
Trailblazer Award (Atlanta)
recognizing excellence within healthcare
2024 Trailblazer Award Nominees
The ElevateMeD Trailblazer Award is awarded to individuals who are making extraordinary contributions within the world of healthcare. These leaders directly support the Scholars Program by providing our Scholars with a unique opportunity to engage intimately with them while learning more about their impact in healthcare. We formally recognize award recipients at our ElevateMeD events.


More About Nominees

Ms. Lockley
Why Ms. Lockley was nominated:
Chiquita Lockley is a stellar nominee for the ElevateMeD Trailblazer Award due to her tireless work and dedication to improving health by bringing awareness to fertility issues in black women. Ms. Lockley took an important topic in healthcare that had been long overlooked and used her powerful documentary to make it accessible to a larger audience. In doing so, she brought the topic to the forefront and even helped create funding opportunities to increase access to fertility care for black women. One aspect of her work that I feel is especially impactful is how she helps black women advocate for themselves and encourages them to approach their healthcare providers with fertility questions and concerns. As a healthcare provider, I admire the way that Chiquita has used her platform to educate and empower. She is truly a trailblazer and her work through the Eggs Over Easy Film has made an extraordinary contribution to healthcare by raising awareness and promoting fertility health advocacy for black women.
Biography
Chiquita Lockley is Executive Producer and Director of the forthcoming documentary, Eggs Over Easy: Black Women & Fertility (2021). She is also the producer of the award-winning documentary Kunta Kinteh Island: Coming Home Without Shackles (courtesy ERoss Studios). She holds a BA in English from Spelman College and an MA in Film Studies from Emory University.
She specializes in Live Event Production, providing creative direction and VFX design for: BET Super Bowl Gospel Celebration, Hank Aaron Chasing The Dream Foundation, and production management for artists tours/events featuring: Tasha Cobbs (TCM), Matt Redman, Kierra Sheard, Fantasia, PJ Morton of Maroon 5, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, and many others. After Hurricane Matthew, she produced a concert benefitting Haiti for TCM, which featured Vashawn Mitchell, Anthony Brown, Jonathan McReynolds, and surprise guest Kirk Franklin.
She made her theatrical debut as playwright of the musical Kandi Burruss & Todd Tucker Present: A Mother’s Love.
Scenes from the musical, starring Kandi, Eddie Levert, Shirley Murdock, and Porsha Williams were featured on the season finale of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”.
Additionally, she served as the Director of the Holyfield Foundation, during Evander Holyfield’s reign as Heavyweight Champion of the World. She has worked with faith-based organizations like Impact United Methodist Church and consulted for nonprofit organizations for celebrity clients including: Keshia Knight Pulliam, CNN’s Isha Sesay, Cynthia Bailey of RHOA, at al.
Having spent the last 15+ years working in Faith-based television and media, Chiquita authored the book Creative Worship: 86 Tips for Establishing a Dynamic Worship, Media & Production Team. She is also the author of children’s book, Maggie Tales: Mommy, Where’s Heaven?, which seeks to demystify the Circle of Life for children and parents alike. She has the distinction of Goodwill Ambassador for the State of Georgia, awarded by former Secretary of State Cathy Cox. And she serves on the Board of Directors for the Black Women Film Network, the oldest organization for the preservation and promotion of films by and about Black women. She currently resides in Atlanta, GA where she continues to give back by mentoring girls.

Dr. McFadden
Biography
Dr. Cedrek McFadden is a distinguished and award-winning medical professional renowned for his expertise as a board-certified surgeon. Additionally, he is a sought-after speaker, accomplished writer, and dedicated mentor. Dr. McFadden holds the position of clinical associate professor of surgery and specializes in the comprehensive treatment of disorders affecting the large intestine. His clinical focus encompasses colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and diverticular disease. He is highly skilled in a range of procedures, including colonoscopies, minimally invasive surgery, and robotic surgery.
Dr. McFadden’s educational journey began with honors during his undergraduate studies at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. He subsequently obtained his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. His extensive medical training includes a residency in General Surgery at the Greenville Health System and the University of South Carolina Greenville. Furthermore, he completed a colon and rectal Surgery fellowship at the Georgia Colon and Rectal Surgery Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. Notably, he is a member of esteemed professional organizations such as the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery, the American College of Surgery, the National Medical Association, the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, the Association of Healthcare Journalists, and the National Association of Black Journalists.
Beyond his medical practice, Dr. Cedrek McFadden is a well-recognized health expert who regularly appears on television and radio. He is a medical contributor to CBS WPSA 7 News in the Upstate of South Carolina and is a frequent guest on NBC’s Today Show. His insights and advice have been featured on major networks, including Fox, NBC, and MSNBC, while also being published in reputable publications such as Dr. Oz: The Good Life, FoxNews.com, Essence Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Prevention, Shape Magazine, and BlackDoctor.org. Notably, he received the nationally-based 2023 Share Caring Award for his independently-produced health video, “Dr. Cedrek McFadden Presents: We Are Never Alone.”
Furthermore, Dr. McFadden is deeply committed to mentoring and guiding college students, medical students, and surgical residents. His dedication to education and personal development has left an indelible mark on many aspiring individuals.
As a testament to his leadership and impact, Dr. Cedrek McFadden is honored to be a Liberty Fellow and a proud member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In his leisure time, he enjoys running and expressing his musical talents as a singer. Outside his professional commitments, he resides with his wife, Tracey, and two children near Greenville, South Carolina.

Dr. Morgan
Biography
Jayne Morgan, M.D. is a Cardiologist and the Clinical Director of the Covid Task Force at the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation in Atlanta, GA. Within this role she is developing ongoing community outreach in conjunction with the Division of Diversity and Inclusion between Piedmont and the African American community it serves. Additionally, Dr. Morgan will be analyzing the science and data from Piedmont and nationally, surrounding the disproportionately negative impact of Covid-19 on minority communities. Ultimately, the goal is to identify methods, as well as areas of improved triage, screening, and algorithms for the overall outcomes management of disadvantaged populations positive for Covid19.
Previously, Dr. Morgan was the Director of Innovation at Piedmont Healthcare, Inc. where she set the vision, trajectory, and strategic scaling opportunities, as well as seeking key partnerships and stakeholders to progress these goals. In doing so, the program recognized close to a 50% success rate (national average is less than 10%) following the addition of an external investment of $23,000,000.00 for one project within the Accelerator, and the signing of the first ever licensing contract from an external stakeholder for yet another project.
Prior to this role, Dr. Morgan served as the Director of Cardiovascular Research and Research Development also at Piedmont Healthcare, where she had responsibility for the strategic growth of the Piedmont Research Institute, the development of the long range strategic vision for research programs across all medical specialties, and contract negotiations for all new partners. Additionally, she implemented a new business model focused on system integration, contracts, staff re-alignments in concert with the clinical model of the hospital, portfolio diversification, and strategic growth realizing steadily increasing revenue earnings that have continued to this day. While in this role, she both expanded research to other hospital facilities, and began the first Feasibility Program which has served as the nidus via which Piedmont has been able to reach worldwide status within Structural and Valvular Heart, including the #1 Center in the United States for transcatheter tricuspid therapy.
Moreover, Dr. Morgan has served as the Chief Medical Officer of the American Chemistry Council (where she developed a new translational research program), CEO of Forty Million Beats, LLC - with clients such as Novartis and Abbott - working directly with the Structural Heart Division as well as direct focus on improved minority recruitment into trials respectively, the World Wide Director of the Cardiorenal Drug Development program at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Morgan currently serves as the President Elect of the Southeastern Life Sciences Association (single largest biotech association in the Southeast), Co-Chair of the Health and Human Services Conference 2021, Founding Board Member of MedTech Women, Co-Chair of the BioScience Leadership Council at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Board Member of the American Heart Association/Atlanta Chapter, Board Member of the national Diversity and Inclusion team at the American Heart Association, the National Board Member of The American Heart Association Technology Team, the Regional Board Member of The American Heart Association Health Equity Committee, Board Member at Botanical Sciences, and is an active member of BioMed Investors Network.
Dr. Morgan is a native Atlantan and completed her B.S. degree at Spelman College (Atlanta, GA), Medical Degree at Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), Internal Medicine Residency at George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), and both her Cardiology and Pacemaker Fellowships at Mount Sinai Medical Center (Miami, Fl).