February 5, 2025
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Jungle Island1111 Parrot Jungle Trail, Bloom Ballroom
Miami, 33132
We’re thrilled to spotlight the groundbreaking healthcare alliance between Baptist Health and Florida International University (FIU) at our February Trustee Luncheon on February 5th.
In this exclusive event, top healthcare leaders from both institutions will share their vision for how this collaboration will impact our community and raise healthcare standards.
**There is a 72-hour cancellation policy**
Plese note: You must log in during registration process to receive the member rate.
For questions or sponsorship opportunities, please tap here to connect with our events team.
Meet the experts driving this transformative alliance - Tap on speaker headshot to read bio):
Shaping the Future of Healthcare: Advancing Physician Training, Research & Patient Care
Speakers
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Laurie Jennings, Moderator
Laurie Jennings is a 6-time Emmy-award winning TV news reporter and anchor whose face and calming voice are known all across South Florida. She is a member of the prestigious NATAS Silver Circle for her distinguished 30-year career in both local and network TV news that has taken her from Cleveland to Boston to MSNBC in New York, and ultimately, to Miami.
Laurie graduated from Cornell University with high honors in Government and went on to earn her Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is also a motivational speaker who mentors young women and emcees dozens of major charitable events every year – namely for Chapman Partnership, Voices for Children, United Way, Baptist Hospital, The American Red Cross, Holtz Childrens Hospital and Sylvester Cancer Center.
After 15 years leading WPLG’s Local 10 News, Laurie stepped away from the evening anchor desk to find flexibility for her family and her aging parents up north, and to start a new on-camera chapter. She’s now the President of her own media company Laurie Jennings LIVE and the brand ambassador for two South Florida companies in all of their broadcast and digital marketing.
Manmeet Ahluwalia, M.D.
Manmeet Ahluwalia, M.D., MBA, FASCO, is the chief scientific officer, chief of medical oncology, deputy director and Fernandez Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.
As a neuro-oncologist, Dr. Ahluwalia’s primary areas of research and patient care are primary brain tumors (tumors originating in the brain that can be cancerous or noncancerous) and brain metastases (cancer that originated elsewhere in the body and has spread to the brain). Dr. Ahluwalia is fluent in English, Hindi and Punjabi.
Juan C. Cendan, M.D.
Dr. Juan C. Cendan is a board-certified surgeon with a clinical focus on minimally invasive surgery and surgical disorders of the breast. He also has a lengthy career in academic medicine.
Cendan joined FIU in 2021 as vice-dean and executive associate dean for student affairs. In 2022, he was appointed dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and senior vice-president for health affairs.
Before FIU, Cendan was a founding faculty member of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, where he served in several roles from 2010-2021, including assistant dean for simulation, medical director of the simulation laboratory, and chair of the Department of Medical Education. As provost chair and associate dean in residence alongside UCF’s provost, he developed the framework for founding the UCF Academic Health Center.
Following his medical training at the University of Florida, Cendan practiced as a general surgeon in Gainesville, Florida. He then returned to UF as faculty, where he developed an academic focus on simulation-based medical education; his undergraduate training in biomedical engineering was particularly useful allowing him to align the technical specifications to end-user educational needs.
Michael McDermott, M.D.
Michael McDermott, M.D., is a neurosurgeon, chief medical executive of Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute and the Irma & Kalman Bass Endowed Chair in Clinical Neuroscience. He is a world-renowned leader in neurosciences and has clinical expertise in the field of meningioma surgery and Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
Dr. McDermott is widely known for advancing neurosurgical techniques and is an expert in the treatment of a wide variety of neurological disorders. He is one of the world’s leading experts in meningioma—the most common primary brain tumor in adults—and was named the most-published author of papers on meningioma research.
Rebecca L. Toonkel, M.D.
Rebecca L. Toonkel, Associate Professor of Medicine, received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2004. She completed residency training in internal medicine at Columbia University of New York in 2007 and then went on to complete a three year basic science research fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine in 2010. In 2012, she completed a clinical fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, and Critical Care Medicine.
