Speaker Biographies
[Keynote] Jeanie Jeudy, BSN, RN, CARN
Jeanie is a Registered Nurse with over 14 years of experience across long-term care, home care, primary care, harm reduction, and adolescent detox. She currently serves as the Program Supervisor for the Moms Do Care program at Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, where she has led a multidisciplinary team since 2018. Jeanie is deeply committed to advancing trauma-informed, family-centered care for pregnant and parenting people affected by substance use. Her work focuses on promoting maternal health equity and building systems of support that empower families and improve perinatal outcomes.
Joe Panerio-Langer, MD
Dr. Joe Panerio-Langer, MD, joined Brockton Neighborhood Health Center as a Primary Care Physician in 2009, and has served as Deputy CEO since March of 2025. He has assisted with the implementation of the health center’s Patient Centered Medical Home, value-based care initiative, and behavioral health-primary care integration. He is passionate about treatment and medical care for people with substance use disorders, provider education, and working to dismantle systemic barriers that prevent health equity and access to care. When working with patients, he believes in meeting people where they’re at and using shared decision-making to find treatment and care that meets each patient’s unique needs. Joe obtained his Bachelor of Science in Biology at Creighton University in 1998, his MD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2006 and completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, in 2009. Between college and medical school, he spent two years teaching high school in the Marshall Islands. Outside of healthcare, he enjoys spending time with his family, trips to the art museum, reading science fiction, and hiking with his dog.
Michelle Hoffman, CNM
Michelle Hoffman, CNM, joined the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department in 2016 as a staff midwife. Beginning in 2019, she transitioned into multiple leadership roles, culminating in her appointment as Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2023. In this dual capacity, Michelle provides comprehensive, full-scope midwifery care to a diverse patient population while overseeing the clinical and administrative operations of the department. She also maintains hospital privileges at a local community facility, where she provides inpatient obstetrical care.Michelle earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Northeastern University in 2002. Following several years of service as a Labor and Delivery nurse, she obtained her Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration in Midwifery from Frontier Nursing University in 2016.
Throughout her career, Michelle has been guided by a steadfast commitment to advancing equitable access to high-quality maternal and reproductive health services, particularly within underserved communities. Her professional mission centers on addressing health disparities, improving maternal outcomes, and reducing maternal mortality through evidence-based, patient-centered care and advocacy.
Dedicated to fostering a culture of compassion, respect, and cultural responsiveness, Michelle strives to ensure that every individual receives exceptional care across all stages of their reproductive life. Her leadership reflects an unwavering dedication to safety, clinical excellence, and the empowerment of patients and staff alike.
Susan Wente, CNM
Susan Wente, CNM, has been providing compassionate, patient-centered care to families in Brockton, Massachusetts, since 1996. She began her career in private practice, where she developed a strong foundation in personalized maternity and reproductive health care. In 2011, she transitioned to a community health center setting, where she continues to serve diverse and often vulnerable families, providing comprehensive midwifery care and attending births at the local community hospital. Susan is deeply committed to advancing equity in maternal health through the strategic use of electronic health records (EHR). As a clinician leader in EHR optimization, she collaborates closely with providers to ensure that technology supports — rather than hinders — the delivery of high-quality care. Her work focuses on improving usability, efficiency, and satisfaction of all OB/GYN staff as a team while promoting accurate, meaningful documentation that reflects the realities of clinical practice.
With a strong interest in data-driven improvement, Susan intends to further leverage EHR reporting and analytics to identify trends in maternal health outcomes and inform quality initiatives. Her leadership reflects a deep belief that technology, when thoughtfully applied, can be a powerful tool for advancing equitable, patient-centered maternity care.
Damaris Gomera
Damaris Gomera is a seasoned Epic Business Intelligence Developer at Community Technology Cooperative (CTC), bringing over a decade of expertise in data analytics and informatics. As a founding member of CTC, she played a pivotal role in the rapid deployment of Epic across 10 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) within just 10 months—an ambitious timeline that has since expanded to include three additional implementations.
Her credentials include Epic Cogito certification and deep proficiency across multiple data models, including Clarity, Caboodle, Revenue, Clinical, and Cosmos. Damaris’s work bridges technical precision with clinical insight, enabling data-driven decision-making that supports both operational excellence and patient care outcomes.
Jeff Nicklas, PhD
Dr. Jeff Nicklas, PhD, joined the Institute for Health Equity Research, Evaluation, and Policy (IHE) as the Senior Qualitative Research Scientist in 2024. Jeff’s work at IHE focuses on collaborating on community health center-led research and evaluation projects, utilizing innovative qualitative and ethnographic methods to center the lived experience of people most closely impacted by health and social inequities. He is passionate about the intersections of technological development and accessible health-related care and knowledge. Prior to IHE, Jeff has experience engaging in implementation research to improve effectiveness and use of patient portals at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and conducted human-centered design research efforts to improve digital infrastructure and services within state and city government. Jeff earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco. Outside of research and evaluation, he enjoys spending time with his cats, scuba diving Boston’s North Shore, playing video games, and hiking with his partner.