My leadership accelerated when I became Executive Director of OHSU’s single Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). OHSU is a top statewide healthcare institution, and its Family Medicine Department is top-2 in the country. I have the privilege of bringing my mission-drivenapproach to population health and broad vision for health equity to this role.While joining forces with our family health clinic program’s Chief Financial Officer to implement an 8-figure budget (and deliver on profitability targets), we strive to deliver on the population health goals that are at the heart of my career history and current leadership strategy.Health EquityI am always thinking about the best ways to deliver health care and improve health equity. In fact, I think this is the principle that drives every aspect of my executive leadership. By seeking and managing partnerships and grants, we increase our reach across programs that support excellenthealthcare delivery, such as via the Medical-Legal Partnership and a variety of initiatives devoted to food security, transportation, clothing, and literacy among our patient families.Healthcare QualityDelivering quality healthcare with a staff of 150+ and achieving the Quadruple Aim means working with deep and complex analytics. We thus infuse quality practices and goal attainment into every patient interaction. We also are accountable to the Federal Bureau of Primary Health Care and Oregon’s state-level authorities, which recently named us Tier IV Patient-Centered Primary Care Home.Organizational GovernanceAs the Executive Director, I’m working at the highest governance levels of the organization and within the institution, engaging with our community board, and delivering federally compliant systems.

I held the Interim Chief Administrative Officer position at OHSU simultaneous to my position as Executive Director of the OHSU Family Medicine Clinic (see above).Executive StrategyIn this interim executive role, I participated on a leadership team as part of OHSU Practice Plan (OPP) Office of Community Engagement and Support (OCES), which manages OHSU’s clinical affiliate partnerships. One of our largest initiatives was structuring a scorecard program that assessed the financial viability of new partnerships called the New Business Evaluation and Implementation (NBEI). I also helped bring in a number of new staff to support statewide affiliate health system and partner programs.

After leading the AHEC program (and two of its regional centers in Rhode Island) while at Brown University, I formally took on the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) position. I am proud that my vision enabled us to touch the lives of so many in our complex healthcare ecosystem.My biggest wins included not only expanding services and advocacy supporting our members (55 medical schools & 250 community based AHECS in 92% of US counties, $30M from federal grants) but also regularly connecting powerful policy makers at state and national levels to important local work.When I came on board full time in 2011, we expanded our roadmap for fully engaging with influential members of US Congress and with the Bush and Obama Administrations. I expanded enduring connections with individuals at all levels, converting our need for activism into real terms.National AdvocacyI met with Congressional staffers hundreds of times to increase our funding (+55% grant growth in 5 years), support our language choices for health care bills and much more.My most memorable moment was meeting with First Lady Michelle Obama in The White House alongside 25 other heads of national associations dedicated to health care. This meeting gave us the opportunity to engage with the First Lady and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden on the Joining Forces program treating military patients living with PTSD.Program DevelopmentIn addition to Joining Forces, NAO also led a variety of programs with a healthcare focus, including AmericaCorps’ Youth Health Service Corps and, importantly, a national program focusing on HPV vaccination protocol education.Mission-Driven LeadershipOverall, expanding NAO and lifting our presence beyond our mandate to achieve big and broad mission goals became the foundation—perhaps the encapsulation—of all the reasons I chose my career path: To influence major healthcare initiatives, thereby improving the lives of peopleliving across the country, not just those in my region.

President of National AHEC Organization for FY2010.Essential Responsibilities:I was responsible for chairing meetings of the Board, the Executive Committee and all full membership meetings of the National AHEC Organization. I ensured that the board functioned effectively, interacted with association management and staff optimally, and fulfilled all of its duties and ensured the effective action of the board in governing and supporting the national goals and objectives of the National AHEC Organization.

Being a National Health Service Corp (NHSC) Ambassador meant a great deal to me. I enjoyed being able to communicate the value and importance of working in a primary care discipline in underserved communities to health professions students and others, and have done so many times in a variety of settings: classrooms, during lectures, in small groups, and with medical students working on AHEC-related community-based projects. As a NHSC Ambassador, I felt a special and welcome obligation to promote primary care as a valuable and essential component of the U.S. healthcare system, as well as promote working with the most vulnerable in our society as a means of doing well and serving others. NHSC Ambassadors have an important role to play in the endorsement and support of primary care, and I am pleased I was able to do so.

I established the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC, see above) presence at Brown University as well as sponsored the statewide presence of this organization, including hiring 3 executive directors for 2 regional AHECs.Healthcare Program InitiativesI also had the honor of building and teaching the “Healthcare in America” preclinical elective to first- and second-year medical students, which spoke to my professional interest in multiple facets of health care equity (oversight, financing, structure, delivery systems and reimbursement mechanisms of the US Health Care System). Through this elective and apart from it, I coached and mentored medical students on career strategies, including interviewing, professionalism, writing and reflection skills, and relationship building with patients.I also facilitated the planning, development and implementation of statewide primary care physician and practitioner loan repayment recruitment program for Rhode Island. Last, I served as Faculty Advisor for Summer RI AHEC-supported community-based projects.

Champlain Valley Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) is one of the federally funded centers working to improve public health in underserved areas through the recruitment, retention and continuing education of a primary care workforce.Responsible for oversight of all Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center activities; Responsible for board development and board relations; Responsible for hiring, firing, supervising, training, and evaluating staff; Responsible for creating external relationships with state and local agencies to address public health and health care workforce needs; Responsible for monitoring and evaluating overall program performance.

Regional Director of adult education organization; responsible for center leadership and operations, staff development, budget, grant writing and overall programmatic oversight. Vermont Adult Learning (VAL) provides adults with essential skills education to further their educational, employment and personal goals in order to expand their options and capabilities in the family, community and workplace.