Board of Trustees
2023-2024 Board of Trustees
Catherine Pinkston
DO, MS
President
Dr. Pinkston earned her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Cincinnati and now practices family medicine in Reno, Nevada. Dr. Pinkston became involved with DOCARE during her fourth year of medical school while doing a rotation in Guatemala. She has extensive experience in global health, with most of her work focused in Guatemala. She is the current clinic director for the DOCARE clinic in San Andres, Guatemala.
Shane Sergent
DO, FAAEM, RDMS, FACOEP, FAWM
Past President
Dr. Sergent is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM), earning degrees in global and strategic management and osteopathic medicine respectively. He has worked with the MSUCOM Peru Outreach program since 2009, implementing countless research and health initiatives. Dr. Sergent serves as Clinical Faculty and Profesor Honorario at Universidad César Vallejo in Trujillo, Peru. He also serves as Clinical Faculty and as the Medical Director of Global Health and Research at MSUCOM’s Institute of International Health . Currently he resides in the Southwest working at Kingman Regional Medical Center in Kingman, Arizona where he serves at the Emergency Medicine Associate Program Director and Global Health Director. When he is not working on global health projects, he enjoys wilderness and dive medicine.
Jenni Strand
Pharm.D.
Vice President
Jenni Strand, Pharm.D., has worked in community and hospital settings in rural and underserved communities in Arizona and Oregon. She has worked with DOCare as a student pharmacist on mission trips to Guatemala. Since beginning work during a pandemic, she has worked with local providers and students to provide care through vaccination outreach as well as patient education. She looks forward to working with DOCare and participating in mission trips for many years to come.
James F. Griffin
DO, FAOCA, FASA
Treasurer
Dr. Griffin is a practicing anesthesiologist at South County Hospital in Wakefield, RI. He earned his DO degree at the University of Health Sciences; College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Mo, completed an osteopathic internship at Union Hospital in Union, NJ and an Internal Medicine residency at Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY. After practicing Internal Medicine for three years he returned to Albany Medical Center to complete his residency in Anesthesiology. He is a founding member and President of South County Anesthesia Associates, LLC, and is active in a number of medical organizations on the national, state and local levels. He has participated in several medical missions in the past to China and Honduras.
Jodi Flanders
DO, FACOFP
Secretary
Dr. Flanders is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Her post-graduate training was completed at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital. She is Board Certified in Family Medicine and worked in private practice 32 years prior to transitioning to Medical Director, serving victims of human trafficking and addiction. She remains active in global health, serving the underserved internationally, as well as those experiencing homelessness in the state of Michigan. Dr. Flanders is clinical faculty at MSUCOM and West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. Her international service trips include Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Belize, Haiti, Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru, China and Ukraine, leading those to Mexico and Peru annually.
Sarah King
DO
Resident Trustee
Sarah King is a PGY4 surgical resident currently completing her Pediatric Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Michigan. She completed her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree and an MA in Bioethics at Kansas City University and an MSc in Global Health and Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland prior to entering medical school. Sarah participated in the Global Health Honors Track at KCU, allowing her to incorporate international medicine into her medical school curriculum. She has been an active member of DOCARE since her first year of medical school and served as president of the KCU chapter for the 2017-2018 school year and as the Student Member of the DOCARE Board from 2018-2020. Sarah has participated in multiple medical mission trips to India, the Dominican Republic, and Kenya.
Sarah Gieszl
OMS III
Student Trustee
Sarah Gieszl is currently a medical student at the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. She joined her DOCARE Chapter during her first year of medical school and served as the Chapter’s Co-Vice President from 2021-2022. She helped lead UIWSOM Chapter’s first inaugural trip to Guatemala. In addition to the trip, she helped the chapter form a partnership with TCOM’s Chapter, enhance fundraising, increased recruitment, and sought local volunteer opportunities in San Antonio, Texas. Her passion for global health has been rooted in past educational and professional experiences. Prior to medical school, she served as an Epidemiologist Manager for the Arizona Department of Health. During her undergraduate and graduate studies at Hopkins, she led original research in East Africa for several years and later translated it to ongoing research at Arizona’s Refugee Women’s Health Care clinic at the State’s County Hospital. In the future, she intends to do a clinical rotation at a DOCARE clinic. Sarah is deeply committed to global health and DOCARE’s mission.
Trustees-At-Large
Ruben Kenny Briceno
MD
Dr. Briceno is a graduate of Universidad Cesar Vallejo College of Human Medicine, earning degrees in MD and Master’s in Health Services Management, he completed his post-doctoral training at the Hospital de Alta Complejidad Virgen de la Puerta and Universidad Privada Antenor Orrego, he is a practicing Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine attending physician and associate director of the Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine residency program at Hospital Victor Lazarte Echegaray. He Joined the MSUCOM Peru Outreach Program since 2008 and attended every year, first as a medical student then as an attending physician and research coordinator and now as program co-leader. He is currently an assistant professor in Infectious and tropical disease at the Institute for Global Health, College of Osteopathic Medicine Michigan State University. He oversees Research and Preceptorship Study abroad Programs in Peru where he resides.
Kyle Hedquist
PharmD
Kyle Hedquist is a graduate of the University of New England College of Pharmacy. His first year of post-graduate training was completed at AdventHealth Orlando. His second year of post-graduate training was completed in Emergency Medicine at NovantHealth. He is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Pharmacist and works as a Clinical Pharmacist in the Emergency Department at AdventHealth Orlando. Kyle has been part of DOCARE International since 2022 and has since attended the global health outreach trip to the Amazon region of Peru as an attending preceptor to medical students.
Kathleen Martin
MD
Dr. Martin is a practicing pediatrician and an Associate Professor at West Virgina School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg WV. She earned her medical degree in 2005 from West Virginia University, and completed her Pediatrics residency at a dual accredited MD/DO program at Women and Children's Hospital in Charleston, WV. During that time, she developed a passion for holistic care and serving marginalized communities. Dr. Martin serves as the faculty advisor to WVSOM's DOCARE chapter and has supervised students on trips to Mexico, Dominican Republic and Peru.
Travis Gordon
DO
Travis Gordon Graduated from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed residency at Florida Hospital East Orlando with specialties in Family Medicine and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine. He has been a member of DOCARE for 9 years, having volunteered on many of the Peru trips, as well as directed similar outreach trips with the Peruvian Navy along the Amazon river. Previous to medical school he served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua for two years.
He is currently an assistant professor of OMM and assistant DME for MSUCOM in their international studies program in Yucatan, Mexico, where he lives with his beautiful wife and two children.
Caytlin Deering
DO, FACP
Caytlin Deering is an Infectious Diseases physician. She graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and pursued her residency in Internal Medicine at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Illinois. She then completed her fellowship in Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Pennsylvania. Dr. Deering has a passion for global health and has volunteered in Peru and the Dominican Republic. She currently practices in Royal Oak, Michigan, where she has a special interest in travel medicine.
Taran Silva
DO
Dr. Silva is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM) where he attended medical school after receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in physiology with a minor in Spanish. He completed his residency training in full-scope family medicine at the Scott Air Force Base/St. Louis University SW Illinois Family Medicine Residency Program. He has worked with the MSUCOM Peru Outreach program and the MSUCOM Guatemala medical mission since 2016. Dr. Silva is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, working with second through 4th year medical students on their core family medicine rotations. He also holds Clinical Faculty appointments at the University of California Davis School of Medicine and at MSUCOM. As an Active Duty Air Force physician, Dr. Silva works at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California. He is also a core faculty member at the Family Medicine Residency Program there, and helps the Transitional Year Internship Program as an Assistant Program Director. When he is not working, Dr. Silva enjoys spending time traveling, camping, fishing, and baking.