Preparing our Successors in Medicine 4th Annual Pinning Celebration! Get your tickets!

It's almost here! I Am Abel Foundation's "Preparing Our Successors In Medicine 4th Annual Pinning Celebration, Medicine & Mimosa" will be this April 13, 2019, Saturday. It begins at 1pm.

Enjoy the amazing sounds of Ronnie G, heavy hors d'ouvres and mimosas, silent auction with spa and theater packages, Ravinia tickets and more! Rites of Passage Ceremony for our mentees and many more exciting line of event awaits every attendee!

One of the highlights of our Gala, Celebrating Heroes and Honoring Resilience, where we meet our awardees for this year:

HERO IN HEALTHCARE, Dr. Terry Mason, MD, Chief Operating Officer, Cook County Department of Public Health

Dr. Terry Mason is the very essence of Chicago and because of his life and legacy we celebrate him as our 4th Annual Hero In Healthcare. Dr. Mason has invested his entire life and career in serving health and wellness to the masses.

He graduated from Loyola University in Chicago before attending University of Illinois College Of Medicine. He ultimately completed his residency in Urology at one of Chicago's premiere medical facilities of it's time, Michael Reese Hospital.

In his current role as Chief Operating Officer, Cook County Department of Public Health, Dr. Mason is a noted visionary, providing leadership, fiscal responsibility, performance based accountability in management, and restoration of the public trust. His mission? To transform healthcare delivery with the integration of Public Health and Public

Medicine to create a population based strategy to manage chronic disease.

He has managed everything from the H1N1 crises of 2009 immunizing over 90K period to dealing with the potential threat of Ebola on our home turf.

For decades, Dr. Mason was a tireless advocate in the area of men's health, encouraging men of color, often reluctant to seek care, to get properly screened for prostate cancer. Though he is retired from his Urology practice, he is as engaged in medicine as ever before. He currently focuses his attention more broadly on public health matters of urgency which are often centered around nutrition and obesity.

He is a passionate advocate of plant based eating and has taught and advocated for this healthy lifestyle for some time. His passion is to teach patients to be proactive about their healthcare as it is often easier to prevent an illness than to treat it.

Currently he is a radio host on WVON, 1690, on the popular segment, The Doctor Is In The House. Since 1991, this weekly radio health talk show provides health education to an audience of over 100,000K People

He founded the Thapelo Institute dedicated to addressing the racial health disparities specifically in African American Men.

His expertise as both a surgeon and a public health expert has earned him numerous awards, including Physician Of The Year for the National Medical Association.

But how Dr. Mason will probably be remembered by most practicing physicians of color today is for his his tireless mentoring and advocacy of underrepresented minorities in medical education. He has personally mentored countless medical students who are now practicing physicians today. His dinners at his home was a safe place for struggling medical students to find encouragement and support.

For a life of excellence and exemplary leadership in both medicine and medical education, we celebrate you Dr. Terry Mason - Our Hero In Healthcare 2019.

Still Standing Awardee 2019, Orrianne Morrison, 1st year Medical Student, Rush University

It is truly an honor to present to Orrianne Morrison our coveted STILL STANDING AWARD for 2019. Each year, I AM ABEL FOUNDATION scopes Chicago's local medical schools and through peer, faculty and staff recommendations, we choose just one student who epitomizes resilience and has a compelling story of heroism and accomplishment in the face of barriers that would stall if not stop most.

Our goal? To inspire our mentees to be in relentless pursuit of their dreams. As a child, Orrianne, battled years of homelessness. Despite it all, as a stellar student, she attended her dream school, Spellman College, until the money quickly dried up forcing her to quit school and work full time.

She did not, however, give up and with the help of mentors, she navigated the road less traveled, graduated Spellman and went to medical school and today she is STILL STANDING and is a living example that we are without excuse. So go BE GREAT! Congratulations Orrianne!

Physician Mentor of 2019, Dr Joy Elion, MD, I Am Abel Foundation Founding Board Member

Few words can adequately describe our first Physician Mentor of The Year 2019, Joy Elion, MD.

Joy is an I AM ABEL FOUNDATION founding board member. She is also one of our most passionate physician mentors.

Dr. Joy Elion grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago. She graduated from Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, IL. After college, she attended The Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. She then began her Pediatric Residency at Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She is currently working at the Comer Clinic at the University of Chicago. She discovered her passion when she stepped out of her comfort zone to travel and work abroad in medical missions. Ever since, she has been hooked and each year she takes countless high school, college and medical school students to Haiti and Kenya to serve.

She is the pediatric consultant for Chances for Children, an organization that takes a multifaceted approach to serving children in Haiti through feeding programs, medical care, women’s empowerment and other programs.

Dr. Joy, as the students call her, exemplifies what it means to serve. She has a quiet spirit but her legacy is huge. For as much work as she does abroad, she leads with compassion and service right here in Chicago.

Every year she manages to find room for one more mentee. Her hearts always answers yes.

You are a humanitarian and tireless advocate for the voiceless. Thank you for aspirational mentorship to our mentees and for being a living example of what it means to serve.

Don't miss this event and how we celebrate our awardees and our mentees!

April 13, 2019, Saturday, starts at 1pm

Rush University Medical Center 1725 W. Harrison St. Searle Conference Center, 500 Room Chicago, IL 60612

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We hope to see you all there!

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