The Emerging Impacts of the Coronavirus

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With more than 2,000 fatalities having been reported and nearly 80,000 reported cases, the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, remains at the forefront of the news cycle. While viral outbreaks have devastated world populations in the past, perhaps none before have had the media scrutiny that has come with the current epidemic. On March 11, three panelists including Dr. Rex Archer, Director, Kansas City, Missouri Health Department, will illuminate the economic and societal impacts of the Coronavirus, and also what part the United States plays in combatting the outbreak. 

The Emerging Impacts of the Coronavirus program will seek to debunk any misconceptions about the virus, while giving perspectives from professionals in the field of business and risk management, the economy, and public health. With no vaccine for the Coronavirus currently developed, it is anticipated the outbreak will continue to spread in the coming months. Join the World Trade Center - KC, Healthy KC and the International Relations Council on March 11 at the Greater KC Chamber Board Room in Union Station to further your knowledge about the Coronavirus and what it means for the future of global health.

Panelists:

• Dr. Rex Archer, Director of Health, City of Kansas City, Missouri Health Department
• Andrew Azan, Vice President, AON 
• Mike Stellern, Professor of Economics, Rockhurst University
• Moderator, Mary Sanchez, Flatland KC

BIOS: 

Rex D. Archer, MD, MPH, Director of Health, City of Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department

Dr. Rex Archer serves as Director of Health for the City of Kansas City, Missouri. In addition to serving as Vice Chair of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) and Chairing PHAB’s Accreditation Improvement Committee, he is a past president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and recently received NACCHO’s Maurice “Mo” Mullet “Lifetime of Service Award.”  Dr. Archer has served on numerous national committees involved with public health. He is responsible for safeguarding the public health of nearly half a million residents and a daytime population of almost one million people.

Under Dr. Archer’s leadership, the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department is, to date, the only health department in the country to receive PHAB accreditation and reaccreditation, win NACCHO’s Local Health Department of the Year award twice, and lead their community to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize. 

Dr. Archer completed his medical degree at the University of Kansas and his General Preventive Medicine Public Health Residency and Masters in Public Health degree at the University of Michigan. He is recognized as a Public Health Leadership Institute Scholar by UCLA/CDC. He has served as Physician in Charge of Employee Health Programs for the Ford Motor Company and has held local and state health positions in Maryland.

Michael Stellern, Professor of Economics, Rockhurst University

Michael Stellern is a Professor in the Helzberg School of Management at Rockhurst University. Mike graduated from Rockhurst University, earned his MA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arizona. Mike has taught economics at the undergraduate, graduate, and Executive MBA levels with a specialty in International Economics.

Mike is the past president of the Missouri Valley Economics Association. He has served as chair for the Economics Department at Rockhurst. He has worked as an assessot in Sprint's Leadership Development Programs under the University of Excellence. He has served as Chair of the Economic Advisory Board for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. He has also coordinated two Economics Updateds with the Kansas City Chamber that address economic issues relevant to Kansas City.

Mike has published in the forecasting and international areas, as well as written a dozen case studies that have been published. He has recently won the best case of the year award in 2015 presented by the Society of Case Research. 

Andrew Azan, Vice President, AON

Andrew joined AON over two years ago as a Vice President in the Healthcare practice. He brings more than 25 years of healthcare experience to the team. Andrew focuses on the growth and develpment of client relationships, with a focus on healthcare; inclusive of health systems, hospitals, long-term care, and behavioral health. His responsibilities include having an acute udnerstanding of clients' broader goals and objectives and benefits strategies. Also, Andrew is a strategic advisor and leads the development and alignment of the AON Client team to ensure flawless executiion on the AON Client Promise.

Prior to joining AON, Andrew was the Executive Vice President of Business Strategy at the Risk Authority at Stanford University Health System. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rockhurst University, and a Strategic Decision & Risk Management Certificate from Stanford University. 

Mary Sanchez, Columnist, Tribune Content Agency

Mary Sanchez is a nationally  syndicated columnist with Tribune Content Agency, specializing in Latin American issues; immigration, race, politics, education, and culture. Her columns appear in publications across the nation and internationally. She was a 2019 Quattrone Investigative Reporting Fellow with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). The Quattrone Fellowship is designed to encourage investigative journalism that explores grievous errors or mistakes made by justice authorities, using the analytical approach that the medical and aviation fields have been applying for years. Her proposed project involves systemic failures that allowed for the incarceration of innocent individuals. 

Sanchez has also been a metro columnist for The Kansas City Star and a member o fthe Star's editorial board, in additiona to her years spent exploring race, class, and educational issues through enterprise reporting. Her work has been recognized repeatedly throughout her career by various entities, including the recent honor by the Missouri Press Foundation, which named Sanchez Best Serious Columnist 2017. She recieved the National Clarion Award in 2007 for column writing, and she was a finalist that year for The American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Awards, having her columns included in "Best Newspaper Writing 2007". Sanchez has also written a column for The Poynter Institute, a think tank for professional journalists, guiding on methods for covering issues with depth and context. She has been a correspondent for EFE, a wire service based in Madrid, Spain. Sanchez has lived in Mexico and traveled extensively in Central America. She is a native of Kansas City. 

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