Profound Conversations

A 2017 study estimated that 3.45 million Muslims were living in the United States, about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population. These communities are as diverse culturally as they are racially and ethnically. However, a common thread which runs through the entire population of Muslims in America is the hesitancy to authorize organ donation for a fallen loved one. Recent research had shown that there exists a persistent lack of understanding regarding donation and the process for transplantation among Muslim communities. Lack of trust of the medical community also contributes to this hesitancy. Unfortunately, among many Muslims in America the popular notion is that organ donation is not permissible in Islam.   This episode of Profound Conversations will focus on the need for culturally appropriate resources and guidance tailored to younger adult Muslim populations predisposed to shifting attitudes and awareness about donation and the efficacy of local healthcare system. Learning initiatives should also address knowledge and understanding within the different professional areas of the organ procurement organizations and transplant centers in the US. These professionals include Physicians, clinical and hospital services, as well as family services teams responsible for the support, communication and coordination of donor authorization and transplant medical services.  

Creating cultures of care include an examination of the determinants of health and wellness. To the extent that this analysis demonstrates gaps, the care requires initiatives that are inclusive of all people impacted; the culture must transform.Too often the physical, mental and emotional needs of Black men and boys are over-looked, ignored. They want to heal and change how they/we are perceived, however, find it difficult to do so unless things within our physical environment change as well. The lack of access to affordably decent housing, nutritious food and underperforming public schools have become standards in our black and brown neighborhoods.This episode of Profound Conversations is a healing call for our Black community, with a focus on men and boys, to talk about what keeps us sane, where to find love and joy and how we must come together to elevate our spirits and rest our souls, which is OUR RIGHT AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY. Together we need to redefine what it means to be WELL.

This episode will examine the imbedded strategies and pillars which support effective DEI initiatives within the organ procurement community.  We will examine what it looks like to become holistically and systemically equitable, inclusive and diverse?  Then we will ask executive leaders to rate their organizational performance alongside the standards recognized as the most effective for multicultural populations.Simply put, diversity is defined as the presence and representation of people of differing races, religions, ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, languages, nationalities, political parties, socioeconomic groups, and other characteristics that inform an individual’s worldview and experiences. It is impossible to comprehend or foster equity and inclusion without diversity. 

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. Violence within communities across America has a major impact on health outcomes. Washington DC, Baltimore and many other urban centers throughout America experience the horrors of gun violence and other serious acts of crime.This episode seeks to create a dialogue which examines these challenges to social determinants of life, as we learn from grass root change makers and mental health professionals about the role their organizations are playing in the transformation of our communities under siege. 

Most Executives clearly advocate for “work/life balance”, however what does that balance actually require; and is it a shoe size that fits all?   In 2023 how do women who have questions about balancing their desires for financial stability, luxury, family responsibilities, health, joy, and fulfilment, achieve this while pushing back against burnout and self-sacrifice? How do our diets play a role in our ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and what are the signs to be aware of that hint to onset mental, emotional and physical decline in our wellbeing?  These and other fascinating ideas will be examined by our Conductor and guest conversationalists.  

The virtues of sight, sound and movement are therapeutic modalities essential to obtaining Universal Health, Well Being, and Community Transformation. Episode one speaks into the use of sound/music as a common bond that provides an on ramp for deeper examinations of the realities of where we experience dis-ease.   This informative conversation is part one of a series of episodes which will examine sight, sound and movement as therapeutic modalities for patients as well as those who may not perceive the health challenges they are inside of due to inequality, white supremacy, lack of trust, as well as a myriad of social challenges prevalent in today's world.

When organizations set out to achieve lofty goals, whether they are record breaking profits, client satisfaction indexes or the achievement of record-breaking organ transplants, what are essential elements that must exist within their culture in order to achieve success? This episode examines how effective Executive Leadership has the potential to create the deep sense of purpose and commitment to an organization's values and mission, and how this can ultimately lead that organization to breakthrough outcomes. 

This episode of Profound Conversations will explore the intersection between cultures of care, the dynamics of loss and grieving, as well as the impact that donation has for families that give and receive the gift of life. Our intent for this episode will be to create new understandings and pathways to wellness within the context of great loss.  

The opioid epidemic refers to the enormous surge in opioid addiction and overdose over the last several decades in the United States.  Much of the epidemic has its origins in medical practice. Devastating consequences of the opioid epidemic include increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of newborns experiencing withdrawal syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy. Opioid overdoses accounted for more than 42,000 deaths in 2016, more than any previous year on record. An estimated 40% of opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid.Episode VI will explore the less than obvious connections between mental illness and substance abuse. We would like to assert that one, often overlooked foundational connection is, the unhealthy need that leads to the opioid use, which completely destabilizes a Healthy Mental decision-making process. Are we still in an epidemic in 2022? What are harm reduction policies and what have been their outcomes? Which populations are currently most affected? What can individuals, neighborhoods, communities, cities actively do to assist in solving this epidemic? What are good Samaritan laws? Are their signs that the tide is changing? What are the Trust factors in need of transforming that will lead to satisfactory resolutions?Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

The overriding opinion within the medical community of practice is that  caregivers should attempt to reduce psychiatric barriers to successful transplantation.  However certain questions remain after years of debate: (i) are current evaluations uniform throughout transplant centers throughout the country?  How should we view transplant eligibility criteria that exclude patients with affective and psychotic disorders from transplantation on the basis of their psychiatric diagnosis?    These and other questions will be explored during this in depth hour of Profound Conversations with our esteemed guests from the medical community.Conversationalists:Farha Abbasi, MDMichigan State University Dept. of PsychiatryClive Callender, MDProfessor of Surgery, Howard University HospitalShawn-Paul HarrisonMedical Navigator SpecialistLouisiana Organ Procurement AssociationAnil Paramesh, MD,Professor of Surgery, Urology, and Pediatrics Tulane University School of MedicineJoey BoudreauxChief Clinical OfficerLouisiana Organ Procurement AgencyProfound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

How do we ‘re-imagine trust’ such that we effectively engage the hearts and minds in communities throughout America?  What is our responsibility as professionals within Public Health?  What are the things the we need to talk about when we talk about 21st century community engagement?    Our efforts to Re-Imagining Trust: Engaging Hearts and Minds in Communities Throughout America must create more practical and effective solutions, drawing on the listening of diverse groups.  Our efforts should improve citizens' knowledge and skills through immersive experiences. Our task is to begin the conversation that generates these outcomes. We must continue to explore new ways to empower and integrate people from different backgrounds, as we seek to understand the interpersonal barriers which contribute to complacency.  We must also remember and speak into the critical role of ethics in policy, medicine and community care.  We must increase the likelihood that initiatives and solutions address the true challenges; challenges which often remain hidden in blindspots. Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

“To overcome the challenge of special interests that work against the conditions that create health, we need to extend the sphere of what we talk about when we talk about health so that our conversation includes factors like money, power, love, hate, culture, the environment, and politics.”Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health (Sandro Galea, 2019)As the United States faces unparalleled challenges due to COVID-19, racial disparities in health and healthcare have once again taken center stage. If effective interventions to address racial disparities in transplantation, including those magnified by COVID-19, are to be designed and implemented at the national level, it is first critical to understand the complex mechanisms by which structural, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism influence the presence of racial disparities in healthcare and transplantation. Policies that foster inequities at all levels (from organization to community to county, state, and nation) are critical drivers of structural inequities. The social, environmental, economic, and cultural determinants of health are the terrain on which structural inequities produce health inequities. These multiple determinants are the conditions in which people live, including access to good food, water, and housing; the quality of schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods; and the composition of social networks and nature of social relations.Profound Conversations views racism not as an attribute of minority groups; rather, as an aspect of the social context and is linked with the differential power relations among racial and ethnic groups. Most studies of racism are based on African American samples; however, other populations may be at risk for manifestations of racism that differ from the African American experience. Asians, Hispanics, and, more recently, Arabs and Muslims are subject to similar inequitable opportunities in health and health care.Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Part of the huge job in successfully building healthy communities lies in accurately identifying behaviors that lead to breakdowns which impede progress. Episode II will explore co-work processes which enable organizations to effectively build and maintain internal trust; while also examining models of coalition development that map targeted, evaluative measures, which create effective collaborations and cultures of trust.Highlights of the EpisodeIn public health, and public health, it's essential to have trust between those who provide services and those who are consumers of servicesIn the line of in working with organ procurement organizations and hospitals and physicians, you know, ultimately, our focus is on these families that have lost a loved oneTrust and integrity, that, for me is foundational trust means everythingTrust is woven into every aspect of what we doYou can tell who people are pretty much in the first 10 secondsIt's not about being successful in your organization, it's about being successful with peopleIt is making sure that you can give everything that you have of yourself, to help them and that gaining something in returnWe have to break down those words and concepts, and perhaps shape them in a way that's culturally appropriate and sound for our communityIf you go into a hospital, and your expectation is for your loved ones life to be saved, and you don't know that they have died, and there has been times where the conversation of organ donation has happened prematurely of a person dyingI started that conversation with my daughter and family. It's in my advanced directive that I'm an organ donorTrust is always talking to that person where they are without any assumptions without trying to push them into a box or categoryProfound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

“As leaders, as neighbors, as colleagues, it is time to turn to one another, to engage in the intentional search for human goodness. In our meetings and deliberations, we can reach out and invite in those we have excluded. We can recognize that no one person or leader has the answer, that we need everybody's creativity to find our way through this strange new world.”                - Margaret Wheatley. [Remembering Human Goodness, Shambala Sun, September 1999] Trust is a two-way street.  Each healthcare servant has the family trust and cooperation at stake.  Lack of trust creates inconsistency in the delivery of care and influences patient family choices. Episode one we will explore how medical ethics influences trust as well as govern patient and family rights; and to what extent does multicultural competency influence organizational approaches toward a more dynamic and inclusive culture.  We will also seek to understand the underlying factors which erode trust and how to transform these dynamics at their inception and from breakdowns to breakthroughs.

Michigan healthcare leaders, Muslim communities to convene on ‘Building Healthy Communities’ and lifegiving donation/transplantation‘Profound Conversation ArenaTM’ to be moderated by media personality Joia Jefferson-NuriMichigan healthcare leaders and Muslim communities are to convene on ‘Building Healthy Communities’ and life giving donation/transplantation. Eversight, the Ann Arbor-based global eye bank network, and Muslim Life Planning Institute (MLPI), a national community-building organization, will host Building Healthy Communities: Michigan Medical & Religious Partnerships | Lifegiving Donation & Transplantation.Muslim individuals and families, healthcare professionals and other providers of services to Muslim communities in southeast Michigan and beyond are encouraged to join the conversation exploring anatomical donation and transplantation in the context of Islam. Fewer residents are registered as organ, cornea and tissue donors in Wayne County—Michigan’s most populous and diverse county—than anywhere else in the state, according to Gift of Life Michigan. Yet the need for transplants in this county is relatively high.Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Michigan healthcare leaders, Muslim communities to convene on ‘Building Healthy Communities’ and lifegiving donation/transplantation‘Profound Conversation ArenaTM’ to be moderated by media personality Joia Jefferson-NuriMichigan healthcare leaders and Muslim communities are to convene on ‘Building Healthy Communities’ and life giving donation/transplantation. Eversight, the Ann Arbor-based global eye bank network, and Muslim Life Planning Institute (MLPI), a national community-building organization, will host Building Healthy Communities: Michigan Medical & Religious Partnerships | Lifegiving Donation & Transplantation.Muslim individuals and families, healthcare professionals and other providers of services to Muslim communities in southeast Michigan and beyond are encouraged to join the conversation exploring anatomical donation and transplantation in the context of Islam. Fewer residents are registered as organ, cornea and tissue donors in Wayne County—Michigan’s most populous and diverse county—than anywhere else in the state, according to Gift of Life Michigan. Yet the need for transplants in this county is relatively high.Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Michigan healthcare leaders, Muslim communities to convene on a Building Healthy Communities and life giving donation/transplantationProfound Conversation Arena be moderated by media personality Joia Jefferson-NuriEversight, the Ann Arbor-based global eye bank network, and Muslim Life Planning Institute (MLPI), a national community-building organization, will host Building Healthy Communities: Michigan Medical & Religious Partnerships | Life giving Donation & Transplantation.Joia Jefferson Nuri as coached more than 50 C-Suite executives and scheduled, written, and coached twelve TEDx Talks (including her own) with two more to present in Fall 2020. Joia has been on the leadership teams at NBC, CBS, C-SPAN, and BET, working as a senior producer, anchor, reporter, and host.The online, interactive, Islamically informed discussion among southeast Michigan healthcare professionals, service providers and Muslim individuals and families will explore in session one Michigan Medical & Religious Partnerships featuring:Session two will explore Life-Giving Donation & Transplantation featuring:Monir Moniruzzaman Ph.D. U of Toronto, Department of Anthropology at Michigan State UniversityImam Johari Abdul-Malik, National Activist and Social Justice LeaderSheik Ibrahim Kazerooni, Imam Islamic Center of America, Dearborn MichiganKelly Ranum, Chief Executive Officer, Louisiana Organ Procurement AgencyLesley Compagnone, Director of Community Affairs for Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC)Collin Ross, CEBT, Eversight Global Eye Bank Network, Ann Arbor MI

Michigan healthcare leaders, Muslim communities to convene on a Building Healthy Communities and life giving donation/transplantationProfound Conversation Arena be moderated by media personality Joia Jefferson-NuriEversight, the Ann Arbor-based global eye bank network, and Muslim Life Planning Institute (MLPI), a national community-building organization, will host Building Healthy Communities: Michigan Medical & Religious Partnerships | Life giving Donation & Transplantation.Joia Jefferson Nuri as coached more than 50 C-Suite executives and scheduled, written, and coached twelve TEDx Talks (including her own) with two more to present in Fall 2020. Joia has been on the leadership teams at NBC, CBS, C-SPAN, and BET, working as a senior producer, anchor, reporter, and host.The online, interactive, Islamically informed discussion among southeast Michigan healthcare professionals, service providers and Muslim individuals and families will explore in session one Michigan Medical & Religious Partnerships featuring:Farha Abbasi, MD, Michigan State University, Department of PsychiatryKara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS, Senior Vice President Nemours Childrens Health SystemMichelle Jesse, PhD, Psychologist, Henry Ford Health SystemMona Makki, Director, ACCESS Community Health and Research Center Steve Miller Chief Executive Officer, Association of Organ Procurement Organizations

With their history of forced immigration to the United States (US), African Americans were de-cultured and dehumanized, their misery treated as ‘natural’ and benign. Today, they are an important minority in a nation with a singular degree of world influence. Much of the country’s vitality, especially its contemporary cultural life, can be credited to African Americans, but racism remains a definitive and stark reality. A critical aspect of the racism that African Americans face is a continuing geographic segregation in many parts of the US, a legacy of ‘Jim Crow’ laws enacted in the South after the Civil War, as well as discriminatory attitudes right across the country including the so-called ‘white flight’ from urban areas to suburbs after the Second World War.Much of the African American population is urban and they make up the majority of the population in cities such as Detroit, New Orleans and Washington DC. While many major US cities have had black mayors and African Americans are well represented on most large city councils, politics and funding have limited their attempts to make significant changes in the conditions of urban African Americans. This is reflected in the persistence of profound inequalities in a range of areas, from education and health care to housing and access to justice.In the area of education, for example, while black educational levels are on the rise, inequalities and discrimination persist. While poverty and a broader backdrop of exclusion play a part to poor educational outcomes – almost a quarter (24.1 per cent) of the black population were living in poverty in 2015, compared to 9.1 per cent of non-Hispanic whites.African Americans are at high risk for mental illness, heart disease, cancer, HIV infection and other major diseases, due to a cluster of factors, including levels of education, poverty, stress, poor health care, pollution and family instability. The wide socio-economic gaps between African Americans and whites remains high. In 2018, the annual National Urban League report, The State of Black America, found that nationwide black households earn an average income of US$38,555 compared to white an average of US$63,155 among white households.Introduced in House January 3, 2019, HR 40 is a bill that would establish a Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. The commission would examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. Among other requirements, the commission shall identify (1) the role of federal and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery, (2) forms of discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves and their descendants, and (3) lingering negative effects of slavery on living African Americans and society.This episode seeks to explore some of the aforementioned, egregious social, political and economic challenges faced by African American men and women.   How do we effectively influence public policy to correct systemic injustice?  What will it take to get traction behind this bill?  What will coalitions of support need to look like to bring about success for this and similar important initiatives?  Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.lifeThe Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Modern democracy requires people who can think critically, reason ethically, and participate effectively. Successful organizations must be populated by people who understand group processes and how to guide them while maintaining the proper respect for all participants.  Ethical leadership thrives when it is directed by respect for ethical beliefs and values and for the dignity and rights of all people.As we move further into the twenty first century what will global leadership need to embody in order to effectively grapple with the vexing challenges of climate change, earth population density, biodiversity, science, technology and the social-political-economic realities of a post COVID-19 America?How does the study of science lend to our understanding and implementation of effective leadership?  Are we headed in the right direction with our current trends in artificial intelligence?  Where should pathways to lifelong learning lead to in order to save our planet from devastation?Does improving ethical decision-making require deliberately making rational decisions that maximize value rather than going with ones natural inclinations?  How do our biases and other cognitive limitations influence rational thinking? and at what cost to future generations who will inherit the earth we leave behind?  Today's Guest Host is Zarinah Shakir and our Profound Conversationalist is Dr. Rana Dajani.  Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level. MLPN.life  The Profound Conversations Podcast and Video Series is produced by Erika Christie. www.ErikaChristie.com