FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 25, 2015
CONTACT: Celeste Lee
(617) 246-8406 / [email protected]
BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION CELEBRATES THE GRADUATION OF THE 2014-2015 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH LEADERSHIP CLASS
Boston (June 25) – Nineteen emerging leaders in health care are graduating today as the eighth class of the Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership (MICHL), a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. MICHL is designed to help participants increase their personal impact and enhance their organization’s influence in the community and the health care system overall. Over the course of nine months, the graduates completed an 18-day educational program and engaged in a highly experiential curriculum that included classroom work, peer-to-peer exchanges, and personal reflection.
Representative Jeffrey Sánchez (D –15th Suffolk) is the keynote speaker for the graduation. His remarks will address the need for courageous leadership at a time when people’s access to good health and health care is seen as something other than a basic human right. He will also talk about his experience as a leader in the fight to help ensure that everyone in Massachusetts has health insurance and receives high quality affordable care. “In a non-traditional setting, MICHL gives our best and brightest the tools and relationships they’ll need to become our next generation of leaders,” said Representative Sánchez.
“The Foundation is proud to have created a program that serves as a pipeline for future community health leaders” said Audrey Shelto, President of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. “Since 2005, the graduates who complete this program are well-equipped to address the opportunities and challenges in this dynamic, rapidly changing field. The leadership qualities and confidence that are bolstered during the program are particularly pertinent to helping expand access to quality healthcare for low-income and vulnerable people in the Commonwealth.”
The graduation program will highlight key learning that occurred during the program and provide an opportunity for participants to share their experiences with each other, their organization’s leaders, MICHL alumni, and the Foundation.
The 2014-2015 graduates are:
- Nineequa Blanding, REACH Project Director, Boston Public Health Commission
- Leanne Bragdon, Vice President of Senior Services, Bay Cove/Kit Clark Senior Services
- Dennie Butler-McKay, Social Worker and Clinician, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center
- Idalia Carrasco, Community Program Manager, Brigham and Women’s/Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center
- Stephanie Chan, Population Health Analyst, VA New England Health Care
- Julian Cyr, Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs, MA Department of Public Health
- Denise Garlick, State Representative, State of Massachusetts
- Scotland Huber, Communications and Marketing Manager, Codman Square Health Center
- Phillomin Lapiste, Operations Manager, Bowdoin Street Health Center
- Karman Lee, Operations Manager, Manet Community Health Center
- Virginia Rego, Manager of Quality Performance, Steward Health Care Network
- Mariana Rocha, Shift Supervisor, Sisters of Providence Health System
- Melissa Ryan, Manager for Maternal Child Health and Group Visits, Codman Square Health Center
- Hannah Scott, Program Coordinator, Brookline Community Mental Health Center
- Ilana Steinhauer, Clinical Care Coordinator and Nurse Practitioner, Volunteers in Medicine – The Berkshires
- Mollie Sullivan, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Sisters of Providence Health System
- Esther Valdez, MD, Medical Director for Behavioral Health, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program
- Kelly Warner, Director of Family Planning, Cambridge Health Alliance
- Tina Wright, Emergency Management Program Manager and Public Information Coordinator, MA League of Community Health Centers
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About the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation:
The mission of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is to expand access to health care for low-income and vulnerable people in the Commonwealth by collaborating with public and private organizations to broaden health coverage and reduce barriers to care, through grants, research, and policy initiatives. The Foundation is a private, non-profit organization governed by a 14-member Board of Directors.
