Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) has announced Ieesha Johnson as the featured speaker for the 2025 Greenberg-Williams Lectureship, presented by the Mason Center for Organ Donation and Transplantation Education and Policy (The Mason Center). The free lecture, presented virtually on Zoom, will take place at noon on Oct. 16. Register for the free virtual event here.
Johnson will deliver a lecture titled “Meeting Communities Where They Are: A Community-Centered Approach to Organ Donation and Transplantation.” She is director of community outreach at Infinite Legacy, a nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving almost 10 million people in Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.
In addition to her leadership at Infinite Legacy, Johnson founded the organization’s Decision Project, a grassroots initiative empowering socially disadvantaged communities affected by donation and transplantation to make educated and inspired decisions about donation. She also serves as an expert panelist for the Division of Transplantation within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, contributes as a subject matter expert for the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) Impact Committee, and volunteers with the Maryland Medical Reserve Corps. Currently, she is the president of the Association of Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation.
“Ieesha Johnson is a force to be reckoned with. She is not only a thought leader but also a community leader for issues of the rural and underserved in organ donation and transplantation,” said Brian Childs, M.Div., Ph.D., HEC-C, chair of MUSM’s bioethics and medical humanities department and director of the Mason Center. “She is recognized as a national speaker and serves on national committees and has a unique ability to capture an audience’s attention while deepening their understanding of this critical work.”
Following Johnson’s lecture, Bobby Howard, director of the Multicultural Donation Education Program (MDEP) at LifeLink of Georgia, will offer a response reflecting on her lecture from a rural Georgia perspective.
Howard brings both personal and professional insight to the conversation. A transplant recipient himself, he received a lifesaving kidney in October 1994 and joined the team at LifeLink the following year. Today, he leads a team of five MDEP staff with diverse community education experiences. Under his leadership, the program has expanded workplace and community partnerships, increased donor registrations and strengthened family authorizations, resulting in more transplants across Georgia. LifeLink of Georgia serves more than 10 million people and includes nearly every county in the state, as well as a small pocket of South Carolina in the greater Augusta area.
“Bobby Howard is well known as an expert in the experience of rural Georgians and rural underserved people in other parts of the country. His contribution to the lecture will be greatly appreciated,” said Dr. Childs. “I know that Dr Greenberg would be so gratified to have his name associated with this lecture, and that Dr. Williams will be a grateful member of the audience for this presentation.”
About the Greenberg-Williams Lectureship
Named for Martin Greenberg, M.D., and Stephen Williams, M.D., the Greenberg-Williams Lectureship features nationally leading figures in bioethics and medical humanities with a special emphasis on health care for rural underserved populations. Topics include not only bioethical issues but also the arts, literature and religion as they apply to an understanding of medicine, illness and human well-being. Support for the lectureship is made possible through a gift to the Dr. Martin Greenberg fund, established by Dr. Greenberg’s family after he passed away in 2021.
