**Canceled** Penn Bioethics Seminar (PBS): "Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity"- Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP

Listening From the Inside: Partnering With Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity
 

“We want to impact the world even from here. It isn’t too late for us.”

This statement, shared by an incarcerated man, reframes how we think about care, dignity, and possibility within carceral spaces. “Listening From the Inside: Partnering with Incarcerated Men to Navigate Health and Dignity” traces the journey of entering facilities such as State Correctional Institutions—not only to provide health education, but to build meaningful partnerships rooted in trust and mutual respect.

Through the Health Education and Advocacy for Incarcerated Populations (HEAL) collaboration with the Senior Life Enhancement Program (SLEP), this work began as a model for delivering health information to older incarcerated men and evolved into a space of shared learning and dialogue.

The most transformative insights came not from what was taught, but from what was heard. The men’s reflections on aging, chronic illness, and navigating healthcare systems challenged traditional assumptions and revealed critical gaps in care and communication.

This presentation centers those lessons and examines how they extend beyond prison walls—shaping advocacy, informing clinical practice, and challenging us to redesign healthcare systems. Ultimately, it calls on clinicians to listen differently, partner more intentionally, and recognize that dignity and impact are not confined by circumstance.

Rose Onyeali, MD, MSHP

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics)
Perelman School of Medicine | University of Pennsylvania
 

Dr. Rose N. Onyeali is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania whose work is shaped by her commitment to health equity and her lived experiences navigating structural barriers in healthcare. She completed her medical training at the University of Virginia, internal medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University, and a geriatrics fellowship and Master of Science in Health Policy Research at Penn.

Dr. Onyeali is the founder of Health Education and Advocacy for Incarcerated Populations (HEAL) in partnership with the Senior Life Enhancement Program (SLEP), where she works alongside incarcerated older men to advance health education, advocacy, and dignity within carceral settings. Her work bridges clinical care, research, and community engagement, focusing on aging, incarceration, and transitions of care. She is passionate about reimagining healthcare through listening, partnership, and justice.

Chinelo N. Osakwe

B.A. Candidate in Neuroscience | Pre-Medical 
Undergraduate Researcher
University of Pennsylvania

Chinelo N. Osakwe is a third‑year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania studying Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology. Her academic and research interests focus on how biological and structural disruptions shape lived health and symptom expression, particularly within communities facing systemic barriers to healthcare quality.

Her work with Dr. Rose Onyeali centers on listening to and learning from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men about their experiences of aging, chronic illness, and interactions with healthcare systems. Chinelo supports health education and advocacy efforts developed in partnership with incarcerated older men as the

coordinator of the HEAL x SLEP program. In her role, she helps foster spaces of shared dialogue, mutual humanization, and empowerment within carceral settings.