The Multicultural Health Institute History | MHI Sarasota

The Mission and History of MHI

MHI was created to level the healthcare playing field by promoting, educating, and ensuring equal healthcare access and treatment for underserved communities and individuals who are traditionally uninsured and receive a less than adequate quality of care.

Founded in 1995 by Lisa Merritt, MD, MHI focuses on health disparities, their effect on our nation's citizens, and the positive economic impact of health education, nutrition, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The essence of MHI's work embodies principles of service, empowerment, and collective community effort.

As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, MHI provides a holistic, full-circle-of-life approach to healing and wellness by focusing on the participation, education, and training of adults as well as offering hands-on enrichment experiences to aspiring and promising young people in the community.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FOUNDER

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Meet the Scholars

MHI Scholars participate in our summer program where college, high school, and middle school students have the opportunity to learn from hands-on experience of assisting at a physician's office. Students are exposed to careers in the medical field and ongoing access to career mentors, academic and career planning.

Learn More About

Our SafeKeepers

(941) 906-9484

mhisafekeepers@gmail.com.

The Multicultural Health Institute (MHI)

Dr. Lisa Merritt

Dr. Lisa Merritt obtained her medical degree from Howard University after completing undergraduate studies at Georgetown University with honors. She underwent training in Family and Community Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and completed her residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is also a graduate of the faculty development program at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA.

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Curtis T. Yew

Curtis Yew completed his studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business with an emphasis in Accounting. He currently practices in public accounting in Grass Valley, California. Mr. Yew has served as a board member since the inception of MHI and maintains the accounting records for the organization.

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Teresa Petterson, MD, MPA

Teresa Maria Petersen, MD, MPA is a Clinical Instructor in the LECOM (Lake Eerie College of Osteopathic Medicine). She has been engaged for several years in community development initiatives in both Crawford and Erie counties in Pennsylvania.

Most recently, she has worked in medical education at Hamot Medical Center, Family Practice Residency Program and has served both the Erie and Bradenton LECOM campuses.

Dr. Katrina Davis

Dr. Katrina Davis practices Obstetrics & Gynecology, Urogynecology in Sarasota, FL and is affiliated with Fawcett Memorial Hospital, Sarasota OBGYN Associates and Doctors Hospital of Sarasota. She received her medical degree from University of Tennessee College of Medicine and did residency at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has been in practice for more than 25 years. She is a member of many medical societies including International Academy of Pelvic Surgery and an ACOG fellow.

Dr. Washington Hill

Dr. Washington Hill practices Maternal & Fetal Medicine and also specializes in OBGYN (Obstetrics & Gynecology) in Sarasota, FL and is affiliated with Sarasota Memorial Hospital. He received his medical degree from Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine in 1965 with a residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Dr. Hill has been in practice for more than 54 years. He is a nationally known expert & leader in perinatology and he developed SMH’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Department and also the Maternal Transport Program for high risk pregnant women. He has held professorships at multiple universities and has been widely published in medical journals. He is an ACOG Fellow and in 2012 received Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Robert Austin, M.D.
Joseph Cooper, J.D.
Bob Fitzgerald
Vincent Foderingham
John Guess

Steven Roskamp

Yusif Addae MD
Randall Morgan, M.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Delores Penn
Ed Viltz
Vickie Wacksman

Karimu F. Hill-Harvey, Esq., LL.M, retired Judge

A Municipal Court Judge in East Orange & Irvington, New Jersey since 2000 (now retired) and an attorney in practice for over thirty [30] years. She is the first African-American woman listed in the "Top 20 Verdicts and Settlements" of the New Jersey Law Journal, by obtaining a $3.25 million settlement in Grant v. Laresca, et al. It was a case which afforded her the opportunity to make new law, as she also did in Simmons-Dixon v. Ford Motor Corporation, in which she obtained a reversal of an administrative law judge's decision relating to automobile "Lemon Law", as well as, several others.

Dr. Pamela Greer

Pamela Greer, MD attended Drexel University Medical School. She completed a general

Internship at Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wa.. Her radiology residency was at the University of Chapel in North Carolina and at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. As a radiologist, She had a private practice in ultrasound and mammography. Her second career for 20 years was as a general radiologist with the American Lake VA Medical Center, in Tacoma, Wa. She is A relatively newcomer to the area

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