| (Houston, TX) –– Today, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins announced the creation of the S.A.F.E. Elections Medical Advisory Committee (SEMAC) to advise on measures that the Harris County Clerk’s Office can take to ensure that voting remains safe throughout the November General Election. SEMAC is composed of eight leading Houston-area doctors, health care experts, and infectious disease specialists. In addition to improving upon the safety measures put in place through the S.A.F.E. Elections Plan for the July Primary Runoff Election, SEMAC will provide additional recommendations to protect voters and election workers at voting centers. Additionally, SEMAC will provide guidance to voters to make their own health determinations in assessing whether they are eligible to vote by mail this November. “My number one priority is to keep Harris County residents safe while we work together to curb the spread of COVID-19,” said Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins. “The S.A.F.E. Elections Medical Advisory Committee will help us to ensure that even more safety measures than we had at voting centers this July will be in place this November to further protect those exercising their right to vote. We know that voting by mail is the safest method to vote during this pandemic, and it is my duty to inform voters about every available option they have to vote. Based on the Committee’s recommendations, we will encourage all Harris County residents to assess their own health status to decide if they are eligible to vote by mail.” S.A.F.E. Elections Medical Advisory Committee Members 1.- EDWIN ALEXANDER, B.Sc., M.Sc. Expert Medical Advisor & Clinical Research Operations Consultant Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Industry 2.- MILTON FINEGOLD, M.D. Emeritus Professor of Pathology-Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine 3.- FAITH D. IHEKWEAZU, M.D., M.S. Assistant Professor, Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine 4.- ELENA M. MARKS, J.D., M.P.H President & CEO, Episcopal Health Foundation Non-resident Fellow in Health Policy, Rice University’s Baker Institute 5.- DANIEL M. MUSHER, M.D. Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine Professor of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine Infectious Disease Section, VA Medical Center, Houston 6.- ANAEZE OFFODILE II, M.D., M.P.H. Executive Director, Clinical Transformation Assistant Professor, Department of Plastic Surgery,UT MD Anderson Cancer Center Non-Residential Scholar, Baker Institute for Public Policy 7.- WELELA TEREFFE, M.D., M.P.H. Chief Medical Officer Professor, Radiation Oncology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center 8.- JAMES VERSALOVIC, M.D., PH.D Interim Physician-in-Chief and Pathologist-in-Chief, Texas Children’s Hospital Professor of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine For more information, please visit HarrisVotes.com and follow @HarrisVotes on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. |
