Board of Directors
Sonya Lewis, MD, MPH
President
Dr. Lewis is a board-certified psychiatrist who attended medical school at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and completed her post-graduate medical training at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. In 2015 she was awarded an M.P.H. in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan. Dr. Lewis believes that a physician’s leadership role expands beyond the workplace setting, and must also involve active participation in one’s greater community. She proudly serves as an executive committee member of Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence (PPGV) and has given numerous presentations about the crisis of gun violence in America and what can be done to address it. Dr. Lewis is currently employed by the VA Ann Arbor Health Care System where she provides integrated mental health services in the Emergency Department.
Dr. Lewis' affiliation with PPGV is independent from her employment. Any views or positions she expresses in her work with PPGV are not intended to reflect the views or positions of her employer.
Ellen Arneson, PA
Secretary
Secretary
Secretary
Ellen Arneson attended Carleton College, graduated from Simmons College, and worked as a medical research assistant in Boston and Ann Arbor. She was a stay-at-home mom for twenty years, then returned to school to earn a master’s degree as a physician assistant from Univ. of Detroit-Mercy. She practiced Family Medicine at Packard Community Clinic in Ann Arbor (now Packard Health.) She has been married since 1972 to Gaard Arneson, a general surgeon. They are proud parents of Laura and Jon and doting grandparents to Penny and Eve.
Mac Whitehouse, MD
Treasurer
Treasurer
Dr. Whitehouse is a board-certified vascular surgeon who recently retired after a successful 36-year clinical career, the last 30 of which were spent at St. Joseph Mercy – Ann Arbor. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, he was trained in general surgery at the University of Michigan and in vascular surgery at the University of Chicago. In addition to a successful clinical practice, he served as Chair of Surgery for two decades, Medical Director of Surgical Services for more than a decade and participated in ministry governance including serving as board chair. He was also engaged with multispecialty group development and leadership. He served on the University of Michigan clinical faculty for his entire career. Following clinical retirement, he joined the perioperative team within Trinity Health as an executive consultant, eventually serving as the Medical Director of Clinical Excellence until May, 2019.
Kelly Huggett, MD
Dr. Kelly Huggett is a Med/Peds Physician with a passion for Adolescent Medicine and holistic, preventative, inclusive healthcare and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Kelly completed her Undergraduate degree at Kalamazoo College and then attended Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, ultimately graduating from MSU Grand Rapids Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency. Dr. Huggett co-developed a comprehensive, inclusive Sex Ed curriculum with a focus on reducing teen pregnancies and STDs in a local rural community and has achieved certification in Mindfulness Based Stressed Reduction for teens and young adults. Kelly, her husband and their three teens volunteer to help resettle Afghan refugee families and have treasured the opportunity to share their journeys. Dr. Huggett is passionate about gun violence prevention and is physician co-lead of the Corewell Health Gun Safety Workgroup.
Willie James
Carol King, MD
Dr. Carol King attended Kalamazoo College and Northwestern Medical School, achieving Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honor society memberships respectively. She completed her Family Medicine Residency in Lansing at Sparrow Hospital. Dr. King has 25 years experience in outpatient family medicine. She has helped to develop seminars and a podcast to educate providers in patient communication and improving patient experience. Her interests include women's health, preventative health, mental health, and patient experience. In her free time, she hikes the Michigan outdoors, puzzles in escape rooms, plays with her rescue pitbull, and spends time with her family.
Michael Otto, MD
Michael Otto MD grew up in Northern Michigan, and received a BS in Zoology 1977, MD 1981, both at the University of Michigan. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Northwestern in 1984, and an Infectious Diseases fellowship at Michigan in 1989, after which he was a private practitioner in Infectious Diseases for 32 years. His career included roles as St Joe's Ann Arbor ID section head, Homecare director, P&T committee member, and helped start an ID Fellowship program in 2008. He was a member of IDSA, MIDS, MSMS and WCMS. He retired from medical practice in 2021, and lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Kay.
At a young age Mike learned the importance of firearm safety as a small game hunter. He has been increasingly alarmed about gun violence in this country, and is a proud member of PPGV. He looks forward to being more active in this important organization.
James Peggs, MD
Dr. Peggs attended the University of Michigan ( BA, 1970 ) and Wayne State University Medical School ( M.D., 1975 ) before completing a Family Medicine Residency at Lancaster General Hospital ( Pa.) 1978 and a Geriatric Mini-Fellowship in 1986. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine in August 1978 where he enjoyed a long and successful career ultimately attaining the rank of Professor. He retired in August 2014 and continues to serve as an Active Emeritus Professor of Family Medicine.
Jim married Peg Talburtt in 1976 with whom he has raised their 2 children and now provides love to their 4 grandchildren. In addition to his passion for golf, he devotes his energy to numerous volunteer activities in the community including service on the Executive Committee of Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence ( PPGV) and the Regional Board of Old National Bank.
John Rivard, MD
Dr. Rivard grew up in SE Michigan, and graduated from the Honors College of Michigan State University with a dual degree in Biochemistry and Philosophy. He attended the Johns Hopkins Medical School, and completed his residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is a board certified anesthesiologist who has been in practice at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor since 1992. He has done extensive overseas volunteer work, including 15 missions with Operation Smile, providing cleft lip and palate surgeries to poor children in many nations. His family includes his wife Julie, an admissions essay editor, and 3 grown children all currently living on the east coast. He is the founder of a private family foundation (rivardfoundation.org) which has donated extensively to local and national non-profit organizations.
William Wadland, MD
Dr. Wadland (Bill) attended Albion College, Albion, Michigan (B.A., 1969), Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass. (1970), University of Michigan Medical School (M.D., 1975), and the University Michigan School of Public Health (M.S., Research Design and Statistics, 1988). He completed his Family Medicine residency at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C. (1978), where he was chief resident. After community-based rural practice in Michigan and academic practice at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont, he became Professor and Chair of Family Medicine (1992-2014) at the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU), where he was also the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs (2004-14). After retirement from MSU as Professor Emeritus, he remains clinically active in medical missions and locum tenens support for rural practices in northwest, Michigan, and serves as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM).
Jerry Walden, MD
Dr Walden is a family physician and Fellow of the American College of Family Physicians. He co-founded PPGV in 2011. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, he founded and was the medical director of Packard Community Clinic (now Packard Health) a 501c3 nonprofit agency with a mission to provide high-quality health care regardless of financial circumstances. He also served as a volunteer doctor in Chiapas, Mexico, in New Orleans post-Katrina, and at the Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti. He was the chief medical officer at the US penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana in the late 1960s and has served as a medical expert in prison-related health cases.
Welton Craig Washington, MD
Dr. Washington is a clinical adjunct professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and is an attending psychiatrist at Washtenaw County Community Mental Health. He is an American Psychiatric Association member. He has been awarded the Nancy C.A. Roeske, M.D. award for Excellence in Medical Student Education, the Alpha Omega Alpha award for the Volunteer Clinical Faculty of the Year at the University of Michigan Medical School, and the Irma Bland, MD Certificate of Excellence in Teaching Residents. He currently serves on the executive board of the Black Psychiatrists of America. He completed his undergraduate training at Morehouse College and both his medical training and psychiatry residency at the University of Michigan.
Ted Wilson
Philip Zazove, MD
Philip Zazove, M.D. the first deaf person mainstreamed in the northern Chicago suburban area, was the third deaf person to graduate from Medical School. He’s the past Chair of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan, and currently an active emeritus Professor in Family Medicine. He’s interested in primary care/prevention, reducing unnecessary injuries/deaths and maximizing life quality for all, and his research focused on improving health for people with disabilities. Of note, he published his life story (When The Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes: Memoirs of a Deaf Doctor) as well as a novel (Four Days In Michigan). He and his wife – also a family physician - have two daughters, four grandchildren and two dogs. He enjoys x-country skiing, kayaking, golf, good books, writing books and spending time with friends.
Andrew J. Zweifler, MD*
Dr. Zweifler is an internist and Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He was Director of the Hypertension Clinic at the University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 1974 to 1997. He is an Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine and recipient of a number of teaching awards from the Medical School including the Senior Medical Student Award for Excellence in Clinical Skills which was established in his name. He has been active in promoting social justice issues in the community as well and received the University of Michigan Medical School Community Service Award in 2002.
*Jerry Walden and Andrew Zweifler co-founded PPGV