Dr. Jorge Mera, Dr. Justin Iwasaki

Jorge Mera, MD, FACP, is the Director of Infectious Diseases for Cherokee Nation Health Services (CNHS), the largest tribally operated health care system in the United States. He completed his fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in Infectious Diseases. During recent years Jorge’s efforts have been dedicated to organizing the Cherokee Nation HCV elimination program, as well as the HIV/HCV ECHO project. He is also the Director of the HIV clinic since 2012 and the Principal Investigator of the End the HIV Epidemic for the CNHS. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine of the Oklahoma State University Health Science Center and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Justin Iwasaki, MD, MPH, has worked in multiple communities around the world developing innovative solutions to complex health problems. He previously served as the Executive Medical Director of the Lummi Tribal Health Center where he launched a Hepatitis C elimination program. He continues to work with the Lummi Nation on special projects including directing an Opioid Overdose Prevention Program. He is also the Co-Founder/Chief Medical Officer of Tribal Health Connections, a healthcare company working to increase access to virtual specialty care in tribal communities. He has designed and lead projects with funding from the CDC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and his work has been developed into case studies by Harvard Business School and the Stanford Design School (d.school).  He holds a clinical faculty position with the University of Washington School of Medicine and completed a family medicine residency at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington with concentrations in bioinformatics and global health. Prior to that he graduated from the University of Utah’s combined MD/MPH program where he was involved in the start-up and impact investing community.