THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

CHRISTOPHER MORELAND, MD, MPH

President

Dr. Moreland is an internal medicine hospitalist and associate professor at Dell Medical School at UT Austin. He graduated from UT Houston Medical School and completed his residency and general medicine fellowship at UC Davis, where he worked closely with deaf community members as a primary care physician and in community service. Along with seeing patients at Dell Seton Medical Center and Seton Medical Center Austin, he serves the internal medicine residency program as associate program director. He has received teaching and mentorship awards at institutional and national levels. Interests in diversity among patients and health professionals have led to local and community service, research, and education on health disparities affecting the deaf and limited English proficient populations, accommodations for deaf and hard of hearing medical students and physicians, medical schools’ technical standards, and the education of interpreters as medical specialists.

For over 2 decades, Dr. Moreland has been honored to support healthcare professional colleagues and mentor deaf and hard of hearing healthcare students and trainees in their professional goals, while advising educators in providing accommodations.

IAN DEANDREA-LAZARUS, MPH

Vice President

Mr. DeAndrea-Lazarus is a seventh-year MD/PhD student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in Rochester, New York. In addition to pursuing his MD, he is working on a PhD in Translational Biomedical Sciences with a special focus in cognitive neurophysiology through the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. He graduated from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, with a BA in Psychology in 2011. After graduating, he completed a two-year post-baccalaureate fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and simultaneously taught Introductory Psychology at Gallaudet before enrolling at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, where he also got his Master's in Public Health.

As a medical student, Mr. DeAndrea-Lazarus has served as the Co-President of the Neurosurgery Focus Group, Vice President of the Medical Student Chapter of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the neurosurgery co-liaison for the Surgery Interest Group. He is also involved in the Medical Education Pathway and the Deaf Health Pathway. Mr. DeAndrea-Lazarus also co-founded Deaf in Scrubs with Dr. Zach Featherstone, a social media platform for the dissemination of health and scientific information in ASL.

ROBERT RADTKE, MS, PA-C

Secretary

Mr. Radtke, from Chicago, Illinois, is a Deaf Physician Assistant and a recent grad of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Currently seeking to start his career in Hospital Medicine and primary care through Deaf Access Chicago. Born to a Deaf family, he was interested in Medicine and Science from a young age. He attributes his desire to serve others through his experiences becoming an Eagle Scout. He started primary education with a Deaf program that engaged students using American Sign Language (ASL), his primary language. He uses bilateral hearing aids and has used interpreting services throughout most of his academic career. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a Bachelor's in Molecular and Cellular Biology. He then obtained his Master's degree from Rush University in Pharmacology when, while taking courses concurrently with PA students, he decided to pursue his dream of practicing clinical medicine by becoming a PA.

Before gaining admission to PA school, Mr. Radtke obtained his E.M.T. license and practiced at Advocate Christ Medical Center ED in Oak Lawn, Illinois as an Emergency Room Technician for close to three years. Starting PA school, Robert saw the lack of disability awareness in Medicine. He worked to start RU Aware, a student organization on campus to raise awareness about disability. Teaching future healthcare providers to be vigilant to needs through being shown stories, tools, and ways of doing things that are novel was how they changed the culture on their campus. He attended his first AMPHL conference in 2013 and attributes the AMPHL community for blazing the trail and exposing him to resources and solutions he needed to be successful. Now he works towards providing future healthcare providers that same experience and to enrich the lives of his patients.

ZACHARY FEATHERSTONE, DO

Treasurer

Dr. Featherstone is a second-year pediatric resident at the University of Las Vegas (Nevada). He graduated from Pacific Northwest University-College of Osteopathic Medicine. While enrolled as a student, he was selected as Honoree Student Doctor of the Year, an award that is only given to one medical student annually based on their academic accomplishments and community services. He was also elected and served as Vice President/Member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. After graduation, he did a year of postdoctoral research at Deaf Health Communication and Quality of Life Research Center at Gallaudet University, where he worked closely with many outstanding individuals dedicated to improving healthcare in the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing population and has been involved in legislatures regarding this theme.

Amongst his greatest joys are being with his family of three children, rafting/guiding whitewater rivers, working with others dedicated to improving healthcare, and mentoring Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing pre-med and medical students. Dr. Featherstone also co-founded Deaf in Scrubs with Mr. DeAndrea-Lazarus, a social media platform for the dissemination of health and scientific information in ASL.