06/11/2026
Join us to celebrate Pride tomorrow, June 12, at 7:00pm. We have a special speaker joining us!
Dr. Abby Saunders, PhD, PA-C, is a clinician, educator, and a card-carrying member of the LGBTQ+ community since circa 1970, which, she is quick to note, predates the internet and social media.
Dr. Saunders holds a PhD and is a certified Physician Assistant who has been practicing urgent care and primary care medicine for nearly three decades, despite her very youthful appearance. She has been an associate professor in the Physician Assistant Program at Seton Hall University since 2011 and teaches courses in clinical medicine, health care policy, patient-provider communication, and research methods. She has spent years cultivating a curriculum grounded in cultural humility, health equity, and trauma-informed care and has integrated a community service requirement which inspires students to become lifelong servant leaders.
Her scholarly work centers on bias mitigation in health professions education, and equity-based healthcare. She has presented for professional organizations nationwide and serves on the Cultural Humility in Assessment board for the Physician Assistant Education Association.
Outside of academia, Abby is a committed community advocate. She collaborates with the YWCA of Union County on domestic abuse awareness programming and is involved in mutual aid and community resource work in Union County, New Jersey. She is the proud parent of twins who are 2026 college graduates, and when out in the wild prefers dogs over humans.
She will bring her expertise as a clinician and health educator, along with several decades of lived experience, to a conversation about LGBTQ+ people, Pride, and the things we keep getting wrong. She is also TEE's Executive Director’s sister, which means the rabbi has full authority to cut the microphone as appropriate.