COPR Alumni
Class of 2006
Rafael Gonzalez-Amezcua
Term: 2003–2006
As part of his commitment to help the Hispanic community, Dr. Rafael Gonzalez-Amezcua hosts a weekly, live TV medical segment of the evening newscast for Univision’s 14 KDTV in San Francisco, California, covering a range of medical topics from diabetes to bioterrorism. He is also a clinical instructor in medicine at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine and a staff physician for On Lok SeniorHealth, which offers comprehensive medical and support services to the frail elderly via an interdisciplinary team approach.
His involvement in the delivery of care to the frail elderly in a predominantly Hispanic community has led him to participate in other areas of health care delivery. One of the biggest challenges he sees his patients face is Alzheimer’s dementia. This discovery culminated in his becoming one of the founding members of the Medical Scientific Advisory Committee to the Alzheimer’s Association of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, where he was also nominated to serve on the Board of Directors. He has taken part in several community forums to educate providers, patients, and families about Alzheimer’s dementia through his involvement in the Alzheimer’s Association and the Family Caregiver Alliance.
Dr. Gonzalez-Amezcua serves on the Advisory Board of a Quality of Care Initiative for the San Francisco Network of Adult Day Health Centers and was recently selected to serve on the National Advisory Board to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation State Solutions, which is a program that seeks to maximize Medicare saving plans to better serve Medicare beneficiaries. He is a member of the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), serving on its National Advisory Committee and actively participating in its annual conferences. In fact, it was through the NHMA that he took part in New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service Leadership/Health Policy Fellowship. He also participated in the 2002 Hispanic Health Leadership Agenda Conference, which was held in San Antonio, Texas.
He received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of California at Davis and his M.D. from the Finch University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School. Dr. Gonzalez-Amezcua and his wife, a pediatrician, have a 3-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son, whose soccer team he coaches.
Jim Jensen
Term: 2003–2006
Senator Jim Jensen was elected to the 20th District of Nebraska in 1994 and has since worked to improve the health care of all Nebraskans. He has introduced significant health care legislation as the chairperson of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Nebraska Legislature, which is currently involved in a broad evaluation and planning study of publicly funded health and human services in the state. Much of Senator Jensen’s work is devoted to Medicaid-related issues; for instance, he is the chair of the Medicaid Reform Task Force, which he established in response to the increasing Medicaid costs and Nebraska’s budgetary shortfalls, and is a member of the Nebraska Medicaid Infrastructure Grant Project Advisory Committee.
Senator Jensen’s work in the Nebraska Legislature has given him extensive experience working with groups of various sizes and very diverse interests to mediate legislative compromises in the best interests of the people of his state. He has served on the Banking, Commerce, and Insurance Committee and serves on the Nebraska Women’s Health Advisory Council, Nebraska’s Minority Public Health Initiative Task Force, Nebraska Newborn Screening and Genetics Advisory Committee, Nebraska Partners in Prevention for Addictions, and Nebraska Mental Health Housing Coalition. Among the many health awards Senator Jensen has received, he has been named the Nebraska Family Council Statesman of the Year and has received the Legislative Appreciation Award from the Nebraska Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. He has been married to his wife, Joan, for 44 years and they have 5 children and 16 grandchildren.
Dawna Torres Mughal
Term: 2003–2006
Dr. Dawna Torres Mughal is Associate Professor and Dietetics Program Director at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, as well as director of the Consortium Coordinated Program in Dietetics of three neighboring academic institutions. She is a registered dietitian and is certified as a charter Fellow of the American Dietetic Association (ADA).
Dr. Mughal values education as an agent of change, collaboration as a tool for making things happen, and volunteer work as an important investment in the community and its future. Her research and professional interests in foods and nutrition include aging, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, intellectual disabilities, patient/client education, and women’s health. Her doctoral research on type 2 diabetes mellitus and dietary adherence received the ADA’s New Researchers Award, and her more recent research has focused on nutrition screening of free-living older adults and of adults with intellectual disabilities who live in community-based homes.
Dr. Mughal served on the board of the Pennsylvania Dietetic Association (PADA) and as PADA’s delegate to the House of Delegates of the ADA. She has held various leadership positions in the ADA as well. Dr. Mughal has also extended her volunteer work to the international community as the secretary and a member of the Steering Committee of the Special Interest Research Group on Aging and Intellectual Disabilities (SIRGAID), which is composed of international members. As charged by the World Health Organization, this association developed recommendations for healthy aging of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Her work with SIRGAID has taken her to conferences around the world and has increased her awareness of international issues on aging and intellectual disabilities.
Dr. Mughal is also devoted to community service. She is a graduate of the Leadership Erie Program and has held leadership positions on boards of local and non-local organizations. As a board member of the Erie County United Way, she chaired the Health and Healing Impact Area and is the present chair of the Community Building committee. She also served as board president of the local International Institute.
Dr. Mughal’s awards include the PADA’s Keystone Award for leadership; the ADA’s Madge Myers Fellowship, New Researchers Award, and Outstanding Dietetics Educator Award; Honoree, as a good role model for other women in her community, Erie Center for Women; and Distinguished Alumna, Central Philippine University. Dr. Mughal earned her Ph.D. in Nutrition from Penn State University. In her free time, she enjoys various kinds of music, travel, and spending time with her two grown children, Saleem and Yasmin.
Ellen V. Sigal
Term: 2003–2006
Dr. Ellen Sigal is the founder and chairperson of Friends of Cancer Research, as well as President of the Creative Community Task Force for Cancer Research. Her philanthropic and public pursuits for these two organizations are aimed at the eradication of cancer through public awareness, education, and advocacy on the benefits of cancer research.
Dr. Sigal serves on the National Cancer Institute’s Board of Scientific Advisors, which counsels the director of NCI and division and deputy directors for extramural science on a wide variety of matters concerning scientific program policy, progress, and the future direction of extramural research programs of each of the divisions. She is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and has been appointed to serve on their Strategic Planning and Development Committee. In addition, Dr. Sigal is a board member of the ASCO Foundation and serves on the National Dialogue on Cancer (NDC), where she is a member of the cancer research team. NDC is chaired by former President Bush, Mrs. Barbara Bush, and Senator Diane Feinstein and encourages the cancer community to work together on overriding issues of interest to prevent, treat, and educate the public on the importance of the community working together to eradicate this terrible disease.
She was a Presidential appointee to the National Cancer Advisory Board from 1992 to 1998, where she served as Chair of the Budget and Planning Committee of the Board for more than five years until her term expired. This committee has oversight of the federal cancer budget, which is in excess of two billion dollars, and advises on strategic issues, priorities, and on the Presidential Bypass Budget.
Dr. Sigal has served as chairperson of the Board of Overseers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and on the Board of Visitors of the Medical Center. She currently serves on the board of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Johns Hopkins Cancer Center Advisory Council.
For her efforts on behalf of cancer research advocacy, she received the 1998 American Association for Cancer Research National Leadership Award, the 1999 Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center National Leadership Award, and the 2002 American Society of Clinical Oncology Special Recognition Award.
Dr. Sigal received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Russian History.
