Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole, M.D., M.P.H., is a board-certified family physician. She served as the Director of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention for the Department of Public Health from 2015 to 2022.

Prior to that position, Dr. Bettigole served as the Chief Medical Office of CompleteCare Health Network, a Federally Qualified/Migrant Health Center in New Jersey, and as the Clinical Director of Health Center #10. She saw patients in the city health centers for more than 12 years. She was the president of the National Physicians Alliance (now part of Doctors for America) in 2012/2013, where she helped build a task force on gun violence prevention and advocated for access to quality, affordable healthcare for all.

Dr. Bettigole has also served as a member of the Health Department’s COVID-19 team during the pandemic. She is deeply committed to health justice for all Philadelphians.

(photo by Emma Lee, WHYY)

Usama Bilal, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Urban Health at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Trained as a physician in his home country of Spain, he obtained a Ph.D. in epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. His research focuses on the description of the magnitude and drivers of health disparities in urban areas.

Tyra Bryant-Stephens, M.D., is a board-certified pediatrician in clinical primary care practice for 29 years. In 1997 she founded the Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), an asthma program that utilizes community health workers and residents to implement asthma interventions in underserved, poorly-resourced, inner-city communities. She coordinates asthma care education annually for 40+ primary care physicians in the CHOP CARE network which serves approximately 40,000 inner-city patients with over 100,000 patient visits each year.

Ana Diez Roux, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology and Dean of the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. Originally trained as a pediatrician in her native Buenos Aires, she completed public health training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Before joining Drexel University, she served on the faculties of Columbia University and the University of Michigan.

Marla Gold, M.D., is Dean Emerita and Professor of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University. Dr. Gold has dedicated her career to understanding and creating integrated systems of health care delivery, issues of public health infrastructure, and health administration and leadership. In the early 1990s, she served as Philadelphia’s Assistant Health Commissioner for Infectious Disease Control in the Public Health Department, where she was responsible for all reportable and communicable diseases and conditions.

Jennifer Ibrahim, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Health Services Administration and Policy and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Public Health at Temple University. She is an accomplished teacher and maintains a funded research agenda in the area of health policy, including work on legal infrastructure, the dynamic relationship between public health lawyers and practitioners, and work on tobacco control policymaking.

Amid I. Ismail, B.D.S., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., M.B.A., is the Laura H. Carnell Professor and Dean of Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry. He has extensive public health, academic, research, and community organization experiences. He has Master and Doctorate degrees in Public Health, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Public Health.

A. Scott McNeal, D.O., is the President and CEO for Delaware Valley Community Health, Inc., and the Medical Affairs Consultant at North Philadelphia Health Systems. Board certified in family practice, Dr. McNeal earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM). Dr. McNeal is a Clinical Professor and member of the Board Trustees for PCOM.