Podcasts

Saria Saccocio, MD, MHA, is a regional medical officer for CareMore, a subsidiary of Elevance Health. She provides strategic and operational direction for the delivery of performance in support of the central region.

Dr Saccocio has demonstrated a consistent history of leading award-winning programs and improving patient care and safety across the continuum as a chief medical officer for health systems in the southeast. She received her doctor of medicine from the University of Florida, and her executive master of health administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She completed her family medicine residency at the University of Miami before opening her own solo family practice. She continues to serve patients at the Greenville Free Medical Clinic.

Becker’s Hospital Review has recognized Dr Saccocio as one of the top 100 Hospital and Health System CMOs to Know and has been elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Her extensive civic and community involvement has included serving with many organizations such as: the Modern Healthcare Women Advisory Board; board member for the Pisacano Leadership Foundation; South Carolina Hospital Association; United Way of Greenville County; Greenville Free Medical Clinic; and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate; the South Carolina Academy of Family Physicians Board. She also is an Alum of the Women’s Leadership Institute and the Diversity Leadership Institute at Furman University.

Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD, is a preventive medicine fellow in the Division of Public Health, Infectious Diseases, and Occupational Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She’s also pursuing an executive master’s degree in public health practice at the University of Minnesota. Dr Allen Akambase holds the rank of assistant professor of family medicine with the Mayo Clinic and previously served as a senior associate consultant and diversity leader in the Mayo Clinic Department of Family Medicine in Rochester. In that role, she created the first department-wide equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) committee to lead the team through the department’s 2022–2024 EID priorities, including a faculty development program to promote leadership among women and underrepresented minorities in family medicine.

She is president of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Board of Trustees and is slated to serve as the Foundation’s president in 2025. She previously chaired the workgroup responsible for the foundation’s humanitarian programs: Family Medicine Cares USA; and Family Medicine Cares International, where she has been instrumental in relaunching the global health program focused on equity.

Recognizing the power of media to deliver relevant and timely health messages, she has contributed to multiple health news and education outlets including ABC News Health, Minnesota Public Radio, Wall Street Journal, and the Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives Podcast. You can find her on X and Instagram at @drjaysheree.

Omari A. Hodge, MD, is the founding program director for the AdventHealth Family Medicine Residency Program at Wesley Chapel in Tampa, FL. He has a mission to equip, educate, and encourage residents to use their talents in service to the community.

Dr. Hodge earned his medical degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, and completed his family medicine residency at Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, SC. As a primary care physician, Dr Hodge has worked in a variety of roles, including campus medicine, urgent care, hospital medicine, and graduate medical education.

Previously, Dr Hodge served as associate program director with North Georgia Health System in Gainesville. He has also worked at Clarkston Refugee Clinic in Clarkston, GA, which underscores his philosophy of using the gift of medicine to serve others.

Dr Hodge serves on the board of trustees at Christian Medical & Dental Associations. He and his wife Kiera participate in both local and global medical aid relief trips. Additionally, Dr Hodge is a proud father to his four children.