This is the eighth episode in our ongoing series What Matters Most in America.

Dena Porter’s photography is informed by her career as a sociologist and an education administrator.

Inspired by her father’s love of film photography, Ms. Porter has studied photography at Maine Media Workshops (with Alison Shaw), the Smithsonian Institution, and the Cape Cod Arts Association. Her work has been exhibited in Asheville, North Carolina, New York City, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and she has completed commissioned works for patrons along the East Coast. Her photos have been selected for juried photographer’s shows since 2016.

Her most recent exhibition of protest movement photography is entitled “Come Together” and speaks to the importance of building community in challenging politicized times. Follow her on Instagram as @denaporter. She is also a freelance photographer for the Martha’s Vineyard Times.

An avid adventurer and athlete, Dena captures life and light wherever possible!

Dr. Megan Ranney MD MPH is a practicing emergency physician and researcher, focusing on the intersection between digital health and violence prevention. She is the Director and founder of the Brown Emergency Digital Health Innovation (EDHI) program (www.brownedhi.org). She is also Chief Research Officer for the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine, a non-partisan philanthropy focused on filling the funding gap for high-quality, medically-focused, firearm injury research.

She graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History of Science in 1997. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cote d’Ivoire prior to attending medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in NYC. She graduated with AOA status and received the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award from the Gold Humanism Society on graduation. She completed internship, residency, and chief residency in Emergency Medicine, as well as a fellowship in Injury Prevention Research and a Master of Public Health, at Brown University.

She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rhode Island Hospital/Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is an editor for the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and an elected member of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Board of Directors. She has previously served as an appointed member of HIMSS’ mHealth Physician Taskforce.

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Read The Book That Inspires The Show

Paul Samuel Dolman, author, podcaster, and speaker, presents What Matters Most (the book!) a series of interview transcriptions from more than twenty inspirational Nashville and Tennessee residents with special guest journalist and author Bill Moyers.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, former Governor Don Sundquist, Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal, Grammy Award-winning entertainer Wynonna Judd, and many more share intimate and inspirational aspects of themselves.

This twentieth anniversary edition also features bonus material from thirty more notables from Tennessee, including local business owners, spiritual leaders, coaches, radio personalities, authors, and educators.