Continuing Education: General

Fighting for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: PACB's Newest Taskforce

More and more we hear discussions about how broken the healthcare system is, but how much do we see or know about the injustice, inequity, exclusion, and painful experiences happening to people across multiple dimensions of diversity?
CE Credit Eligible: Nov 08, 2023 - Nov 07, 2025

More and more we hear discussions about how broken the healthcare system is, but how much do we see or know about the injustice, inequity, exclusion, and painful experiences happening to people across multiple dimensions of diversity? While race and ethnicity are often the center of the conversation gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic circumstance, national origin, geographic background, ability, and disability, physical characteristics, veteran status, political ideology, religious belief, and/or age are also factors we must consider. The question is HOW? We likely know the terms Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion but what does it look like to put these ideas into practice? This panel provides a foundation of understanding as well as introduces the members of PACB J.E.D.I Taskforce. We will share what we are currently working on, what we have done already, and what we plan to do next.

Learning objectives:

  1. Define and examine areas of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
  2. Analyze and explore strategies the taskforce is taking on in efforts to foster Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
  3. Discuss and identify areas of growth and future work in the areas of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Continuing Education Credits: 1.0 CE for Board Certified Patient Advocates through the Patient Advocate Certification Board.

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Continuing Education webinars are open to NAHAC members and the general public looking to enhance their knowledge and receive continuing education credit.

As a NAHAC benefit, Full Members are charged only $10.00 for a CE webinar while the general public pays $40.00 per CE credit webinar. NAHAC full members, who just want to view the webinars, can go to the NAHAC website to view the webinars at any time – no charge.

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Members Only Purchase

You will recieve an email, after checking out, with a unique passcode to input above enabling this webinar.

Continuing Education webinars are open to NAHAC members and the general public looking to enhance their knowledge and receive continuing education credit.

Malynnda Johnson, PhD, BCPA; Lee Mulert, MBA, MS, BCPA, CSA; and Heather Guidone, BCPA

Malynnda Johnson, PhD, BCPA is an associate professor in the department of communication teaching primarily in the areas of health communication and media studies. She completed her PhD in 2012 at the University of WI – Milwaukee. For the past four years, she served as the associate program director for the genetic counseling program as well as the director of graduate studies in the department of communication. Teaching in the areas of interviewing and counseling, persuasion, interpersonal communication, health communication, media criticism, as well as cross-cultural communication. For 15 years most of Dr. Johnson’s research centered on how media shapes our perceptions and understanding of health topics such as HIV and STIs. She has written two books on media representations of health topics including one on HIV and the other on neurodiversity and mental health. Currently, Dr. Johnson has shifted slightly to examining the role humor plays in our health. Additionally, she is actively working within the medical field training patient advocates and providers on ways to improve their communication when working with minority groups (specifically, neurodiverse and transgender populations). When she is not writing, teaching, or serving her community she is often found with her two dogs hiking or camping in the woods of Indiana.

Lee Mulert, MBA, MS, BCPA, CSA is the CEO & Founder of HealthACR, LLC, a private professional Health Advocacy firm with clients nationwide. With over 40 years of knowledge and experience in the healthcare industry from business, reimbursement, research, clinical and psychosocial perspectives, Lee brings her intuitive personality and problem-solving skills to help patients and families work through crises and identify options that meet their needs. In addition to her MBA, she earned her MS in Counseling, is a Board-Certified Patient Advocate (BCPA) and a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA). Her years of experience conducting negotiations help her to facilitate communications and mediate difficult situations for her clients. Her clients range from pediatric to older adults and incorporate a range of medical, psychosocial, mental health, trauma and substance use issues that affect them, their families and loved ones. Lee strives to ensure that her clients understand and feel that they are empowered participants in every aspect of their own health care. Lee is on the Board of the Patient Advocate Certification Board (PACB) and is PACB’s Treasurer (effective January 2023). Previously she served on the Board of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy (NAHAC) as the Treasurer and Vice President. She is also a member of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy (NAHAC), the Society of Certified Senior Advisors and the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates (APHA).

Heather Guidone, BCPA is the Program Director of the Center for Endometriosis Care and a Board-Certified healthcare Advocate. She has focused on 'bench to beltway to bedside' efforts in research facilitation, policy reform, education, patient-centered care and more for over thirty years, but importantly, is someone who personally struggled with the disease as well. Her lived experiences bring a unique perspective to her work and fuel her passion to effect change on the way endometriosis is researched, treated, and publicly perceived. Heather volunteers her time to several collaboratives, serving as an Editorial Board Member and Advisor for various Journals, Legislative Working Groups, Special Interest Groups and more, including as a Reviewer for select Medical Research Grant Programs. She has contributed to countless books, articles, and CME-eligible publications on endometriosis and related health concerns. Her priority focus remains on reducing the time to diagnosis, increasing research funding, improving equitable access to effective, value-driven and patient-centered care, and ensuring stakeholder representation in all places where decisions about endometriosis are being made in order to improve access and outcomes for future generations.