Jerry Walden, MD*
President
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.
Sonya Lewis, MD
Vice 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.
Walter “Mac” Whitehouse, Jr, MD
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 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 his full retirement in May 2019.
Ellen Arneson, PA
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.
Stuart Dombey, MD
Dr. Dombey is a British-trained physician who has spent his career in drug development in the pharmaceutical industry both in the UK and USA. Much of this work has consisted of judgments on risks and benefits of new therapies which have a clear parallel to the safe use of guns. The other parallel is understanding the regulatory framework of drug development and usage in countries around the world. It is quite consistent to have a detailed regulatory framework with appropriate use allowed. He is now retired but consults and teaches about drug development.
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 serves on the LGBTQ excellence improvement team at Spectrum Health and championed an initiative to screen for unlocked guns in homes and provide education around gun safety.
Willie James
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.) in 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.
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).
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
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.