Thea James MD, Thea L. James MD, Dr. James is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine, and president of the Boston Medical and Dental Staff. She is also the Director of the Boston Medical Center site of the Massachusetts Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP).
Dr. James has chaired and served on national committees within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), served as a moderator, and has given public lectures and talks. She was appointed to the SAEM Women in Academic Emergency Medicine Task Force, is a member of the Boston University School of Medicine Admissions Committee, and in 2009, Dr. James was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, where she presently serves as chair of the Licensing Committee. Dr. James is the 2008 awardee of the Mulligan Award for public service.
Dr. James’ passion is in Public Health both domestically and globally. She is a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team, under the Department of Health and Human Services, which has responded to several disasters in the United States and across the globe. She has deployed to post 9/11 in NYC, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Bam, Iran after the earthquake in 2003, and Port-Au-Prince Haiti after the earthquake of 2010.
For twelve years Dr. James has traveled to Haiti, with colleagues and emergency medicine residents. A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, James completed an emergency medicine residency at Boston City Hospital, where she was a chief resident.
Zola Z. Bruce MSSW is a social worker who graduated from Columbia University in 2001. Over the past 8 years, she has gained experience working clinically with individual clients, running groups, and managing programs at both small and large New York nonprofits. She is also a spiritual artist that combines movement, sculpture, and music mediums to develop work that expresses social, emotional, and political messages. Passionate about global health, helping under served communities, cross-cultural exchange, health education, and the arts; she decided to start Unified for Global Healing gaining nonprofit status in May 2007.
Claudia Daniels-DePeyster, Esq is an attorney currently appointed by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to work as an Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Trials with the New York City Police Department. She joined the Unified for Global Healing organization in June 2009 to further the organization’s initiatives of providing quality medical care to underserved communities throughout the Diaspora. Claudia Daniels-DePeyster will use her legal expertise to provide advice and counsel where needed to the organization to aid the medical professionals and those who provide sociological, artistic and cultural support to the communities served.
Dr. Khalid Elhussein s a Board Certified Emergency Physician. He currently works at Saint Josephs Paterson, in Paterson, NJ. Interested in disaster and international medicine, he joined UFGH as a board member shortly after the organization was founded, in 2007. Since then Khalid has worn many hats, but has primarily enjoyed assisting with research and fundraising initiatives. Two years ago he instituted UFGH annual art auction and remains highly dedicated to the work of the organization due to his belief in the multidisciplinary approach to service, the sustainable nature of its projects and the bond UFGH forms with the communities it works with.
Sandra R. Scott MD, was appointed the Chief of Service for the Department of Emergency Medicine at The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in 2009. She is the Co-Medical Director for the Essex County Sexual Assault Response Team at University Hospital, which is dedicated to establishing and maintaining quality of care for sexual assault survivors who present to the adult emergency department. Dr. Scott has a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed an internship at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston, Texas and residency in Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center.
Prior to being appointed Chief of Service, Dr. Scott served as an attending physician at SUNY Health Science Center and Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, NY for six years. She served as Medical Director of the Sexual Assault Response Team at Kings County Hospital Center, served on the Health and Hospitals Corporation Task force for Sexual Assault, and served as Clerkship Director at SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn New York.
Dr. Scott has a strong interest in humanitarian endeavors including international medicine. She is one of the co-founders and board officers for Unified for Global Healing, Inc.
Kim Sanders, President is the Director of HIV/AIDS Services at the Partnership for the Homeless where she oversees programming for homeless individuals who are HIV positive or at risk for contracting HIV. Prior to joining The Partnership, Kim served as Program Manager at Community Resource Exchange where she focused largely on providing organizational development, program evaluation, and fundraising assistance to community based organizations that serve marginalized communities. Kim holds masters degrees in Developmental Psychology from Columbia Universality and Nonprofit Management from the New School University. With more than 12 years in the nonprofit sector, Kim was attracted to Unified for Global Healing because of its mission to partner with communities to determine challenges and develop strategies rather than swooping in and assigning problems and prescribing solutions.
Nina Rose Fischer, LMSW Ph.D. candidate has 17 years of experience doing program development and providing services for marginalized populations throughout the country. Nina co-founded the region for the New York office of the North American Family Institute (NAFI) developing a Wraparound Program for high needs youth and Professional Foster Parents. a young women's reentry program, and a preventive service program for relative caregivers to keep youth out of foster care. Prior to her work in New York, he worked for the Center for Human Development and the Department of Public Health in San Francisco practicing in the areas of domestic violence, sexual assault, harm reduction, juvenile justice, and art therapy. Nina is committed to investing in innovative, culturally competent, quality services for the most marginalized and vulnerable populations. As a board member, her organizational and program expertise has been essential to helping in the start-up of Unified for Global Healing.
