SMI Board of Directors
Board Officers
 Liz Frye, MD, MPH (Chair)
Street Psychiatrist, Center for Inclusion Health, Allegheny Health Network
Driven by a long-standing desire and commitment to connect deeply with and improve the health of people experiencing extreme poverty, Liz first began providing street-based psychiatric care in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 2008. Liz joined the Street Medicine Institute board in 2016 and has led the Insitute’s annual international street medicine symposia since 2017. She brings the following skillset to the Street Medicine Institute board: founding and directing an Atlanta-based street medicine program; writing and managing street medicine specific grants; designing and guiding qualitative research with people sleeping rough; teaching students and medical residents clinically on the streets; assisting street medicine teams to develop and expand street-based psychiatric care in their communities; and a population-based public health approach to street medicine. Liz completed medical school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her general psychiatry residency, Community Psychiatry Fellowship, and Masters in Public Health at Emory University.
Brett J. Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C (Vice-Chair)
Director and co-Founder of the Division of Street Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of USC and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
Mr. Feldman is the outgoing Vice Chair of the Street Medicine Institute. His main role is to provide technical assistance and consultation to members and affiliates on the topics of the social teaching of street medicine, program development and optimization. He has practiced homeless medicine since 2007 and founded programs at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) Street Medicine in Allentown, PA, and USC Los Angeles, CA. Mr. Feldman’s work has been featured on the BBC, Channel News Asia, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, the Associated Press and Telemundo. A PBS documentary featuring Brett and the street medicine program which he founded, Close to Home: Street Medicine, won an Emmy award in 2018.
 Dr. Kaitlin Schwan (Treasurer)
Director of the California Street Medicine Collaborative
Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Southern California
Dr. Schwan leads Policy and Advocacy for USC Street Medicine. She also serves as Treasurer on the Board of the Street Medicine Institute. Dr. Schwan holds an appointment as an Assistant Professor (Status-Only) at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and is a Senior Researcher at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. A co-founder and Research Advisor for the Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network, Dr. Schwan previously served as Senior Researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. Her work focuses on bridging research, advocacy, policy, and lived expertise to advance housing justice.
Henrik Thiesen, MD, GP (Secretary)
Senior Physician, Manager – HealthTeam for the Homeless, SAVE LIFE National Naloxone training & Veteran Outreach Project, Medical Manager – Copenhagen Safe Injection rooms / Shelter Nurse-Clinics
Henrik Thiesen has more than twenty five years of experience in addiction medicine, health-outreach and harm-reduction for homeless alcohol- and drug users. He has served in different primary healthcare positions including research and management of health-outreach and is now managing a citywide low threshold health and harm-reduction system in Copenhagen. Henrik has been involved with the Street Medicine Institute since 2007.
Board Members
Joseph Benson
Community Health Worker, Healthcare for the Homeless – Houston
Joseph Benson is a double amputee and was homeless in Houston for four years. His decision to partner with Healthcare for the Homeless and SEARCH set his life back on the road to become a contributing citizen of Houston again. Joseph advocates for the homeless on many different fronts. He currently serves on the governance board of Healthcare for the Homeless Council, is an active member of the Healthcare for the Homeless Houston’s Consumer Board, is an active member of the National HealthCare for the Homeless National Consumer Advisory Board and former Chairperson, he also is a Board member of IAMWATERS in Houston, He is an active member of Street Medicine Institute.
 Dave Lettrich
Founder of BTTM LLC
Dave Lettrich is the Founder of BTTM LLC, a consulting organization committed to finding effective solutions in response to the human experience of homelessness. Prior to founding BTTM he served as the Founder and Executive Director of Bridge To The Mountains, a professional street outreach nonprofit serving Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania where he spent nearly 10 years working in the streets. He holds a Master of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and an MBA from Seton Hill University. He is passionate about relationship driven decision making, harm reduction, and harm reductive approaches to deconstruct institutional violence and trauma.
 Melissa Moore
Founder and Street Health Outreach Lead of RISE- Rising Into Self Empowerment
San Francisco East Bay Area – California
Melissa Moore has lived experience of 7 years in the camps she now visits regularly bringing outreach, medical and housing referrals and other resources to PEH. Prior to founding her own non profit she worked for TVHC for 3 years as a Community Health Outreach Worker and also was a freelance advocate while still unhoused. She is a trained Medical Assistant and qualified as a first responder during the peak of COVID. Her passion for advocacy and policy reform has been acknowledged in the media and within city and county agencies. She has also been part of a panel who was chosen to present virtually at the ISMS 17 in 2021.
 Patrick J. Perri, MD
Medical Director and Founder, Center for Inclusion Health, Allegheny Health Network
Dr. Patrick Perri serves as Medical Director for the Center for Inclusion Health at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, PA and is active as a clinician-educator on the faculty of the Allegheny General Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program. His Street Medicine career includes more than 15 combined years working as a clinician on the Street Team of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and a volunteer with Operation Safety Net in Pittsburgh.
 Cathryn Vassell
Chief Executive Officer, Partners of HOME
Cathryn Vassell has dedicated her career to working with individuals experiencing homelessness and individuals living in marginalized communities for over 25 years. She currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Partners for HOME, where she creates and executes the strategy and vision for ending homelessness in the City of Atlanta. Prior to joining Partners for HOME, Cathryn served concurrently as the Legal, Policy and Compliance Officer for St. Joseph’s Health System, and the Behavioral Health Coordinator for Mercy Care, Inc. There, she was instrumental in the development and management of a holistically integrated medical and behavioral health care program across 13 clinic sites. Cathryn has also served as the Program Director for City of Refuge, a shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness. Cathryn was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 2012 and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) as well as an Advisory Board member for HouseATL and the Justice Policy Board.
 James Withers, MD, FACP
Medical Director and Founder, Pittsburgh Mercy's Operation Safety Net; Founder, Street Medicine Institute; Teaching Faculty, UPMC Mercy; Assistant Professor, Clinical Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Jim Withers is a physician trained in Internal Medicine and part of the teaching faculty of the University of Pittsburgh since his residency in 1988. Special areas of interest have been international medicine, wilderness medicine, domestic violence and homeless healthcare. In 1992 he created Operation Safety Net as part of the Pittsburgh Mercy health system to provide healthcare to the unsheltered homeless. In 2005 he initiated the annual International Street Medicine Symposium and in 2009 he and others created the Street Medicine Institute. Through extensive travel, speaking and consultations he has spearheaded the spread of the global street medicine movement.
Honorary
SMI Honors David M. Deci, MD
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