Dr. Melissa Barber, MD

Dr. Melissa Barber is the author of “Thirty Days of Thanks: A Journey  Towards Healing and Deliverance and the CEO of the consultant company Thirty Days of Thanks. She completed her medical training at the Latin American School of Medicine (LASM)/ La Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM) in Havana, Cuba; and, is currently a Principal Investigator on the COVID-19 Community Pesquisa Project, which is seeking to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on South Bronx communities. She is a co-founder of South Bronx Unite, a coalition of South Bronx residents and organizations fighting for the social, environmental, health, and economic wellbeing of the Mott Haven-Port Morris Section of the South Bronx.  Dr. Barber serves as a founding Executive Board Member on the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewarts Inc., the first ever funded community land trust in The Bronx seeking to acquire vacant city property to transform into a community wellness center focused on health, education, and the arts. Dr. Barber is the single mother of an amazingly gifted autistic daughter and currently resides where she was born, in the best place on this planet, The South Bronx. 

Kathryn Hall-Trujillo, DDiv, M.P.H. Global Community Health Administrator & Advocate Ashoka Global Social Entrepreneur 

Ambassador, Federation of International Gender & Human Rights 

For over forty years, as a public health administrator, community health educator and advocate in the public and private sectors, Ms. Kathryn has been addressing the racial and gender divide in women’s access to healthcare. She was the founding director of Birthing Project USA: The Underground Railroad for New Life, a global maternal and child health organization, which has provided technical support and resources to maternal and child health stakeholders in 13 countries.  Her experience in understanding, translating and bridging policy, administration, services delivery, and client cultures has earned her national and international recognition, including presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Living Legacy Award and appointment as an official Ambassador by the Federation of International Gender and Human Rights (FIGHR), a United Nations affiliate. 

Ms. Hall-Trujillo has also received the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health Lifetime Achievement Award and is an Ashoka Global Social Entrepreneur Fellow. She is an Independent Scholar of the Cuba Public Health System, serves on the Medical Advisory Board of IFCO (the administrator of the U.S./Cuba Medical School Scholarship Program), adjunct faculty for Charles Drew University of Medicine, and visiting professor for the Cuba National School of Public Health, where she facilitates courses for U.S. students and professionals. Ms. Kathryn is a consultant and mentor to many community leaders, students, and young professionals, to whom she is affectionately known as Mama Katt.