Summit25 – GRAAHI

Monday, October 6, 2025
COREWELL HEALTHPLACE
100 Corewell Drive NW, Grand Rapids

Program Book

Featured Speakers and Panelists

Presentations and Take Aways

Presentation

Biography

Dr. Farhan Bhatti

CEO, Care Free Medical

Dr. Farhan Bhatti is a board-certified Family Physician and is the Chief Executive Officer at
Care Free Medical in Lansing, MI. Care Free provides high quality, comprehensive primary and
preventive medical, dental, behavioral health, and optometry services to underinsured and
uninsured adults and children from across mid-Michigan. Dr. Bhatti is also a current and
founding board member for the Committee to Protect Health Care (CTP), a national health care
advocacy organization committed to expanding healthcare access to all Americans. He is also
the lead physician for CTP in Michigan.

Biography

Clarkston Morgan

1st Ward City Commissioner

Kentwood, MI

Clarkston Morgan, a Kentwood resident since 2007, has dedicated his time to empowering and investing in families, communities and organizations. He has previously served as an Arts Commissioner, member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Commissioner.

As the founder and CEO of Ambassador Consultants LLC, he has established strategic relationships between organizations and corporations to see mutually beneficial increases in market share and funds to benefit the quality of life for families in the community. He has also launched his nonprofit Career Proactiv to empower K-12 and college students to start their own entrepreneurial platform.

Clarkston currently serves as vice president of the Michigan Chapter of the US Minority Contractors Association to empower minority contractors and sub-contractors operating in the construction industry, a complement to his work as COO at W4 Construction Group.

Clarkston also serves as the chairman of the African American Leadership Council for the Christian Alliance For Orphans, working alongside national adoption and foster agencies to empower African American families to adopt children for forever homes. He and his wife, LaKendra Morgan, have taken up the call to foster nine children and adopt their daughter and son.t

Biography

Dr. Renee Branch Canady
CEO
Michigan Public Health Institute
Dr. Renée Branch Canady serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MPHI, a public health institute comprised of process and subject matter experts with a shared mission of working together to center equity, promote health and advance well-being for all. Dr. Canady is a relationship driven leader and author of the recently published book, “Room at the Table: A Leader’s Guide to Advancing Health Equity and Justice.” In this well-received book, Canady presents a leadership challenge to everyone seeking to understand the intricacies of equity and justice, pushing them to become change agents within health/public health and other fields.
Prior to joining MPHI, Dr. Canady served as Health Officer and Director of the Ingham County Health Department, located in Lansing, Michigan. In that role she oversaw the county’s statutory responsibility to protect and promote the health of county residents and lead the development of the innovative and nationally known, Ingham County Health Equity Social Justice program. Dr. Canady has held faculty and administrative positions at Michigan State University in the College of Nursing where she developed a research trajectory in maternal health and health inequities. She was an assistant professor in the C.S. Mott Department of Public Health, where she developed and chaired the Master of Public Health (MPH) core course “Health Equity for Public Health Practitioners.”
Canady earned her PhD in Medical Sociology from Michigan State University, master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University and bachelor’s degree in public health nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Biography

David LaGrand
Mayor of Grand Rapids

David LaGrand was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated from Calvin College and earned a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1992. When David returned to Grand Rapids, he served as an Assistant Kent County Prosecutor before entering private practice in 2000.

David has also been active in the West Michigan business community. David, his wife Melissa and two college friends opened Four Friends Coffee Shop in downtown Grand Rapids, at the leading edge of what has been a rapid revitalization of downtown, and later opened the Wealthy Street Bakery. In 2013, the LaGrands and partners opened Long Road Distillers, which operates a distillery and restaurants in Grand Rapids and Grand Haven.

David served as Grand Rapids City Commission for the Second Ward and as a member of the Grand Rapids Public Schools board. He served as a State Representative between 2015 and 2022, where he authored and introduced Michigan’s Clean Slate Laws and reforms to Child Protective Services.

David lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Melissa and his mother Virginia. Melissa and David have four children, John, Issac, Helen and Julia, and two grandchildren, Fred and Peter. He and Melissa are members of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church.

Biography

Demetrius Starling
Senior Deputy Director for the Children’s Services Administration Michigan
Department of Health and Human Services

Demetrius Starling is the Senior Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ (MDHHS) Children’s Services Administration (CSA), where he leads the state’s child welfare system, including child protection, foster care, adoption, licensing, guardianship, family preservation, prevention, and juvenile justice programs.
With more than 25 years in child welfare, Starling began as a CPS specialist in Wayne County, Michigan’s largest urban county, and advanced through leadership roles including Continuous Quality Improvement Manager, Genesee County District Manager, and Director for Sanilac and St. Clair counties. Prior to his 2021 appointment as CSA Executive Director, he served as Bureau Director of In-Home Services, overseeing prevention, preservation, and protection programs.
Starling has championed initiatives in diversity, equity, and inclusion, human trafficking prevention, fatherhood engagement, and kinship care. He represents the Governor on the Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect and the Human Trafficking Health Advisory Board. Nationally, he serves on the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law Advisory Board, addressing the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous children in child welfare. He is also a member of the National Partnership for Child Safety Executive Advisory Group and a 2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow.
A graduate of Ferris State University with a degree in criminal justice, Starling also completed the inaugural cohort of the Sankofa Institute for African American Executive & Emerging Child Welfare Leaders through the Black Administrators in Child Welfare.

Presentation

Biography

Bill Manns
President and CEO
Bronson Healthcare

Bronson Healthcare is the largest employer and leading healthcare system in southwest Michigan. As the senior executive, he oversees a full range of services from primary care to critical care across more than 100 locations.

Manns, who joined Bronson in 2020, has nearly 30 years of experience in healthcare leadership. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Psychology and a master’s degree in Health Services Administration. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Kalamazoo College in 2022. In addition to his healthcare-specific background, he is experienced in LEAN and Six Sigma. His current professional memberships include the National Association of Healthcare Executives, the American College of Healthcare Executives, and an appointment by the Governor of Michigan to the Public Health Advisory Council. In 2021, he was named one of the nation’s Top 25 Innovators by Modern Healthcare.

Manns serves on several Boards including the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA), MHA Service Corporation, Bronson Health Foundation, Cascade Engineering, First National Bank of Michigan, Gilmore Car Museum, Greenleaf Trust, Hospital Network Ventures, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, Kalamazoo College, Southwest Michigan First, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.

Biographies

Syreeeta Drake MSN, BSN, PMHNP-BC, APRN
Syreeta is an active member of the National Black Nurses Association, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and multiple professional and community health organizations. She is also the founder of Cerebral Connections, an organization dedicated to mental health education, group and individual therapy, support groups, and medication management. A published author working on her second book, Syreeta uses her voice to inspire, educate, and advocate for equity in health care.
Read the full Bio>>

Kareem J Baig, MGA LSSB
Kareem J. Baig, MBA, GC-Public Health, LSSBB
Executive Director
MICHWA
Having begun his career as a community health worker (CHW) serving individuals living with severe and persistent mental
illness (SPMI), combined with over 15 years of experience in non-profit program development and operations management,
primarily in the delivery of home and community-based services, Mr. Baig is dedicated to driving efforts that reduce health disparities and promote equity across systems.
Read the full Bio>>

Dr. Arthur R. James
Dr. Arthur R. James is a retired Obstetrician, Gynecologist, and Pediatrician. He was formerly the Medical Director for two different FQHC sites while simultaneously serving as the Ob/Gyn Division Director at both sites, former Director of the State of Michigan’s Infant Mortality Think Tank, former member of the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality, a former Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Michigan State’s Ob/Gyn Department’s Kalamazoo campus…..
Read the full bio>>