Main Stage Keynotes

Moderator

Natasha Bray, DO
2026 OMED Program Chair

Panelist

Dawn Mussallem, DO

Dawn Mussallem, DO, a board-certified lifestyle medicine physician, says her commitment to healthy lifestyle behaviors gave her a sense of empowerment while undergoing cancer treatment and enabled her to maintain vitality.

Panelist

Creagh Milford, DO
President, Oak Street Health

Creagh Milford, DO, MPH, is President of Oak Street Health, part of CVS Health. Founded in 2012, Oak Street Health specializes in helping older adults stay healthy. Its innovative value-based care model goes beyond typical primary care to provide patients with comprehensive preventive care and overall well-being support.

An internal medicine physician and experienced health care executive, Dr. Milford brings deep expertise in value-based care, population health and health care transformation. Previously, he served as President of CVS Retail Health, which includes MinuteClinic. Prior to CVS Health, he co-founded and served as CEO of HighCare Health, a population health management payer and provider services company, and was CEO of FullWell, LLC. Other roles included Assistant Chief Medical Information Officer of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and a Fellow with the National Academy of Medicine. He also held positions with CMS and HHS.

Panelist

Omar Lateef, DO
President and CEO, Rush University Medical Center

Omar Lateef, DO, became president and CEO of Rush University Medical Center in May 2019. Under his leadership, the Medical Center received national attention for its effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic, which included being one of the first health systems to offer antibody testing. In recognition of Dr. Lateef’s role in Rush’s response to the crisis, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Lateef one of 50 most influential clinical executives.

Dr. Lateef is a nationally recognized leader in the measurement of healthcare quality. He has worked with physicians and analysts at Rush and from academic medical centers across the nation to evaluate the driving factors and methodology of quality rankings by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), U.S. News and World Report and others. Prior to becoming president and CEO, Dr. Lateef was the chief medical officer of the Medical Center from June 2015 to May 2019, and of Rush University System for Health from June 2018 to May 2019. Under his leadership, Rush system hospitals have performed exceptionally well in rankings by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. News & World Report, the Leapfrog Group and Vizient, which in 2019 ranked Rush University Medical Center first among 93 participating academic health systems across the nation in quality and accountability. Lateef, who joined Rush in 2002, was appointed associate chief medical officer in 2009 and vice chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in 2012. He also served as program director for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Program and as director of the medical intensive care unit. A former associate dean of medical sciences at Rush University, Dr. Lateef is a professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine. He has won numerous teaching awards at the University and led educational programs that ranked repeatedly among the top five in the country.

Dr. Lateef has published extensively on scientific and ethical issues in critical care medicine and spoken internationally on improving healthcare and its delivery. He is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Thoracic Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Panelist

Maj. Gen. Leigh A. Swanson, MD

Maj. Gen. Leigh A. Swanson, MD, is the Deputy Surgeon General and Deputy Commander, Air Force Medical Command, Headquarters U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force in Arlington, Virginia. In these roles, she leads 27,000 uniformed medical personnel, directly supports a $50 billion Defense Health Program portfolio and significantly influences a $6.1 billion, 44,000-person integrated healthcare delivery and readiness system at 76 military treatment facilities worldwide. As the Deputy Surgeon General, Maj. Gen. Swanson advises the Secretary of the Air Force, the Air Force Chief of Staff, the Space Force Chief of Space Operations and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs focusing on designing, developing and delivering a ready medical force and medically ready Airmen and Guardians. As Chief of the Air Force Medical Corps, she creates and evaluates policy and programs for more than 3,800 doctors of medicine, supporting 76 military treatment facilities, headquarters and major command organizations.

Maj. Gen. Swanson entered the Air Force in 1994 as part of the Health Promotions Scholarship Program, receiving a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Prior to her current position, she was the Command Surgeon for Air Mobility Command. She is board-certified in family practice, aerospace medicine, public health and general preventive medicine, and she is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association.

Chaunté Lowe
Four-time Olympian, U.S. record holder in high jump and cancer survivor

Chaunté Lowe is a world-renowned high jumper who lives to conquer barriers, racking up four Olympic games appearances, three global championship medals, three American records and several global accolades. Many are surprised to learn that she achieved most of these accomplishments while also holding the title of “mother of three.” Her performances on the field have earned her inductions into three separate halls of fame and four separate invitations to be honored at the White House by several U.S. Presidents.

Lowe would have never guessed, with all that she accomplished, that her biggest obstacles would come off the track. In 2019, Lowe was rattled with the devastating diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer, which is among the most aggressive forms. In a state of disbelief, Lowe took the crushing blow head-on, being forced to bow out of the national championships for a double mastectomy and miss the world championships for chemotherapy. Still, in true Chaunté fashion, she decided that she would fight against the odds and still train through chemo in hopes of making the delayed 2020 U.S. Olympic team. Now known as the utmost expert on resilience, her advocacy work focuses on early detection and breast cancer awareness to save lives. Reaching hundreds of millions of people, her work was honored with the NCAA Inspiration Award, The Hero Among Us award, and she was named to Georgia Tech’s 40 under 40 2021 Class.