Blog Post

Reflecting on my time at CT Health: A note from Liz Kellner

Liz Kellner is leaving the foundation to follow her creative interests and take what she’s learned at the foundation — how to translate complex concepts (ie policy wonk) into accessible language to the world of digital design. We will miss her, but wish her all the best in her next endeavor!

After five years, today is my last day at the foundation.

After working on global health issues, I was drawn to the foundation because of a 2015 publication promoting the work of community health workers in Connecticut. Until then, I had only heard about community health workers, or CHWs, in the global public health community, and I knew how critical they were to providing basic health care to people all over the world. When I stumbled upon cthealth.org, I was excited to learn that people in my home state were advocating for CHWs as a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to expanding access to good health care, especially to those who need it the most.

I spent the last five years as a proud member of the communications team working alongside Arielle and soaking up as much as she could teach me about health policy, the Muppets (yes, those Muppets), journalism, and, most importantly, how to correctly use a semicolon. I had the privilege of connecting with so many people through our website, social media channels, and my Friday emails with the week’s top health news stories! Click here to subscribe… (my last shameless plug, I promise!)

I continued my work on community health worker advocacy through projects that promoted the value of CHWs and supported others’ efforts that helped to successfully push for a voluntary certification process for CHWs. It has been amazing to see the progress on CHWs in Connecticut and I’m especially proud of the foundation’s role in supporting and funding them during the pandemic, when they played such an invaluable role connecting so many communities to health care across the state.

These last five years have taught me so much and provided me with foundational knowledge that will guide me in the next steps in my career. While I will miss my coworkers and the work of the foundation, I’m excited for new opportunities to further explore my creative side through digital design and development.

I’m thankful for everyone that I’ve met and worked with, and look forward to being an avid reader of the weekly news roundup!