Profile
I began my career in community-based patient care
and have forged a path focused on values,
anchored in skills, inspired by colleagues and mentors, and
dedicated to improving lives.
I began my career in community-based patient care
and have forged a path focused on values,
anchored in skills, inspired by colleagues and mentors, and
dedicated to improving lives.
I am an imaginative and experienced strategic thinker and educator who works with senior non-profit leaders as a utility player and trusted partner. I develop programs, curricula and evaluations, grant proposals and stewardship plans, communications and stories that matter, budgets and financial projections, courses and cases. I teach the core components of program design and implementation and mentor individuals who strive to improve the world.
Roots in community health have informed every step of my professional journey.
I began my career in direct care as a home health aide, then a case manager working with clients who faced poverty and isolation while navigating the often labyrinthine systems intended to support their needs. This work solidified my awareness of the realities of complex lives, the strengths individuals bring to hardship, and the systems that can improve lives or complicate them, depending on design and implementation.
I discovered a passion for developing programs, processes, analytics, and communications that make lives better on a large scale.
My early work in patient care inspired me to pursue my Masters in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. From there I worked in academic medicine, leading clinical resource analysis at University of Chicago Hospitals, strategic financial planning at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and strategic initiatives in medical education at Mass General Brigham. I also developed financial models that guided a long-term vision for Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Assistant Dean for Finance and Strategy.
After more than ten years in planning and finance, I refocused my work to center on global and domestic health equity.
With a reimagined professional mission, I redirected my career to leadership roles in global health. In partnership with the Peace Corps I helped to launch Seed Global Health, envisioning an expanded health care workforce in sub-Saharan Africa. I amplified best HIV prevention practices working with Harvard's AIDS Prevention Research Project. And I supported the expansion of cancer care globally working with Harvard's Global Equity Initiative, Partners In Health, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Paul Farmer’s expansive view of human dignity was contagious. Working for him transformed my sense of what's possible.
My life changed dramatically when I went to work for the truly visionary global health leader Dr. Paul Farmer. For seven years, with Paul's trust in me, I led programs and administration in Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of Global Health Equity in partnership with Partners In Health and Harvard Medical School. I developed and launched a bespoke administrative fellowship with Haitian partners at Zanmi Lasante, worked with EqualHealth to triple its funding and globalize its programming in social medicine and racial justice, and created a health equity grant initiative that has led to groundbreaking health care improvement at BWH and across the US. I also served as a trusted partner and program developer with Partners In Health, COPE in Navajo Nation, Last Mile Health in Liberia, PIVOT in Madagascar, Wuqu'Kawoq in Guatemala, Vital CxNS in Boston, and numerous NGOs and leaders that share a commitment to improving care for all.
Being and educator and mentor is core to my work today.
As an undergraduate English major, I earned a teaching certificate and tutored high school and college students. Later, I earned a Masters in Education focusing on urban education and English Language Learners. Over the years, I have led a GED play reading group, tutored in Boston Public Schools, and supported numerous college and graduate students telling their stories and pursuing their dreams. I took this work to scale as a consultant developing the National Partnership for Education Access, supporting educational opportunities for kids from underresourced communities. I have developed curricula and taught at Tufts University and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, led strategic initiatives in graduate medical education at Mass General Brigham and designed mentorship models at Brigham and Women's Hospital. I'm committed to learners in the classroom and on their life journeys. Weaving education and student support has been the fulfillment of a lifelong passion and is essential to my path forward.
Respect for wellbeing, strong technical skills, and deeply valuing mentors, partners and students, all contribute to my current portfolio.
I now educate and support, work with non-profits, foundations, higher education, and the public sector to bring to life their plans for improvement that change the lives of students, patients, clinicians, trainees, and communities. I engage in rigorous research and build compelling cases, collaborate with leaders, and support boards to fulfill their missions. While I teach the fundamentals of global and domestic health care and community implementation to college and graduate students, I consistently support the journeys of students as partners.
I earned a BA from the University of Michigan, an MS from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and an MEd from Boston College and trained as an Improvement Coach through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. My most profound learning continues to come through mentors, colleagues and students in their dedication to improving all lives.
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