HARTFORD, CT – December 12, 2013 The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) recently selected 19 Health leaders to participate in its ninth Health Leadership Fellows (HLF) class. This 10-month program is focused on the development, practice, and application of leadership skills to the complex issue of health equity for people of color in Connecticut.
“Effective leaders are essential for elevating health equity as a priority issue in Connecticut,” said Lina Paredes vice president of program. “The class offers many opportunities for leaders to grow and expand their skillset to bring them closer to success.”
Participants are selected through a competitive process, and complete a ten-month intensive program. This year’s class includes:
- A dentist fluent in Spanish who advocates for all Spanish-speaking patients at the community health center where she works;
- A nurse and long-time martial arts enthusiast whose passion for health equity was ignited with the tragic loss of her mother and aunt to esophageal cancer;
- A public health specialist who came to Connecticut by way of Jamaica, and is motivated to relieve the ravages of racial and ethnic disparities across borders.
“I have so learned so much in the first three months of this fellowship, but one thing that truly resonates with me is that ‘optimum’ health care for all of Connecticut’s residents is complex and multi-layered,” says Karen Hatcher Sneed, President, Pequot Health Care/PRxN. Hatcher Sneed, a resident of Groton, is a seasoned healthcare executive interested in how population health management can improve the health and wellness of all racial and ethnic groups.
Members of the 2014 Health Leadership Fellows Class
- Andres Barkil-Oteo, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine
- Linda Barry, MD, FACS, Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Connecticut
- Yolanda Caldera-Durant, MS, Senior Program Officer, Connecticut Health Foundation
- Diana L. Cardona, DMD, General Dentist, Community Health Center Inc.
- Tinashe Chapfika, DMD, General Dentist & On-Site Dental Director, Community Health Center, Inc.
- Darcey Lynn Cobbs-Lomax, MBA, MPH, Executive Director, Project Access of New Haven
- Wesley Eugene Dixon, Research Assistant, Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
- Rhonda R. Evans, Deputy Director, Connecticut Association for Community Action, Inc.
- Kevin Galvin, President, Connecticut Commercial Maintenance, Inc.
- Michael B. Greene, MPA, Health Program Assistant, Connecticut Mental Health Center,
Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services - Karen J. Hatcher-Sneed, MPA, President, Pequot Health Care/PRxN
- Meshie Knight, Program and Development Associate, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut
- Quiana Lewis, MPH, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Milford Health Department
- Rebecca Mizrachi, MS, Family Nurse Practitioner, Norwalk Community Health Center
- Mary Moran Boudreau, RDH, MBA, Executive Director, Connecticut Oral Health Initiative
- Meryl F. Price, MHSA, President, Health Policy Matters
- Rebecca Santiago, RN, BSN, Community Healthcare Navigator, Center for Health Equity
Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center - Brenda Shipley, MA, Project Director, Health Disparities Institute, University of Connecticut
- Sharon Taylor, Program Coordinator, CARE – Yale School of Public Health
- Lawrence Samuel Young III, MPH, Health Equity Fellow, Center for Health Equity,
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
At commencement in June, the class of 2014 will join the diverse and powerful statewide network of 160 Health Leadership Fellows.
Applications for the 2015 Class will be accepted in January 2014. To learn more about the program, visit https://www.cthealth.org/fellows-program/.
About the Connecticut Health Foundation
The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is the state’s largest independent health philanthropy dedicated to improving lives by changing health systems. Since it was established in July 1999, the foundation has supported innovative grant-making, public health policy research, technical assistance and convening to achieve its mission – to improve the health of the people of Connecticut. Over the past 12 years, CT Health has awarded grants totaling almost $51,000,000 million in 45 cities and towns throughout the state.
In April 2013, CT Health announced its five-year strategic plan to transition to expand health equity as a focus. For CT Health, health equity means helping more people gain access to better care, especially people of color. Better care includes physical, mental, and oral health.
-END-