Meet The Team - The Health Education Network

Mildred Freeman

Founder & Chairman of the Board

Mildred “Millie” Freeman has long been a stalwart within the healthcare community. Before founding the Health Education Network in 2002, Millie was instrumental in developing and implementing far-reaching healthcare initiatives at our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She has extensive experience partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Minority Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the D.C. Department of Health.

She is a valuable asset to the Health Education Network and will serve as its Founder and Chairman of the Board.

Stephen L. Reese MPA MS

President & Chief Executive Officer

Stephen L. Reese, MPA, MS, is a health care professional with over 20 years’ experience in the behavioral health field. Having designed, implemented, monitored, evaluated and assessed several governmental and nongovernmental programs, including programs for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the District of Columbia Department of Health, he is uniquely qualified to develop and provide excellent training and technical assistance services designed to increase positive health outcomes.

Gary C. Dennis, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Chief Medical Advisor

Dr. Dennis comes to the Health Education Network after having an illustrious medical career. He is the past Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery and Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine and Howard University Hospital where he served for 23 years and the immediate past Chief of Neurosurgery Baton Rouge General Hospital. Dr. Dennis is currently the president of the Neurosurgery Associates of Louisiana. Dr. Dennis is a Past President of the National Medical Association (NMA), a professional and scientific organization representing the interests of more than 25,000 African American physicians.

Shelby Byrd, M.A.

Chief Learning Officer

Shelby Byrd comes to the Health Education Network after years honing her training, facilitation, and content development skills. In addition to her experience working with the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, Shelby is also a dynamic learning and talent development professional with more than 10 years experience designing and implementing blended learning solutions. She has excellent facilitation skills in both face-to-face and virtual classroom environments, with significant experience developing self-paced online training. Combined with her experience as a successful artist of stage and scene, Shelby ensures that our products are informative, as well as, entertaining.

Neil Roy, MD.

Subject Matter Expert & Medical Advisor

During his period as Chairman of a large tertiary care emergency department, Dr. Roy championed a reduction in left without being seen by nearly 50 percent through creation of an innovative front-end process. His team established a multidisciplinary process that reduced utilization of CT scans by 30 percent. They also reduced patients admitted for chest pain and gastroenteritis, which led to a significant reduction in hospital readmissions. Dr. Roy and his department reduced Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) use by 90 percent while exploring alternatives to opioid pain management, which included nitrous oxide, ketamine and other novel analgesics. At the same time, Dr. Roy pioneered an opioid reversal agent prescription program with close outpatient follow up.