WesternU’s Austin Lecture to focus on homelessness and childhood trauma
Western University of Health Sciences will hold the sixth Dr. Robert L. Austin Endowed Lectureship at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020 in WesternU’s Health Education Center, Dr. Hung Wen Wu & Dr. Jonathan Y.H. Wu Auditorium, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, California 91766.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will focus on “Understanding Homelessness and Responding to Childhood Trauma and ACEs: Clinical and Community Perspectives.”
Three guest speakers will address this topic. Paul M. Leon, RN, BSN, PHN, is a public health nurse with the County of Orange Health Care Agency and is the CEO and founder of the Illumination Foundation, a grassroots nonprofit with the mission of breaking the cycle of homelessness by providing stable housing and wrap-around services to homeless families.
Geeta Grover, MD, is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, as well as both a clinical professor of pediatrics at UC Irvine and an attending physician for the teaching clinics at CHOC Children’s Hospital and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She has more than 25 years of professional experience working with the pediatric population in Orange County and serves on the Board of Directors for the Illumination Foundation.
Pooja Bhalla, DNP, RN, joined the Illumination Foundation as chief operating officer in 2017 and oversees all program operations, development and implementation. She received master’s and doctoral degrees from Northeastern University, where her research focus was on “Emerging Leaders and Homeless Health Care.”
The Dr. Robert L. Austin Endowed Lectureship in Pediatric Medicine and Pediatric Health Care Policy is made possible by a generous donation from Mrs. Gloria L. Austin of La Mirada, California, in memory of her husband, Robert, a pediatrician and early supporter of WesternU. In addition to the lecture, the endowment provides funds for annual scholarships for an osteopathic medical student and a pharmacy student.
Click here to visit the Austin Lecture website: https://www.westernu.edu/austinlecture/#home
