Leadership
Leadership
Maria Tjilos, M4
M4 President
ga0439@wayne.edu
Natalie Aulicino, M3
M3 VP of Henry Ford Consults
naulicino@wayne.edu
Mackenzie Fitzgerald, M2
Communications Co-Director
hu5062@wayne.edu
Vasanth Palanisamy, M2
Finance Co-Director
gw6643@wayne.edu
Mercylia Untono, M2
Inventory Co-Director
ht3728@wayne.edu
Haziq Latif-Jangda, M2
Research Co-Director
hu2153@wayne.edu
Fatima Bhatti, M2
SMMS Liaison
gv7900@wayne.edu
Thomas Deppong, M3
M3 VP & VP of DMC Consults
deppong@wayne.edu
Brooke Waldon, M2
M2 Vice President
hv6640@wayne.edu
Nievalinda Strong, M2
Advocacy Co-Director
hw1733@wayne.edu
William M. Davie, M2
Communications Co-Director
fy4186@wayne.edu
Aniela Crayton, M2
Finance Co-Director
hw0027@wayne.edu
Alice Werynski, M2
Inventory Co-Director
ht3729@wayne.edu
Halle Escher, M2
Logistics and Human Resources
hu5061@wayne.edu
Chonling Liu, M2
Patient Education Co-Director
hu2864@wayne.edu
Izzy Adams, M2
Technology Co-Director
gt7990@wayne.edu
Anne Patterson, M4
anne.patterson2@wayne.edu
Omolola Suleiman, M2
Continuity of Care Co-Director
hv0473@wayne.edu
Mawadda Abdelhai, M2
Education and Training Co-Director
hu7557@wayne.edu
Katarina Woldt, M2
Food Systems Director
ht8839@wayne.edu
Karli Monahan, M2
Harm Reduction Co-Director
hu6198@wayne.edu
Charlotte Turner, M2
Inventory Co-Director
hv3929@wayne.edu
Chloe Sutlick, M2
Operations Co-Director
hv3446@wayne.edu
Saihaj Deol, M2
Patient Education Co-Director
ec9648@wayne.edu
Jacob Nielsen, M2
Technology Co-Director
hv3324@wayne.edu
Joseph Wun, M4
M4 Senior Advisor
hl6209@wayne.edu
Tina Tripathi, M2
Continuity of Care Co-Director
gh0748@wayne.edu
Marilyn Li, M2
Education and Training Co-Director
hu6188@wayne.edu
Ali Mustapha, M2
Grants Co-Director
hu6190@wayne.edu
Mary Jo Clancy, M2
Harm Reduction Co-Director
hu2851@wayne.edu
Maria Awad, M2
Operations Co-Director
hw1295@wayne.edu
Sanjana Kumar, M2
Research Co-Director
hd5485@wayne.edu
Dr. Richard Bryce, DO
Faculty Advisor & Medical Director
rbryce1@hfhs.org
Dr. Bryce is a family physician at Community Health and Social Services (CHASS) Center in Southwest Detroit. He attended medical school at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM) and completed his residency in Family Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Bryce hosts Wayne State medical students at CHASS for family medicine clerkships. He also teaches at MSUCOM’s DMC campus. After working with SMD’s founder Jonathan Wong at CHASS, Dr. Bryce became interested in volunteering with Street Medicine Detroit. He believes that everyone has the right to healthcare and finds that his work that with SMD fuels his passion for medicine.
Dr. Jonathan Wong, MD
Founder & Chair of Board of Directors
jwong@med.wayne.edu
While a medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Dr. Wong first caught wind of the street medicine movement and formed a vision to go directly to the streets and shelters to serve Detroit's unhoused community. Through partnerships with faculty and community organizations, he quickly developed Street Medicine Detroit into a socially-conscious healthcare force and model for other medical groups in the city. After completing his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, Dr. Wong still remains heavily involved with the organization as the Chair of Board of Directors.
Lydia Adkins, CPSS
Road Home Outreach
lfoskey@nso-mi.org
Ms. Adkins first encountered NSO in 2004 while personally experiencing homelessness, mental health issues, and addiction. At NSO, she received the help she needed through the Tumaini Center, Addiction Treatment Services, and The Road Home (formerly known as Helping Hands). In January 2008, she was housed and began the process of recovery. By August 2009, she began working for NSO as a member of The Road Home. Ms. Adkins is incredibly grateful for the opportunities and the second chance NSO provided her. Her passion for her work stemmed from her own personal experience of moving beyond homelessness and addiction; now, her passion derives from her desire to help others do the same.
Philip Ramsey, CPSS
Road Home Outreach
pramsey@nso-mi.org
The Road Home is a unique mobile outreach program of the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO). This program provides housing and other support services to those experiencing homelessness in the City of Detroit. The Road Team engages people wherever they may be—whether on the streets, in parks, or under viaducts—and guides them through the process of identification restoration and obtaining permanent housing. Street Medicine Detroit partners with The Road Home to offer encouragement, support, medical, and housing services to individuals experiencing homeless.
In memory of
Dean Carpenter, RN, FNP-BC
1956 - 2019
Lead Clinical Preceptor
Dean Carpenter was a nurse practitioner at the Neighborhood Service Organization’s Tumani Center in Detroit and the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, MI. Nurse Carpenter received his Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Michigan State University. He had a passion for teaching nursing and medical students since 2001, first as a clinical instructor for Jackson Community College of Nursing and as a clinical preceptor for many nurse programs throughout the state, including Wayne State, Michigan State and the University of Michigan. Nurse Practitioner Carpenter saw the tremendous need of those experiencing homelessness and recognized that even simple interventions could have a huge impact on improving quality of life. His motivation: the gratitude expressed by SMD patients, paraphrasing St. Francis of Assisi, “For it is in giving that we receive”.
“Dean was part of the founding team of Street Medicine Detroit and he has always been an integral and essential part of who we are. He has not only been the primary clinician to many of Detroit’s most vulnerable, but he was also a mentor to hundreds of medical and nursing students. With his quiet and genuine interactions interspersed with quick humor with patients and colleagues alike, he exemplified Street Medicine’s mission of compassionate, high quality care to a population so often neglected by society. He was the essence of openness and hospitality, welcoming excited volunteers from distant hospitals and nurse practitioner schools, local medical schools, and even undergraduate programs. His almost singular desire was to serve people experiencing homelessness. We would often finish a full morning or afternoon of Street Runs to hear Dean off-handedly mention he would be going back that evening by himself to check in on some patients we missed or deliver some medications we didn’t have with us. We cannot replace his ease with patients or the way they visibly relaxed when they noticed his presence and trustingly shouted, ‘Hey, Nurse Dean.’ This city has truly lost a great soul.”
Leadership Alumni
Class of 2026
Nicole LaFrance, Ciara White, Sarah Chamdin, Eve Sherbin, Anna Rowell, Paul Villa, Adam Chaban, Saachi Mittal, Kiersten Walsworth, Curtis Mack, Mihika Sridhar, Elnaz Guivatchian, Elizabeth Helfrich, Tiffany McKenney, Era Cobani, Uzair Khan, Nina Brahmbhatt, Noor Sulaiman, Neil Garg
Class of 2025
Denise Bilbao, Rebecca Adams, Alexis Malecki, Bridget Croniger, Matthew Myhand, Bhavana Garapati, Nick Livingston, Megan Seyerle, Karis Tutuska, Kathy Lu, Collin Gustafson, Janae Martin, Bethani Dunlap, Alex Hay, Minisha Kanakarajan, Brandon Hudson, Amelia Klamen, Mohamed Al Hassan, Kathleen Young
Class of 2024
Sophie Wittenberg, Gautham Pavar, Caroline Grubbs, Madison Mervis, Griffin Murray, Bianca Parker, Nikkisha Mills, Nedda Elewa, Trisha Gupte, Sarah Kelly, Michaela Kearney, Bakhit Toumoni, Kiana Cabasa, Katerina Furman, Sanjna Ghanshani, Connor Cook, Kenna Haile, Nyla Leonardi
Class of 2023
Kendrick Belardo, Trishya Srinivasan, Ana Lanier, Ali Maana, Roxanne Ilagan, Jennifer Preissentz, Carlos Figueroa, Kelly Brue, Nikita Wong, Lawrence Berry, Nimra Hassan, Lauren Varvatos, Leya Maliekal, Marc Quinones, Nick Corsi, Daeryl Amponin, Miloni Shah