The CPASS Foundation is proud to announce LaMenta “Sweetie” Conway, MD, MPH, distinguished physician, educator, mentor, nonprofit founder, and alumna of the Chicago Area Health and Medical Careers Program™ (CAHMCP), as the 2026 recipient of the John Bradley STEM Award for Inspirational Leadership. Dr. Conway is the Founder of the I Am Abel Foundation, which has celebrated 10 years of dedication to the pipeline to medicine for students — not only from the greater Chicagoland area, but for students across the U.S. and as far away as Ghana — sending 18 mentees into medical careers across the U.S. and abroad in 2026 alone. She is also the immediate past Chief of Medicine for the Illinois Department of Corrections, where she led our state’s efforts to serve one of our most vulnerable populations.
Dr. Conway will be formally recognized during the 2026 Annual STEMM Pathways to Health Equity Symposium, taking place Saturday, October 3, 2026, in Chicago. This year’s symposium, themed “Educating the Future of Health: Building Bold Pathways from Campus to Career,” will convene leaders from healthcare, higher education, philanthropy, public service, and the community to examine how stronger educational and career pathways can help prepare the next generation of health professionals.
A Full-Circle Recognition Rooted in the CAHMCP Legacy
For Dr. Conway, the honor carries a special meaning.
Before becoming a physician and creating pathways of her own, she was part of CAHMCP, the pioneering Chicago pipeline initiative whose leadership included John Bradley and whose work helped generations of students historically underrepresented in medicine and the health professions navigate the path from aspiration to achievement. Bradley devoted decades to identifying promising students, connecting them with academic and professional opportunities, and providing the encouragement and guidance necessary to persist. CPASS established the award bearing his name to recognize leaders who continue that work by attracting, educating, mentoring, and advancing students in STEMM and healthcare.
Dr. Conway has carried that legacy forward throughout her career.
“John Bradley was extraordinarily important to me—not simply because of what he did for my career, but because of what he taught me about our responsibility to reach back and bring others forward,” said Dr. Conway. “He saw possibility in young people and then did the hard work of helping us turn that possibility into a pathway. His belief, mentorship, and commitment helped shape my journey, and much of what I have tried to build for the students coming behind me reflects the example that John set. To receive an award bearing his name is profoundly personal and one of the most meaningful honors of my career.”
The connection between Dr. Conway and Bradley’s legacy extends beyond her own experience. In 2024, Dr. Conway and the I Am Abel Foundation honored Bradley and fellow CAHMCP leader Dr. Reggie Jones for their decades of work expanding pathways into medicine.
Building Pathways for the Generation Behind Her
Born and raised in Chicago’s Englewood community, Dr. Conway pursued medicine while raising three young children, earning her medical degree from Rush Medical College after completing a Master of Public Health. She subsequently trained in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Illinois and has built a career spanning clinical medicine, medical education, public service, and mentorship.
Her professional accomplishments are matched by an enduring commitment to developing future physicians. Dr. Conway founded the I Am Abel Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit mentoring and scholarly community focused on creating pathways to medicine and STEM for students who have historically lacked access to those opportunities. Its flagship Urban Bridges Medical Mentoring Physician Pipeline Program provides students with physician mentoring, academic advising, clinical and premedical exposure, scholarly support, and service opportunities.
That commitment reflects a philosophy Dr. Conway has expressed throughout her work: students need not only talent and ambition, but also people willing to help them envision what is possible. Her own organization summarizes that conviction in the message she gives young people: mentors changed her life, and students must be able to see possibilities before they can fully imagine themselves achieving them.
Her contributions have earned recognition well beyond CPASS. In 2024, Rush Medical College honored Dr. Conway with its Campbell Alumni Service Award, recognizing her dedication and service to the college and alumni community.
Leadership That Extends the Pathway
The John Bradley STEM Award for Inspirational Leadership recognizes individuals whose professional contributions and personal commitment make STEMM and healthcare pathways clearer, stronger, and more accessible for the students coming behind them. Its criteria emphasize mentorship, preparation, persistence, belonging, representation, and the development of the future workforce. For CPASS Foundation Board Chair Eric E. Whitaker, MD, MPH, himself profoundly influenced by Bradley and the CAHMCP experience, Dr. Conway represents exactly the kind of generational impact the award was created to recognize.
“Sweetie Conway embodies the very legacy this award was created to honor”, said Dr. Whitaker. “John Bradley believed that talent was everywhere, but opportunity was not—and he devoted his life to closing that gap. Sweetie has taken the opportunity and mentorship she received through CAHMCP and multiplied it for another generation. Through her leadership, her service, and the extraordinary work of I Am Abel, young people are not simply being encouraged to dream about careers in medicine; they are being prepared, mentored, and supported all the way into those careers. There is something deeply meaningful about watching a former CAHMCP student become the kind of pathway builder John Bradley was for so many of us. I can think of no more fitting way to honor John’s legacy than to recognize Sweetie Conway for carrying that work forward.”
Bradley’s impact on Dr. Whitaker was equally personal. Reflecting on Bradley following his passing, Dr. Whitaker said that CAHMCP changed the trajectory of his life and credited Bradley’s support, belief, and guidance as instrumental to his becoming a physician.
That intergenerational story—leaders creating pathways, students becoming professionals, and those professionals returning to create opportunity for others—is at the heart of both CAHMCP’s historic impact and CPASS Foundation’s work today.
Honoring the Legacy by Continuing the Work
Dr. Conway joins a distinguished group of John Bradley STEM Award honorees whose careers demonstrate that leadership is measured not simply by individual achievement, but by the opportunities created for others. Recent recipients include Trevonne M. Thompson, MD, the 2024 honoree, and Mildred M.G. Olivier, MD, the 2025 honoree.
Her selection is particularly fitting. The young CAHMCP participant once supported by a powerful network of mentors is now herself a physician, educator, pathway builder, and mentor helping young people see medicine as a future within their reach.
It is the very cycle of opportunity John Bradley spent his life creating.
And in 2026, CPASS Foundation will celebrate Dr. LaMenta “Sweetie” Conway for ensuring that cycle continues.
The 2026 John Bradley STEM Award for Inspirational Leadership will be presented during the CPASS Foundation Annual STEMM Pathways to Health Equity Symposium on Saturday, October 3, 2026, in Chicago.
About CPASS Foundation
Creating Pathways and Access for Student Success™ is a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to building STEMM education and healthcare career pipelines for students across Illinois. Through programs designed to mentor, prepare, and support students at every stage of their journey, CPASS works to close longstanding gaps in access and representation within the health professions, helping the next generation of scholars see a future in medicine and STEMM as not just possible, but within reach.
About the Annual STEMM Pathways to Health Equity Symposium
The Annual STEMM Pathways to Health Equity Symposium is CPASS Foundation’s signature event, bringing together leaders from healthcare, higher education, philanthropy, public service, and the community for a day of connection and conversation around building stronger pathways into the health professions. Now in its 4th year, the symposium continues to grow as a space where students, mentors, and changemakers come together to honor those paving the way and to chart what’s next for the pipeline to medicine and STEMM.
Learn more:
John Bradley STEM Award for Inspirational Leadership | CPASS Foundation
2026 Annual STEMM Pathways to Health Equity Symposium | CPASS Foundation