We are a national advocacy organization organizing in the states that matter most for health care—working to educate elected officials and elect leaders who share our values.

Who We Are

BOARD

We are doctors, medical professionals, and advocates fighting for equitable access to quality, affordable health care that protects patients and saves lives. We’re in all 50 states, advocating for state and national policies that will improve health and health care and working to educate and elect leaders who’ll do the same.

The Committee to Protect Health Care (CTP) envisions a country in which American health care policy discussion is driven by frontline health care providers and experts, with an emphasis on physicians, who are dedicated to providing the very best health care outcomes for patients, not maximizing profits. CTP believes that a dramatic increase in medical professionals’ voices in the public arena, focused on accountability and policy education, will decrease the influence of for-profit insurance companies and for-profit drug corporations on public policy.

Rob Davidson, MD

Executive Director

Dr. Davidson is a board-certified Emergency Physician with nearly 20 years of experience in the Emergency Department in a rural West Michigan hospital. He completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine at Maine Medical Center after graduating from the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. In response to his experiences in the emergency department, Dr. Davidson is an outspoken advocate for universal health care and Medicare-for-All. As Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, Dr. Davidson advocates for the protection and expansion of health care coverage for his patients.

Dr. Bernard Ashby is board certified in internal medicine, clinical cardiology, vascular medicine, vascular interpretation, and nuclear cardiology. Dr. Ashby is originally from South Florida. He attended medical school at Cornell University and obtained his masters in health policy at Princeton University. He completed his internship and residency at Columbia University Medical Center, where he was also an assistant professor in the department of medicine. He completed his cardiology training at George Washington University Medical Center, where he was named chief fellow. Dr. Ashby also completed a postdoctoral clinical and research fellowship in vascular medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, he served as the director of vascular cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center prior to opening Comprehensive Vascular Care. Dr. Ashby serves as the Florida State Lead for the Committee to Protect Health Care, as well as a member of the board.

Bernard Ashby,

MD MPP

Ean Bett, MD

Ean Bett is a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Columbus, Ohio. He has been a part of the struggle for universal health care in America, first as a patient, and now as a physician, which has driven his particular interest in achieving universal, affordable, and high-quality health care for all Americans. Ean advocates for his patients by championing appropriate drug pricing, the use and integration of technology in clinical practice to improve outcomes, and a shared vision of American values.  

He has participated in advocacy and education around universal health care, Medicare for All, and single payer platforms though several organizations, including the Physicians Action Network, American Academy of Family Physicians, Physicians for a National Health Program, Making Health Care Fair, and National Physicians Alliance. He has been asked to speak on these topics at both local and national conferences to community members and physicians alike.  

His clinical practice at Grant Family Medicine Residency, where he spent three years in training before joining the faculty in 2017, focuses on the underserved with a special interest in providing primary care to individuals who also suffer from behavioral health issues. He enjoys teaching students and residents the balance between the art and science of medicine and using shared-decision making to engage his patients in reaching their desired health outcomes.

Dr. Bhatti is a board-certified Family Physician and currently serves as CEO of Care Free Medical, a nonprofit clinic that provides medical, dental, and optometry care to underserved and uninsured individuals in the Metro Lansing area. He completed his residency training in Family Medicine at Sparrow Hospital. Prior to that, he graduated from the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU). Dr. Bhatti also holds two undergraduate degrees with Honors from MSU, Political Science and Physiology, with a specialization in Bioethics, Humanities, and Society. He is actively involved politically and is especially passionate about health care policy.

Farhan Bhatti, MD

Richard Bruno,

MD MPH

Dr. Richard Bruno is a family & preventive medicine physician at Chase Brexton Health Care in Baltimore, MD. He has been active in local, state, and national organizations, serving on the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Physicians Alliance, the American Association of Public Health Physicians, MedChi (the Maryland state medical society), the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians, Sugar Free Kids Maryland, Friends of Hampden School #55, Hampden Family Center, Roland Park Civic League, Wyman Park Community Association, and Physicians for a National Health Program. He has been advocating for Medicare for All since his first year of medical school, organizing rallies and workshops for health justice. His main clinical focuses are the pair of pandemics: obesity and opioids, with involvement in community public health interventions and policies, including sugary drink interventions at local corner-stores and testimony on expansion of medication for opioid use disorder in the Maryland State House. He, his wife and their two children love hiking, biking, and cooking together. He attained a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, doctorate of medicine from Oregon Health and Science University, and a master of public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He graduated from the combined Family & Preventive Medicine residency program at Johns Hopkins and MedStar Health.

Kali Cyrus MD MPH is a psychiatrist who practices part time in a community setting, while serving as an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine. She has an extensive background in DEI curriculum development, which has included leading the redesign of the Yale psychiatry residency program’s four-year social justice and mental health equity curriculum, co-development of the E.R.A.S.E. framework for responding to patient harassment, and ground-breaking standardized patient workshops to manage implicit bias in patient communication. She is also known for her growing work as an advocate within academia, as a founding member of Time’s Up Health Care where her role is ensuring inclusivity and intersectionality are at the forefront of initiatives. She also has advocacy experience in Capitol Hill, where she worked as a health policy fellow for CT Senator Chris Murphy, as the American Psychiatric Association’s 2018 Jeanne Spurlock Fellow. She offers consulting, coaching, and policy strategy around issues related to “difference” through her private consulting business, Dynamics of Difference PLLC.

Kali Cyrus,

MD MPH

Matt Longjohn,

MD MPH

Dr. Matt Longjohn is a nationally recognized leader in public health, health care innovation and health promotion. Throughout his career, he has consistently been an advocate for health equity and quality of life. Dr. Longjohn was the National Health Officer and the Vice President for Community Integrated Health at YMCA of the USA (Y-USA). His achievements at the Y earned Dr. Longjohn and his team recognition by the Obama Administration as one of the top innovators in health care in the U.S. Prior to his work at the Y, Dr. Longjohn was a Fellow at the Altarum Institute, conducting health systems and health policy research in 9 states. Additionally, Dr. Longjohn has organized coalitions and advocacy efforts to establish and change numerous health policies at the municipal and state levels. He has served as a consultant to government agencies, hospitals and health systems, foundations, and non-profit organizations. Longjohn has also served on numerous Boards and National Advisory Committees and was the national Co-Chair of the “Campaign for Action” to promote workforce development in nursing across the US. From 2001-2017, Dr. Longjohn was on faculty at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Pediatrics, where he served as the founding executive director of the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC). Longjohn received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Kalamazoo College and his M.D. and MPH from Tulane University. He lives in southwest Michigan with his wife and two boys.

Dr. Mona Mangat, M.D, Allergist and immunologist, was inspired to action when she observed that many of her patients in St. Petersburg, Florida, were unable to access and afford the health care they needed. She has become an advocate for health care on a national level while running a private practice and raising four children with her husband. Dr. Mangat graduated from the 6-year combined BS/MD program at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in 1996 and completed an Internal Medicine / Pediatrics Residency at the University of Tennessee-Memphis / Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in 2000. Shen then completed an Allergy/Immunology fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital. Dr. Mangat was the former National Board Chair of Doctors for America and is currently serving as a Board Member and the Florida Outreach Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Medicare.

Mona Mangat, MD

Vivek Palavali, MD

Vivekanand (Vivek) Palavali, M.D. is an Indian-American neurosurgeon, author, and award-winning filmmaker. He specializes in cranial surgery, spinal surgery and neurosurgical trauma. He is board certified in neurosurgery. Dr. Palavali established his private practice in Flint, Michigan in 1995 after completing his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Chicago in July 1995. He received gold medals for standing first in his pre-med class as well as in his final year of medical school. He also received the Best Resident Teacher Award as the Chief Resident of Neurological Surgery at the University of Chicago Hospital. Dr. Palavali has also pursued his interest in neurosurgery by participating in neuroscience research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and the North American Spine Society (NASS), as well as many other national and state medical associations. Dr. Palavali is influenced by the philosophy of Epicurus which inspires his passions: writing and filmmaking. He is also a desired speaker at seminars and conferences in the skeptic, secular humanist and atheist communities. He conveys his message of how to find and keep real happiness in his book, A Mindful Life: A Brain Surgeon’s Personal Experiences and Philosophical Reflections on Living Life Fully, published in 2006. Also, in that same year he published, Loving Life While Accepting Death, in The Humanist Magazine. His first film, Creator of God: A Brain Surgeon’s Story, has won several awards. Following the success of his first documentary, Palavali went on to film the award-winning documentary, Bitter Pill: America and Healthcare in America, in 2012. He has also authored a companion book for that film with the same title. Currently he is finalizing a new documentary titled, Screwed, which is set to release late 2019.

Dr. Milan Satcher, MD is a Family Medicine Specialist in New Hampshire and has over 4 years of experience in the medical field. She graduated from Brown University medical school in 2016. She is active in many national health care advocacy organizations, and has been a keynote speaker for events with Doctors & Health Care Workers for Bernie and other groups fighting for guaranteed, universal health care. Milan is a member of the States Capacity & Recruitment committee.

Milan Satcher, MD

Gaby Goldstein, JD, PhD

Gaby Goldstein is co-founder at Sister District, whose mission is to build progressive power in state legislatures. As Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, she leads programs that strengthen the pipeline of diverse, progressive candidates, as well as programs that educate the public about the importance of state legislatures and policy, and which support progressive state legislators once elected. Prior to founding Sister District, Gaby was a bioethics lawyer and health policy researcher. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley, JD from Boston University School of Law, and PhD in health policy from UC Berkeley.