands-on experience that helps UB students grow in autonomy and confidence, building teamwork skills and improving cultural awareness. Faculty are also able to work interprofessionally with colleagues from across the country and provide much needed care to these communities.

In order to make a RAM clinic run smoothly, it takes an army of devoted volunteers with diverse backgrounds and interests to come together for one mission: to prevent pain and alleviate suffering. If you are interested in learning how our students and faculty have been partnering with this amazing organization or are interested in getting more involved yourself, this is the webinar for you.

About the Panelists

Chris Hall, Remote Area Medical (RAM)’s Chief Operations Officer, got involved with RAM as a 13-year-old volunteer at the organization’s 100th mobile medical clinic. His first experience made a profound impression. Hall was hooked, volunteering with Remote Area Medical at every opportunity over the next 15 years. By the time he joined RAM’s small staff in 2013, he had played a part in more than 500 clinics. 

Now, less than a decade later, Hall oversees 400% more clinics annually than he once did. Working alongside RAM’s founder, the late Stan Brock, Hall steadily introduced new technologies and procedures to RAM’s mobile clinic operations, leading to greater volumes of free, quality healthcare delivery across the United States. 

Hall has continued RAM’s original aim to help sick and injured people in remote areas around the world. RAM has now provided aid in 20 countries, including Guyana, India, Namibia, Nepal, and the Philippines. Hall and his team are continuously developing Remote Area Medical’s international and disaster response capabilities. “We are working hard to prevent pain and alleviate suffering by providing free quality healthcare to those in need, right here in our own backyard, so that one day we can redirect our resources to help people in remote areas like the South American rainforests where Stan Brock was first inspired to give back.”

Mary Brown is Volunteer Manager with RAM USA. She graduated from Middle Tennessee State University, receiving a Master’s in Corporate Training & Development, with an emphasis in Telecommunications Management. A native of Athens, Tennessee, she worked in telecommunications management for 14 years prior to joining RAM. Volunteering for RAM has become a way of life for the Brown family, as they love to serve with the RAM Team to “prevent pain and alleviate suffering”.

Jessica Kruger, PhD, MCHES, is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Teaching Innovation and Excellence, in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions. Dr. Kruger is a health educator whose research focuses on consumption and addictive behaviors, health behavior decision-making, and pedagogy in public health. She collaborates with a wide variety of community-based organizations and advises students at the Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic and the Seneca-Babcock Community Center, both in the Buffalo area. Dr. Kruger is co-editor of the Journal of Student-Run clinics and continues to promote the importance of public health within free medical clinics, as well-being a member of the leadership team of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice at UB. Most recently, Dr. Kruger has been named a 2021 SUNY Online Ambassador for her enthusiastic, effective virtual teaching and advocacy of online education in the SUNY community. 

Joe Gambacorta, DDS, currently serves as the associate dean for academic and faculty affairs and a clinical associate professor at the UB School of Dental Medicine. In his role as faculty director of Buffalo Outreach and Community (BOCA), a School of Dental Medicine organization dedicated to providing care to underserved areas, he has led students on international and domestic outreach missions since 2006. He has been a member of the RAM Board of Directors since 2019.

Jennifer Foster, PhD, is the Coordinator of the Office of Global Health Initiatives in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions (SPHHP). Jen coordinates program activities and events engaging faculty, staff, students and community partners in advancing sustainable solutions to global health problems, including annual talks, symposiums, the Western New York Refugee Health Summit and a student Innovation Sprint.