Early Bird Breakout
Saturday, Feb. 25 8am

We will discuss issues related to the existence and nature of the soul, and why it matters, both in general terms and for the doctor-patient relationship specifically.

Dr. Wilson practices Emergency Medicine in Southern California, where he lives with his wife Michal. They have 2 grown sons, Caleb and Joshua, who live in Southern California as well. In addition to practicing medicine, Dr. Wilson completed an MA in the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at Talbot School of Theology, with a focus on issues related to the mind-body problem and personal ontology. Exploring the impact of the metaphysics of the soul on the practice of medicine is a particular interest of his.

Email Cory

402-960-2635

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Nurse Practitioner (NP) Adamson holds a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Nursing. He has more than 5 years of clinical Family Nurse Practitioner experience and is accredited through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). His clinical areas of interest include pediatric medicine and health promotion. NP Adamson is very personable and intentional when building relationships with those under his care. He enjoys spending time with his wife and four children and is an advocate for foster care and adoption; he is also active in his local church and values his relationship with Jesus Christ. In his free time, NP Adamson enjoys cycling, disc golf, and anything that can get him outdoors.

Summer Worrall felt called to work at Hope Christian Health Center upon learning of the unique mission. She believes that working at a faith based, non-profit health clinic that provides excellent care physically, emotionally, and spiritually is the one of the many ways Christians are called to serve. Summer aims to serve all patients and employees with dignity, kindness, patience, and most of all, love. Working at HCHC is Summer’s third non-profit job and the first in the medical field. Summer joined the team as an accountant in 2019 and was promoted to Director of Finance in early 2021.

Hailing from South Carolina, Summer loves to visit family and be outdoors. Summer radiates sunshine, kindness, and Christ-like leadership. She and her military husband have two cats and recently welcomed their first child.

People working in healthcare may think they will never go overseas on a long-term mission assignment but may consider a short-term service opportunity. The concern is that those who go on short-term healthcare missions can either be a blessing to others or cause harm. This workshop will explore best practices in short term healthcare missions so that those who participate can provide holistic, God-honoring, ethical, and compassionate care for the vulnerable.

Rebecca has been a nurse for over 30 years, and in the hospital setting, was part of the ECMO Team and Transport Team, as well as an Educator, Charge Nurse, and Manager. Her master’s and doctoral research focused on pediatric end-of-life care. She started teaching at California Baptist University (CBU) in 2010 and for the past 12 years, has focused on serving vulnerable populations in the community. She was a co-author of the culture and strategies section of Christian Global Health in Perspective, a 10-week course available for people as they prepare for missions. She has written and co-authored new curriculum and programs at CBU. She teaches courses such as Global Health, Transcultural Nursing, Leadership, and Curriculum Development. She loves to teach and mentors students both in the classroom, as an advisor in the doctoral programs, and beyond into the community. She trains with and leads teams of students to serve cross-culturally on academic service-learning opportunities, where students learn to integrate their faith with their discipline. She is also a volunteer at her church, serves on professional boards, and participates in a variety of community activities.

The history of addiction and racism in America are often told separately. This presentation will review the intertwined relationship between substance use and racial bias during the 20th and 21st century. We will review the latest literature on how the opioid crisis affects all races and ethnicities as well as the concerning trends in synthetic opioid overdoses. We will also look to next steps and strategies for overcoming and healing both addiction and racial bias in America. The talk will particularly provide a Biblical lens for how to discuss addiction and racial disparities with secular colleagues from a Kingdom worldview.

Dr. Yamashita is a double-board certified Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine physician currently serving as interim Medical Director of Hurtt Family Health Clinic in Santa Ana, California. He completed his Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Stanford where he serves as adjunct faculty teaching their Stigma and Disparities curricula. Dr. Yamashita founded and currently Chairs the Christian Medical and Dental Association’s Addiction Medicine Section, which is an multi-professional and interdisciplinary network of healthcare professionals and faith-based leaders working together to free their communities from addiction. He served on CMDA’s Racism, Reconciliation, Equality, and Diversity Committee. He is passionate about caring for the whole person and exposing myths and stigmas that contribute to addiction, overdoses, and poor health in our communities.

What is a patient? vs. What does it mean to be a patient?

It's easy to practice healthcare focused on the first question. But perhaps you want to better address the latter question? Come to this talk where we'll address the following 3 questions:

1) How do I integrate my faith into my practice of healthcare?

2) Is it ethical to do spiritual care?

3) How do I start going about spiritual care?

Andrew Wai grew up in Orange County and graduated from UCLA. He completed medical school and residency in combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics (Med-Peds) at Loma Linda University. He has been a part of CMDA since his first year of medical school. While in medical school, he also got involved with Medical Strategic Network where he did the Whole Person Care Preceptorship which helped him to integrate spiritual care into his practice of medicine. He is currently on faculty at Loma Linda University where he practices as a Primary Care Physician and also does Pediatric Hospital Medicine. He also practices as the Pediatrics Clerkship Director and enjoys getting to train the next generation of healthcare professionals. He also had the privilege of participating in the "Taking a Spiritual History" video in the CMDA Faith Prescriptions Series.

Bob Mason, MDiv is the executive director of Medical Strategic Network,, an organization that equips healthcare professionals and students to practice whole person care with patients. He is also Adjunct Faculty at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Bob has spoken on this topic on health science campuses throughout the US and numerous countries abroad.

Marriage is hard. Medical marriages are even harder. There’s the time suck, the mental drain, the emotional depletion, and the isolation. So how do you dedicate yourself to a life of serving Christ through medicine and still have a marriage that thrives? In this session, we will normalize the struggle of medical marriages; encourage those in medical marriages to stay the course; equip medical marriages to grow their intimacy, endurance, affection, communication, and hopefulness; and highlight the strange gift that marriage is for our individual journey with Jesus.

During his fourth year of medical school, he volunteered for two months at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya where he met CEO Dr. Ernie Steury and Medical Director Dr. David Stevens. During his third year of surgical residency, God brought Mike’s high school sweetheart Pam back into his life, and they married in August 1991. A few months later, they traveled to Kenya and Tenwek Hospital in 1992 for two months where both enjoyed getting to know the Tenwek community while Mike was immersed in surgical care in a busy surgery referral center in rural Africa.

Mike completed a general surgery residency at Methodist Hospital in 1993 and then joined Southwestern Medical Clinic, a group in Southwest Michigan dedicated to global healthcare missions. Former CMDA and ICMDA president Dr. Bob Schindler and his wife Marian mentored Mike and Pam until their departure for Tenwek in 1996. Mike was board certified in general surgery in 1995 while working with Southwestern.

Mike was drawn to the orthopedic surgery service as Tenwek had no long-term bone surgeon. He was also named Medical Director in mid-1997. Tenwek grew remarkably during Mike’s tenure as surgeon and medical director to a clinical staff of over 80 physicians and clinical officers and more than 700 total staff. Training programs for interns, family medicine, general surgery and orthopedics were also developed and launched during those years.

Mike and Pam left for Kenya in August 1996 with two small children and added two more while at Tenwek Hospital: Steven, Melody, Kayla and Ashley.

In 2015, Dr. David Stevens invited Mike to consider returning to the U.S. to assume the role of CMDA Executive Vice President. After seven months of prayer and seeking counsel from mission leaders, mentors and close friends, Pam and Mike decided to leave their Kenya home and mission life of 20 years and moved to Bristol, Tennessee in July 2016. Mike has counted it an amazing privilege to serve alongside David Stevens and Gene Rudd and all the national CMDA staff for nearly four years. In September 2018, after an eight-month CEO search process, the Board of Trustees asked Mike to become the next CEO of CMDA and he began September 1, 2019, when Dr. Stevens stepped down. Mike’s life verses are from 2 Timothy 1:6-7: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (ESV). To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Email Mike

An introduction to Biblical Counseling with specific application to patient care.

Dr. Yan grew up in Orange County, went to UCLA for undergraduate and medical school, then moved to the Inland Empire for Kaiser Fontana Family Medicine residency and sports medicine fellowship. Since 2005, he has worked at Kaiser Ontario and is now mainly running an on-site company clinic at a steel company where Kaiser Steel used to be. He lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife and son, and they attend Summit Bible Church in Fontana, a church plant of Foothill Bible Church in Upland. He became interested in Biblical Counseling through patient care experiences and is pursuing a Master's Degree in Biblical Counseling.

Email Chris

909.781.8909