Laurel A. Royer, Ph.D. is an environmental and human health scientist and founder of Carinalis Consulting and Research. Carinalis is a firm principled in building bridges and creating spaces that engage industry, academia, and community to address pressing global environmental and health challenges.
Dr. Royer has more than 15 years combined research, scientific, technical advising expertise. She has developed, built, and sharpened an inter- and trans- disciplinary consultancy focused on evaluating the balance between innovation and detrimental impact. Dr. Royer applies fundamentals of the chemical and related sciences to evaluate manufacturing/production and application, disposal, contamination, and exposure issues via the use cycle to support stakeholders in achieving an overall positive impact. To that cause, she supports clients and partners across a myriad of sectors addressing both proactive and reactive responses at the intersection of the built and natural environment.
Dr. Royer is an active and vocal advocate for broadening participation through lens of equity and inclusion in deriving environmental and health solutions that advance sustainable and economic development frameworks. Her work with community-based organizations involves technical advising that supports capacity building, grant execution, research, and implementation strategies.
She holds a Master of Science degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Doctoral degree in Environmental Chemistry from Purdue University. She is also an alum of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Camille D. Love, NP is known for being a dynamic, inspiring, and forward-thinking Nurse Practitioner, who’s service within the health industry continues to spark positive inroads and create change. Camille’s core values of faith, service, growth and commitment to establishing trust have been a consistent thread woven throughout the fabric of her career. Camille’s model for healthcare has always been rooted in developing strong relationships with transparency in the interest of her patients, colleagues, and providers. Camille’s personal mantra follows a clear point of view that, in healthcare, service, growth and trust are pillars for providing excellent healthcare.
Camille completed her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Nursing, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The earliest years of Camille’s career were not full of rainbows and gumdrops. She quickly became aware of the prevalence of health disparities in Black and Brown communities, and that overall health literacy was poor. The lack of cultural awareness perpetuated those disparities and health illiteracy. Given this harsh entry into the field of Nursing, Camille was more committed than ever to increase her cultural awareness to help mitigate the disparities and create generational change that would impact the masses.
In the last several years, Camille found her stride within her career, and has been a major contributor to the healthcare industry. In addition to patient care, Camille broadened her impact and engagement, serving as a mentor for future Nurse Practitioners via various training programs. She has become increasingly sought after for her professional prowess, and jovial personality. One of her greatest points of pride and accomplishments, was becoming bilingual while building her career as a newly minted nurse practitioner. With no prior experience or linguistic acumen, Camille immersed herself into her role in a clinic with a 90% Spanish speaking patient population. Learning a new language, and ways of working, proved to be a formidable task that was equal to that of managing patient care. Camille remains one of the most beloved practitioners of this community, which is a testament to not only her skill but the human connections she makes each day.
Camille’s goals for healthcare have only pricked the surface of the industry. Her future endeavors are far more than merely wellness checks and disease maintenance. Camille’s vision for healthcare is an interdimensional field that encompasses spiritual, mental and physical wellness, that includes strategic collaborations with organizations that have similar goals and objectives to restructure the framework of true wellness. In Camille’s own words, “True healthcare doesn’t merely fix or prevent a disease; it educates and empowers patients about their health.”
Dwain J. Kyles is an attorney and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to serving others and advocating for their civil rights. His commitment to public service began while at Georgetown University Law School, working for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Civil Rights Division as an intern, and also as an intern for Congressman Harold Ford, Sr. That experience,and others, helped shape Dwain’s world view and with a determination to advance the interests of the most vulnerable members of our community, Dwain went to work with the corporate Law Department of Johnson Products Company, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois after graduation.
Dwain’s varied public sector experience includes his appointment as Special Counsel for Minority Business Development by Mayor Harold Washington, the City of Chicago’s first African American mayor. In that role, he worked as Special Counsel to the Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development. Dwain later established the first in-house law department at McCormick Place, then the nation’s largest tradeshow and exhibition center.
Most recently, Dwain has been focused on the transition of the Tabernacle Senior Citizen’s Project, an organization that has managed a 123-unit senior’s building for over forty years, to one that is designing a national model for creating living environments where vulnerable older adults can enjoy an affordable, secure and desirable quality of life.
Dwain’s involvement in other legal and entrepreneurial enterprises has included urban community development projects, hospitality, healthcare delivery and management companies and a logistics project in Northwest Indiana designed to bring tens of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to surrounding communities.
Dwain considers philanthropic endeavors one of his core values and has donated thousands of hours to meet the needs of underserved people through his law practice, as well as his healthcare, public service, secondary education, political and social services activities.
Donna M. Gaines is the President of Sage Collective, a not-for-profit organization formed in 1978 to provide safe and affordable rental housing centered on older adults with low and moderate incomes. The organization has expanded its mission to provide ancillary support services with an emphasis on initiatives that enhance the quality of life for older adults and help them achieve greater vitality, fulfillment, and dignity.
In addition to operating ongoing business enterprises, Donna previously served as the President & CEO of the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), an organization of nationally-recognized businesses, where she was responsible for cultivating business relationships and partnerships with Fortune 500 companies. She represented ABLE in discussions on small business development with members of the Public Liaison’s Office of President-elect Obama’s Transition Team, and participated in monthly briefings hosted by the Presidential Personnel Office for African-American leaders.
As the former National Director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s International Trade Bureau, Donna coordinated the business development activities for its members under the leadership of Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., providing business coaching services for over 300 business owners. In addition to her responsibilities domestically, Donna served as the business development liaison with embassy officials and designees from Venezuela, Mexico, Ghana and London.
Recognizing that education, social entrepreneurship and economic empowerment are critical to the quality of life and the future of our families and communities, Donna has dedicated much of her professional and personal life to social impact programs and projects that advance these goals. Her board involvement includes Chicago TREND and Sunshine Enterprises, and previously, the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, The Primo Center for Women and Children, Roosevelt University’s Heller College of Business, Moneythink, and Village Leadership Academy. Donna also speaks nationally on ageism and advocacy, social entrepreneurship, as well as community engagement and empowerment strategies, and has received several awards and citations for her work.
Loren Faith Buford is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the clinical program Supervisor of Senior Services at Metropolitan Family Services in DuPage County. She supervises the Senior Counseling and Family Caregiver Programs, which include a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group, in-home and in-office counseling services, and support groups for adults ages 60 and over, and for unpaid family caregivers. Loren is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and licensed to provide the Dementia Live experience to help others gain greater awareness and understanding of the struggles affecting persons with dementia.
Loren’s experience includes counseling people of all ages with dual mental health diseases and chronic medical illnesses, complicated by trauma. As part of the training team at HRDI, she provided supervision, training and developed psychodrama groups for clients with mental health issues and HIV. Loren was project coordinator for Chicago State University’s HIV Youth Prevention Education (HYPE) Program, where she supervised a student and teaching artist collaboration to promote public awareness through student performances, educational outreach and community partnerships. She was also program coordinator for a Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) funded program servicing DCFS youth and their families, where she identified, researched and wrote grant proposals to fund these services. In addition, Loren has provided in-home mental health care services for older adults as a therapist with the In-Home Counseling for Seniors Agency, covering Chicago and the Western Suburbs.
Her ardent belief is that elder adults and children are our most vulnerable populations and deserve our advocacy, protection and the best care possible. “The innocence of our babies and the wisdom of our elders is priceless and must be preserved and protected at all costs.”
