ACSOM Board of Trustees

Dr. Bagherpour has fully integrated his passion for medicine with business acuity—securing more than $14 million in federal funding under the Affordable Care Act to establish world-class medical certification courses and accredited residency programs for primary care physicians. Dr. Bagherpour has also played a critical role in developing international training programs, including certification programs for critical care nurses.

Under his leadership, the landmark agreement to create the first non-profit international medical school in the Caribbean at the American Canadian School of Medicine at Dominica was signed. Breaking new ground in the approach to medical education, the innovative program will feature a state of the art learning facility in one of the most diverse cultural hubs of the Caribbean, integrated with the local community and healthcare systems, and small group learning—allowing for interactive learning beyond the classroom.

Dr. Bagherpour is a board-certified diagnostic radiologist, with a speciality in interventional radiology. He obtained his B.A. from the University of Texas, Austin with special honors, and earned his medical degree from Ross University. His post-graduate work includes residencies at Beth Israel in New York, Albany Medical Center, University of Texas at Austin, and a fellowship in interventional radiology at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Bagherpour was also chosen as a fellow in the prestigious Moorefield Fellowship in Economics & Health Policy program, where he learned more about pressing medical policy issues.

Veronica Thierry Mallett M.D. MMM is a dynamic health care executive. Currently she is serving as the Chief Administrative Officer CommonSpirit Health More in Common Alliance (MICA). Led by Dr. Mallett this historic partnership between the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and Common Spirit Health (CSH) is designed to improve health equity by radically increasing diversity in the healthcare work force. She previously served as President and CEO of Meharry Medical College Ventures (MMCV), a wholly owned subsidiary of Meharry Medical College, and as the Executive Director for the Center for Women’s Health Research at Meharry.  Dr. Mallett served as the Senior Vice President of Health Affairs and Dean at Meharry Medical College School of Medicine (MMC SOM) until 2020. In this role, she was responsible for all clinical operations for the academic health science center, dedicated to educating physicians, dentists, researchers, and health policy experts. In 2021, she was named to the board of directors for Sharecare, Inc. (Nasdaq:SHCR), a digital health company.

Born in Detroit, Dr. Mallett attended Barnard College, Columbia University followed by medical school at Michigan State University. Following medical school, she completed residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Fellowship in Urological Gynecology at Wayne State University. She completed a Research and Surgical Fellowship in Electrophysiology of the Pelvic Floor/Reconstructive Surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, England. She earned a master’s degree in medical management from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.

Since finishing her formative education, Dr. Mallett has served on the Faculty of Northwestern, Wayne State, University of Tennessee, Texas Tech Health Science Center El Paso, holding leadership positions in each of these schools. In her over 25 years of leadership experience, she has served as Fellowship Director, Residency Director, Director of Healthcare Excellence, Practice Plan Director, and Department Chair at Wayne State, University of Tennessee Memphis, and Texas Tech. respectively. 

 Dr. Mallett has received several leadership awards; including 2022 Athena Award, the Nashville Business Journal Women of Influence 2020, the Nashville Medical News 2018 Woman to Watch, and Nashville Healthcare Council fellow. She has authored over 100 articles, book chapters, and abstracts combined.

In March 2022, Dr. Padmos was appointed as Dean of Record and Head, Establishment of Medical School for the Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) in Brampton Ontario, having served as chair of the Senior Medical Advisory Committee since July 2021.

Dr. Padmos retired from the position of CEO of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in December 2019 and from the position of president and CEO of its subsidiary, Royal College International in December 2020 after 14 years. Prior to that appointment, he served in Nova Scotia as Commissioner, Cancer Care Nova Scotia, Associate Dean at Dalhousie University and Head of Cancer Programs and Vice President Research and Academic Affairs at the QEll Health Sciences Centre and Capital District Health Authority from 1998 through 2006.

Dr. Padmos is a practicing hematologist. He graduated from McMaster University and trained in internal medicine and hematology at McMaster in the Hamilton Health Sciences Centre. After a brief stint in Calgary, Dr. Padmos moved with his family to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the only hematologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre. He opened and developed the first bone marrow transplantation program in the Arabian Gulf, now one of the largest in the world. Dr. Padmos returned to Canada in 1993 as CEO of the Kingston Regional Cancer Centre, professor and head of Oncology at Queen’s University and Kingston General Hospital until moving to Halifax in 1998.

In 2010, Dr. Padmos set up Royal College International and created and chaired the Canadian International Health and Education Association until 2020. He continues to serve on the Canada-UAE Business Council as Chair of the Healthcare and Life Sciences Working Group. He also serves on the Boards of iGan Partners and Interactive Health International.

Dr. Diana Pino has over 20 years of experience in higher education, serving in senior leadership roles as Vice Chancellor of Student Services at Houston Community College and founding Dean of Student Services at Lone Star College-CyFair. She holds a Ph.D. in educational administration and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She also earned an M.S. in counseling psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University at San Antonio and holds Texas licensure as a professional counselor (LPC). Dr. Pino has teaching experience at both the community college and university levels in the areas of psychology, interdisciplinary studies, and Mexican American studies. She is currently President and CEO of Capstone HigherEd Services, providing services to educational institutions, small businesses, and non-profit organizations. In addition, Dr. Pino is a lecturer for the University of Houston’s Center for Mexican American and Latino/a Studies. 

Involvement in the community has always been important to Dr. Pino. She currently chairs the education committee for the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she serves on the board of the Association for Conflict Resolution – Houston Chapter as past president, a role she occupied for two consecutive terms. As a volunteer, Dr. Pino serves as a state certified ombudsman for the University of Texas Health Science Center’s Long-term Care Ombudsman Program as well as a mediator for the Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County. She is also a member of class XXXII of the American Leadership Forum – Houston Chapter. Previously, Dr. Pino was involved in numerous organizations to include two terms as board president for the Houston Hispanic Forum as well as advisory trustee and scholarship committee chair for the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation, just to name a few.

Colleen T. Felix-Grant has been a lawyer for fifteen (15) years, practicing in the Commonwealth of Dominica. She graduated from the University of the West Indies with an LLB (upper class honours) degree; she then went on to the Hugh Wooding Law School to obtain an LEC, then, to Queen Mary University of London where she obtained an LLM in Computer and Communications Law. She has been in private practice since.

Presently, Mrs. Felix-Grant is head of the Law Office, Granix Legal Inc. Her areas of practice include offshore services, real estate, corporate banking, commercial law, maritime law, intellectual property and trademarks, immigration and citizenship law, public law, succession and civil law. Mrs. Felix-Grant has been in active litigation of court matters and has a record of success.

She continues to actively pursue many other interests including cybersecurity and data protection regulation.

Mrs. Felix-Grant also served as a regulator for telecommunications and electronic communications services on the island of Dominica and sat as Chairperson of Tribunals and number of Statutory Appeals Boards in Dominica.

Mrs Felix-Grant is also a qualified court mediator.

Dr. Karim Qayumi, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC is a Professor of Surgery at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Founder of the UBC Centre of Excellence for Simulation Education and Innovation (CESEI). He is also a Chair of the Technology Enabled Learning for Vancouver Coastal Health, and the Regional Director of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Dr. Qayumi has extensive international teaching experience obtaining 11 awards in the field of medicine, including the most prestigious award from The University of British Columbia in 1999 – The Killam Teaching Prize. He is the author of 109 peer-reviewed publications and has been invited to lecture and present at over 200 conferences and meetings. One of his books “Basic Surgical Techniques” is translated into many languages including Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and others.

He has completed a variety of research projects. Recently, Dr. Qayumi's focus is on technology-related research and innovation. Amongst his patents and innovations, there is the development of technologies such as an online Learning Management System, called “Electronic Platform for Education and Research or e-PER,” as well as robotics for tele-homecare and patient-centered medical records.

Also, he is the Founder and CEO of CanHealth International, a registered Canadian non-profit charity, that aims to equalize health education between developed and developing countries.

Frederick (Jerry) Streets is the former Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor in Pastoral Counseling at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, New York City. He is the first African American and Baptist to serve as Chaplain of Yale University, 1992-2007. He is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) at Yale Divinity School, a licensed clinical social worker, member of the faculty Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and Senior Pastor of the Dixwell Congregational Church in New Haven, CT.

Professor Streets was Senior Pastor of the Mount Aery Baptist Church in Bridgeport, CT from 1975-1992, leading the congregation in significant growth, building a new church edifice and developing many social outreach programs and ministries. He served as the Yale University Chaplain and Senior Pastor of the Church of Christ in Yale from 1992-2007 where he established a model of multi-faith campus ministry. In honor of Yale’s tercentennial, Yale University Press published his (2005) Preaching in the New Millennium.

In 2008, Professor Streets was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Pretoria in South Africa where he taught in the Department of Practical Theology and explored the intersection of religious, social welfare and medical institutional outreach services to those affected by, and infected with, HIV and AIDS. He returned to South Africa as a Fulbright Specialist in 2010 to assess the transition of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa in becoming a multicultural and ethnic institution since the fall of apartheid.

He is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Streets has served as an adjunct Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Yale Divinity School since 1987. He is also an adjunct Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and in the Spirituality, Mind Body Institute in the Department of Clinical Psychology and Education, Teachers’ College, Columbia University.

A licensed clinical social worker, Professor Streets is the former Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor in Pastoral Counseling at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University in New York City and former Visiting Professor in the Department of Social Work and Latino Community Practice at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT. He also served on the Board of the Fund for Theological Education and the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center. He was a 2009-10 Fellow of the Connecticut Health Foundation. He serves as the Senior Pastor of the historic Dixwell Avenue Congregational United Church of Christ in New Haven, CT. Some of his current larger involvements include membership on the Association of Theological School (ATS), The Commission on Accrediting. He is a member of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma through which he assists in the training of mental health professionals across disciplines, religions and cultures in providing mental health services to those throughout the world who have been traumatized by war and natural disasters.

A native of Chicago, Professor Streets has been nurtured by the American Baptist Convention, Progressive National Baptist Convention and United Church of Christ denominations. He has published numerous articles and book chapters, and he is the recipient of many awards.