BOSTON (June 7, 2023) – The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of two new directors who bring extensive knowledge and experience in clinical care delivery, behavioral health integration and health policy to the Board of Directors.
The new board members are Denise De Las Nueces, M.D., the Chief Medical Officer at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, and Carlos F. Cappas, PsyD, Chief Behavioral Health Officer at Lynn Community Health Center.
“Doctors De Las Nueces and Cappas bring an abundance of community health care experience as well as clinical expertise to our Board,” said Andrew Dreyfus, Chair of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. “The perspective they have gained serving marginalized communities will enrich the Board and further support the Foundation’s mission of driving health policy solutions through groundbreaking research and impactful grantmaking.”
De Las Nueces is a board-certified internal medicine physician and addiction medicine specialist who joined the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program more than a decade ago. She also serves as an assistant professor of medicine at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine at Boston University.
De Las Nueces earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Columbia University and her Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School. Following her residency training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she received a Commonwealth Fund Mongan Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and earned a Master of Public Health degree in health policy from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Cappas has implemented behavioral health integration programs at community health centers and led initiatives focused on integrated care and population health in adult and pediatric primary care settings. Since joining Lynn Community Health Center in 2019, he has advanced behavioral health services through clinical and operational integration, telehealth expansion and workforce development.
Cappas received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico and is a graduate of the UMass Medical School’s Fellowship in Clinical Health Psychology in Primary Care. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from UMass Boston. Cappas is a board trustee for Casa Esperanza and advisory board member for the Center for Integrated Primary Care at UMass Chan Medical School.
“I look forward to working with our new directors, along with the rest of the Board, as we continue our mission of making health care more accessible to everyone in Massachusetts,” said Audrey Shelto, the Foundation’s President and CEO. “Our organization is proud to be led by a diverse group of experts from the fields of health care, human services, business, government and higher education.”
About the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation
The mission of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is to ensure equitable access to health care for all those in the Commonwealth who are economically, racially, culturally or socially marginalized. The Foundation was established in 2001 with an initial endowment from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. It operates separately from the company and is governed by its own Board of Directors. For more information, visit www.bluecrossmafoundation.org.
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