CHA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- LGBTQ Health / Women 's Health
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Senior Vice President
Andrew Fuqua has served as CHA's Senior Vice President and General Counsel since 2013. Mr. Fuqua's responsibilities include advising the Board of Trustees and all levels of management and staff on a broad range of health law and general corporate issues, including governance, regulatory compliance, contract, labor and employment, pension, tax, licensure, real estate, accreditation, insurance, patient care, and professional staff matters. Mr. Fuqua began his legal career as an associate at Choate, Hall & Stewart before joining CHA as Associate General Counsel in 2006. Before law school, he taught high school history. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Boston University School of Law.
Job Titles:
- LGBTQ Health / Gynecology / OB / GYN / Women 's Health / Obstetrics
Job Titles:
- LGBTQ Health / Gynecology / Women 's Health / OB / GYN
Assaad Sayah, MD, was named CHA's Chief Executive Officer in January 2020. Dr. Sayah, the health system's chief medical officer, served as the interim CEO since June 2019. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer since 2013 and was Chief of Emergency Medicine and Senior Vice President of Primary Care at CHA
Dr. Sayah's leadership has been a critical component of CHA's growth and success over the past decade. Before being named the chief medical officer, he served as the chief of emergency medicine and senior vice president of primary care. In the Emergency Department, Dr. Sayah led tremendous advancements at all three CHA hospitals, resulting in enhanced efficiency, quality, volume and patient satisfaction. He spearheaded primary care growth by more than 50 percent, expanding CHA's access in underserved communities and integrating primary care and behavioral health services and systems to address social determinants of health. He also plays a key role in CHA's commitment to the communities it serves, including his tenure as the co-chair of the Cambridge City Manager's Opioid Working Group established in 2018 to develop recommendations for strengthening the city's response to the opioid epidemic.
Additionally, Dr. Sayah served as chairman of CHA's Chiefs Council and president of the CHA Medical Staff, and he continues to serve on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. His research and publications focus on Emergency Department operation and emergency medical services, including design of the EMS system, continuous quality improvement, advanced directives, violence and weapons, disaster planning and pre-hospital thrombolytics.
Prior to joining CHA, Dr. Sayah held leadership roles at several area hospitals, including director of EMS for Brigham and Women's Hospital, associate chief for the Department of Emergency Medicine at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center and chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center. He received his medical doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and completed his residency in emergency medicine at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Chief of Emergency Medicine
Benjamin Milligan, MD, FACEP is chief of emergency medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). CHA's Department of Emergency Medicine serves nearly 100,000 patients annually at the Cambridge and Everett Emergency Departments as well as the Urgent Care located at the CHA Somerville campus.
Dr. Milligan is also an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining CHA, Dr. Milligan was a clinical instructor in Emergency Medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and an attending emergency medicine physician at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.
He received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College (Cornell University) and completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at New York University/Bellevue Hospital Center.
Bryan has more than 30 years of global experience in communications, brand management, and integrated marketing campaign development. He began his career at Strayton Advertising and Public Relations (later the Advanced Technology Division of Hill & Knowlton). Bryan held a number of executive positions in marketing and communications at Lotus Development Corporation and IBM Corp., including vice president, IBM Americas, vice president of Global Industry Communications, and vice president of Marketing, IBM Lotus Software. He has served on the boards of Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, ACLU Massachusetts, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, and Primary Care Progress. Bryan earned a bachelor's degree in European History from Harvard College in Cambridge, MA.
Caleb Tam, DDS, was named chief of dental services in January 2023 after spending three years as an attending faculty member and practicing dentist at CHA and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM).
He serves as a lecturer on oral health policy and epidemiology as well as the interim director of the general practice residency program at HSDM. His primary academic/research interests include dental biomaterials, dental regenerative therapies, and the "Oral Physician" training model. In addition to mentoring future generations of dental professionals, he is deeply involved in outreach and education to improve oral health in our communities. Dr. Tam graduated from dental school at the University of California, San Francisco before completing his general practice residency through the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) and CHA.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief
- Chairman and Chief of Psychiatry
Dr. Fulwiler is the chair and chief of psychiatry and an associate professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He provides leadership and oversight for all academic and clinical components of the department, and is responsible department faculty for appointments and promotions at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fulwiler's career in public sector psychiatry has focused on improving behavioral health outcomes for underserved populations by integrating novel clinical, population health, research, and training approaches.
Dr. Fulwiler received his MD from Washington University and his PhD in neuroscience from Harvard where he also completed a residency in psychiatry at McLean Hospital. He has held a variety of leadership roles in training, clinical services, and research before joining CHA. Prior to joining CHA in 2020, he was a professor of psychiatry and medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He has conducted federally-funded research on health services for underserved populations, neuroimaging, and mindfulness-based interventions in healthcare. He is an internationally recognized expert in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and conducts professional teacher training in MBCT through the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at CHA and Harvard Medical School.
Job Titles:
- Women 's Health / Gynecology / LGBTQ Health / OB / GYN
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair
- Head of Intellectual Property at Ginkgo Bioworks
Claire Laporte is Head of Intellectual Property at Ginkgo Bioworks. She provides strategic oversight of Ginkgo's patent portfolio, trade secrets, and other intellectual property while supporting Ginkgo's business objectives in connection with IP matters.
Before joining Ginkgo, Claire served the life science industry in private practice at Foley Hoag LLP. During her time at Foley Hoag, Claire handled many patent and trade secret cases relating to a broad range of life science technologies. She also leveraged her litigation experience to represent clients in mergers, acquisitions, licenses, collaborations, and other matters.
Representative litigation cases include a trial in which Claire obtained a verdict of willful infringement against a major medical device company and another in which Claire convinced a tribunal to invalidate two biotechnology patents in a case concerning genetically modified E. coli for production of lysine. Claire also handled appellate matters relating to intellectual property.
During her time at Foley Hoag, Claire maintained an extensive pro bono practice, focusing on civil rights and domestic violence cases. Most recently, Claire served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs in a case challenging President Trump's ban on military service by transgender people.
Claire serves on several non-profit boards, including Cambridge Health Alliance and the Handel & Haydn Society.
Danielle Allen is a professor of public policy, politics, and ethics at Harvard University, Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics, and James Bryant Conant University Professor, one of Harvard's highest honors. She is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, national voice on pandemic response, distinguished author, and mom. Danielle's work to make the world better for young people has taken her from teaching college and leading a $60 million university division to driving change at the helm of a $6 billion foundation, writing for the Washington Post, advocating for cannabis legalization, democracy reform, and civic education, and most recently, to running for governor of Massachusetts. During the height of COVID in 2020, Danielle's leadership in rallying coalitions and building solutions resulted in the country's first-ever Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience; her policies were adopted in federal legislation and a Biden executive order. Danielle made history as the first Black woman ever to run for statewide office in Massachusetts. She continues to advocate for democracy reform to create greater voice and access in our democracy, and drive progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all.
Job Titles:
- Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs
David Kale is the Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs and Treasurer/Collector for the City Cambridge, a role he has held since 2017. Mr. Kale previously served as Town Administrator for the Town of Belmont from 2012-2017, Deputy Finance Director/Budget Director for the City of Cambridge from 2003 through 2012, Chief Financial Officer for the Arlington Public Schools from 2001-2003 and as Director of Financial Services, Manager of Financial Services and Manager of Financial Operations for the Cambridge Public Schools between 1988-2001. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in business administration from Suffolk University.
Job Titles:
- Pediatric Endocrinology / LGBTQ Health
Doug Kress was named chief community officer in April 2022. As chief community officer, Doug cultivates relationships and builds partnerships with community-based nonprofit groups, local governments, and state and regional agencies to advance CHA's clinical, research, and policy initiatives. He oversees the Department of Community Health Improvement, which leads efforts to improve access and health status outcomes in the communities we serve.
From 2015-2022, Doug was the director of health and human services for the City of Somerville (Mass.), during which time he successfully reorganized and expanded the Department of Health and Human Services, overseeing areas including public and school health, prevention, emergency preparedness, the Council on Aging, and veterans' services. Prior to that position, Doug held several public administrator roles in Minnesota, including director of development services for the City of Minneapolis and senior policy aide for a Minneapolis City Council member. He holds a master's degree in education from the University of Minnesota and a master's in public policy from Tufts University.
Since 2001, Dr. Carol Hulka has been Chief of the Department of Radiology at CHA, and Associate Clinical Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Hulka received her bachelor's from Brown University and her medical doctorate from Duke University. She completed her medical internship at Beth Israel Hospital and trained as a resident in Radiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Hulka was an Imaging Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. She remained on staff at Massachusetts General Hospital for several years where she published in the field of women's imaging. She initiated and developed the Breast MRI program at MGH for which she was awarded state and federal grant funding.
During her staff appointment at BIDMC, she completed her Master of Business Administration at Boston University, where she was selected for membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma Society for academic achievement. Dr. Hulka had the opportunity to use this education when offered the position of Chief of Radiology at CHA. Since that time, she has expanded the professional practice from the CHA Cambridge Hospital site to include CHA Somerville Campus and CHA Everett Hospital. Dr. Hulka has overseen transformation of the department to a state-of-the-art facility that is 100% digital (PACS) and paperless, using voice recognition for instant report turnaround. It was one of the first facilities in the area to have digital mammography at all sites and in 2009 was named a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology.
Dr. Hulka remains active in many Radiologic Societies with roles as Past President of several imaging societies and as a reviewer of scientific presentations and journals. She continues to support radiology education programs with the Harvard Medical School students and rotating residents.
Job Titles:
- Assistant City Manager for Human Services for the City of Cambridge
Ellen Semonoff has served as the Assistant City Manager for Human Services for the City of Cambridge since 2004. Her responsibilities include leadership and day-to-day management of City's Human Services Department, including child care and family support programs, community and youth programs, services for homeless residents, workforce development programs, adult basic education programs, recreation programs, fuel assistance and summer nutrition programs, services to and programs for seniors and disabled residents. The Department has over 600 full and part time employees and a budget of over 40 million dollars in city, state and federal funds. The Department plays a convening role in numerous community collaborations. Prior to assuming her position as Assistant City Manager, Ms. Semonoff held several other positions for the City of Cambridge. She spent several years in Washington D.C., serving as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Joseph A. Califano and as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Network Development
Gerald Steinberg, MD, is Senior Vice President of Network Development, working to develop new partnerships that benefit CHA's patients and communities. Dr. Steinberg previously served as CHA's Chief Medical Officer and Chief Medical Quality Officer. Before coming to CHA in 2005, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer of UMass Memorial Health Care. He also served as interim Chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he was the school's Feigenbaum Distinguished Professor of Quality, and as Chief Medical Officer of UMass Memorial Health Care.
Dr. Steinberg is an AOA graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and received his bachelor's, cum laude, from Rutgers University where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar. He received his orthopedic training in the Harvard Combined Orthopedic Program after completing a Research Fellowship at Harvard.
Hans P. Van Lancker, MD, FRCSC, FAAOS, an accomplished surgeon, leader, teacher, and researcher with extensive experience in complex high-acuity orthopaedic trauma, revision and reconstructive surgery, joined CHA in October 2022.
Dr. Van Lancker comes from St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston where he served as the vice chair of orthopaedic surgery, vice president of trauma services, and the chief of orthopaedic trauma. He oversaw the evaluation and management of all fractures and orthopaedic trauma across Massachusetts while developing St. Elizabeth's as a tertiary orthopedic trauma referral center for both the Steward network and its neighboring communities. He recruited a number of providers across the region, considerably expanding the capacity of orthopedic care within the Steward Network. He established protocolized care for hip fractures across the department in addition to a 24/7 med/surg co-management service, leading to St. Elizabeth's becoming the only Healthgrades 5-star hip fracture hospital in eastern Massachusetts.
A graduate of the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Dr. Van Lancker performed his residency training at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal and then completed the Harvard Orthopaedic Trauma fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He has received several awards for patient experience and outcomes, including being repeatedly recognized among Boston's Top Doctors. He has authored multiple book chapters and research articles and frequently gives national and international presentations. He is also an instructor in orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School and active in medical student, resident, and fellow education and research. He is board certified by both the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and Royal College of Surgeons of Canada.
Job Titles:
- LGBTQ Health / OB / GYN / Gynecology / Women 's Health
Job Titles:
- City Manager
- Strategic Advisor
Jane Licurse is the Strategic Advisor to Cambridge's City Manager, Yi-An Huang. She leads the City's strategic planning on high priority initiatives across departments. She previously served as Executive Director of Strategy and Chief of Staff to Boston Medical Center Health System's EVP (currently CEO). Before that she served healthcare clients as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Jeffrey Hoffman, MD, FACS, was named CHA's Chief Medical Officer in 2021. Dr. Hoffman came to CHA from The Southeast Permanente Medical Group (TSPMG, the physician arm of Kaiser Permanente in Atlanta). In his most recent role as Medical Director, Contracting and Network Management, he managed and negotiated professional and facility contracts as well as cultivating the relationships and the performance of contracted network providers. From 2016-2020, Dr. Hoffman served as the Chief Operating Officer at TSPMG, where he aligned primary and specialty care while developing a new operating and reporting structure for the entire region. Prior to his role as COO, he was the Associate Medical Director of Specialty Care, where he oversaw all specialty services and started and grew 20 new specialty departments. A practicing otolaryngologist with a specialty in endocrine surgery, Dr. Hoffman served as Chief of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at TSPMG from 1993-2008.
He is a graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and did his surgical internship at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York followed by an otolaryngology residency at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Jessica Eshleman is a Somerville resident with over 20 years of experience connecting people with ideas, places, and opportunities. As Union Square Main Street's executive director, a role she's held since 2018, she serves a rapidly developing business district where 200 minority-owned and independent businesses charge her passion for economic empowerment, inclusive public spaces, and enhancing equitable opportunity in urban neighborhoods.
With an emphasis on advancing cross-sector, strategic partnerships that engage a spectrum of stakeholders, Jessica has served on the boards of the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, Concord 2020, the Hunt Memorial Building, and Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum. She has also led its first strategic planning process as the chair of New Hampshire's Concord Young Professional Network.
Jessica earned her BA from Franklin Pierce University and her Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2016, she completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, and in 2017, she achieved her quest to summit New England's Hundred Highest peaks.
Jill Batty joined CHA as Chief Financial Officer in 2014. With more than 20 years of experience as a strategist, financial executive, and health care consultant, Ms. Batty has worked with a wide variety of providers, hospitals, and physician practices, including those in safety net and integrated health systems.
Prior to joining CHA, Ms. Batty served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Keene, New Hampshire. Her work there helped the organization transition from fee-for-service care to population health management, effectively adapting to state and federal reimbursement shifts while generating significant operating margin improvements.
Ms. Batty's mission-driven values extend beyond the workplace. She serves as a volunteer for several organizations including Monadnock Family Services and New Hampshire Voices for Health. She holds a bachelor's from the University of Illinois and a master's from the University of Iowa. She has been a certified public accountant since 1989 and is a fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Job Titles:
- President of the Northeast Clean Energy Council
In January, 2022, Joe Curtatone became the President of the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC) and a Senior Practice Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Prior to starting his new roles, he served nine terms (18 years) as Mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts (the City's longest serving Mayor) where he earned a reputation for being one of the most innovative mayors in the United States. Prior to being sworn in as Mayor in January 2004, Curtatone served for eight years as an Alderman-at-Large and as an attorney in private practice.
As Mayor, he implemented a wide range of reforms and new programs that earned both him and the City widespread recognition, including being named "the best-run city in Massachusetts" by the Boston Globe, an "All-America City" by the National Civic League twice, and among the "100 Best Communities for Youth" by America's Promise Alliance. During his time in office Somerville developed a comprehensive net zero climate action plan, experienced housing and job booms by redeveloping former industrial districts, spearheaded the first major expansion of Boston's core rail transit system in a generation and launched the national healthy cities initiative. Somerville consistently tops lists of the "Most Walkable" and "Most Bikeable" cities in the United States. Mayor Curtatone has become a national leader in the system of better management through measurement. Delegations from other Massachusetts communities - and from cities as far away as Ireland and Korea - regularly visited Somerville for briefings on the city's SomerStat program, a data-driven performance management system modeled on Baltimore's CitiSTAT initiative.
A 1984 graduate of Somerville High School, he earned his Bachelor degree (B.A.) from Boston College in 1990, a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the New England School of Law in 1994, and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2011.
He has also volunteered as a football coach at Somerville High School, Somerville Little League, and Somerville Youth Hockey.
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
Joy Curtis is a trusted advisor, coach, problem solver, and experienced human resources executive. She is the President and Founding Principal of the Human Resources consulting firm, Innovative Solutions HR, LLC. where she has worked extensively with clients in healthcare, higher education and professional services firms. Ms. Curtis founded Innovative Solutions HR, LLC. in 1994.
From 2005 until 2009, Ms. Curtis served as the Chief People Office at the international law firm, Ropes & Gray LLP where she founded "the People Organization." She was responsible for firm- wide Professional development, legal recruiting, human resources operations, secretarial services, travel, event planning and support for the firm's pro bono activities. In 2009, the organization was voted the best firm to work by associates across the United States in the Vault Survey.
Prior to founding Innovative Solutions, Ms. Curtis was Vice President, Human Resources at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, CT, and at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, MA. She was a member of the Senior Management Teams and responsible for managing human capital. Ms. Curtis has over 25 years of in-depth experience in all aspects of human resources management.
Ms. Curtis earned her bachelor's from Yale University and her Master in Business Administration, with high honors, from Boston University. She is a certified coach through Martha Beck, Inc. and is a certified Career Invention coach. She has earned the designation of Senior Professional, HR, (SPHR) from The Society of Human Resource Management.
In her spare time, she follows her passion for animals by working with animal rescue groups and is a founder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Union for Siberian Huskies, Inc.
Katharine Kosinski, MD, is a Cambridge, MA, resident who worked at CHA for more than 25 years, most recently as Chief of Pathology. Under her leadership, the CHA laboratory grew from one location to a three-site laboratory with timely and high quality services, successfully passing 13 College of American Pathologist inspections with full accreditation. During her tenure, she also served on the Joint Hospital Board, the CHA Medical Executive Committee, Patient Care Improvement Committee, Medical Quality Assurance Board, Credentials Review Committee, and the Hospital Board Quality Committee.
Lanie Ward, MBA, BSN, RN, was appointed chief nursing officer at CHA in October 2020 after serving as interim chief nursing officer. Lanie, who has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare administration, has served in senior nursing roles in organizations across the country.
Prior to joining CHA, Lanie was the system senior vice president of patient care services/CNO at Summa Health System in Ohio. Summa serves more than one million patients in Ohio through comprehensive acute, critical, emergency, outpatient and long-term/home-care settings and has more than 1,300 licensed beds. At Summa, she brought nursing together system-wide to standardize care, practice and shared governance. Additionally, under her leadership, Summa Akron City & St Thomas Hospitals achieved Magnet designation and redesignation.
Before her time at Summa, Lanie was the chief nursing officer at Broward Health Medical Center in Florida. Broward is a nonprofit community health system that encompasses more than 30 healthcare facilities with four hospitals. At Broward Health, Lanie played a key role in the design and execution of a $165 million hospital expansion.
She received her master's degree in business administration from Florida Atlantic University and her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Kentucky.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine
- Chief of Family Medicine
- Medical Director of the East Somerville Health Center
Laura Sullivan, MD, was named CHA's chief of family medicine in 2017. Dr. Sullivan joined CHA in 2006 as the medical director of the East Somerville Health Center. She then became the medical director at the Malden Family Medicine Center in 2008 and later served as interim chief of family medicine. Dr. Sullivan was a staff physician at both sites and has held many leadership positions including president and secretary/treasurer of the CHA medical staff. She has played a key role in CHA's transition to an accountable care organization and the implementation of the patient-centered-medical-home model of care.
As chief of family medicine, Dr. Sullivan is responsible for helping the department grow, improving its systems and access and supporting the training for the next generation of physicians as part of the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency program in Malden.
Dr. Sullivan is an assistant clinical professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. She received her medical doctorate from Chicago Medical School and completed the University of Massachusetts Worcester Family Medicine Residency. Prior to joining CHA, Dr. Sullivan worked with various vulnerable populations as a locum tenens physician, in rural Washington state, the Massachusetts state prison system and Plumley Village Health Services, part of UMass Memorial Health Care.
Lori Lander is a community activist and volunteer. She co-founded Many Helping Hands 365, a civic engagement non-profit that organizes many events, including the annual Martin Luther King Day of Service, a community and public health driven gun buy-back program, and provides safe and ongoing community forums on important issues. Lori is also an accomplished artist. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Arts Council and on the Board of Trustees of the Cambridge Community Foundation. Lori received her Juris Doctorate from University of Miami School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University.
Maren Batalden, MD, MPH, is the chief quality officer at CHA. Maren has played a key role at CHA for many years, previously serving as associate chief quality officer before assuming interim CQO responsibilities in November 2019.
She has provided leadership for improvement projects focused on inpatient care, care transitions and cross-continuum population health for patients with chronic disease. She created and continues to direct the CHA-Gold Innovation Fellowship Program, which provides a platform for CHA clinicians and leaders to grow their skills in improvement science and change management.
As part of the Incident Command team that guided CHA's COVID-19 response, Dr. Batalden provided compassionate and critical leadership to help build CHA's inpatient capacity, apply evidence-based and data-driven solutions, develop modeling to forecast resource needs, and establish policies and protocols to ensure CHA delivered the very best care to our patients and communities. Dr. Batalden is clinically active as a hospitalist and has represented the CHA medical staff as a member of CHA's Board of Trustees. She is a national authority on using the lens of co-production to create effective partnerships between patients and care teams.
Dr. Batalden completed her undergraduate education at St. Olaf College in Minnesota and earned a master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Batalden is an assistant professor of medicine at HMS, where she teaches quality, safety and systems improvement.
Job Titles:
- Chief Administrative Officer for the Cambridge Health Alliance Physicians Organization
- Chief Administrative Officer, CHA Physicians Organization
Mark Haas became chief administrative officer for the Cambridge Health Alliance Physicians Organization (CHAPO) in January 2023. Before coming to CHA, Mark was the vice president of operations of the Tufts Medical Center Physicians Organization in Boston beginning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, assuming administrative and financial oversight for more than 625 physicians across more than 20 clinical departments and divisions. Additionally, Mark served as the executive director of the Department of Medicine for six years at Tufts.
In previous leadership positions in health information management at both Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., Mark assisted with EPIC conversions while overseeing key areas in revenue cycle operations. He received the Massachusetts Health Information Management Association's Professional Achievement Award in 2012.
Mark has served as an assistant adjunct professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine for more than 20 years, teaching courses in healthcare business and informatics. He received the medical school's Lifetime Achievement Award for sustained excellence in teaching in 2013. Mark earned an undergraduate degree in applied physiology and a master's in business administration at Boston University.
Mike Solet is a long-time resident of Cambridge who has served on several local boards, including as a board member and vice-president of the Cambridge Historical Society, as a current member of the board of the Brattle Film Foundation, and a previous term on the CHA board from 2005 to 2016. Mike is an attorney who, until his retirement, was a member of the firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. He specialized in tax law issues related to borrowings by State and local governments and charitable organizations, serving as bond counsel to, among others, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the MBTA, and various student loan agencies. On behalf of an agency of the State of New York, he obtained a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service which facilitated the post-9/11 reconstruction of lower Manhattan and gave opinions on bonds with respect to the World Trade Center. Mike chaired the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax-Exempt and Government Entities, authoring several reports related to issuance of tax-exempt debt. He also represented corporate clients in connection with state tax disputes, including litigation before the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the United States Supreme Court. Mike most recently provided pro bono counsel through Health Law Advocates, a public interest law firm committed to ensuring universal access to quality health care in Massachusetts. Mike earned an AB from Harvard College and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.
Job Titles:
- Women 's Health / Gynecology
Job Titles:
- Chief Diversity, Equity
- Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
> Michael James, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, was awarded the annual Leading the Way award from the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston..
Michael L. James was named Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer (CDEIO) in 2021. As CDEIO, he is responsible for overseeing system-wide diversity, equity and inclusion, multicultural affairs, and patient & volunteer services.
Prior to joining CHA, Michael was Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the Old Colony YMCA, where he was responsible for directing the development and implementation of association-wide policies and programs for 2,200 employees focused on performance management, leadership development, employee relations, training, talent acquisition and diversity, equity & inclusion in collaboration with the executive management team. He also served as Association Director of Human Resources for the YMCA of Greater Boston; CDO and Director of Inclusion, Mobility and Corporate Diversity at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; and principal of his own management consulting firm specializing in diversity, community relations and organizational change. Michael's prior roles include Chief Diversity Officer and Director of Community Relations at the Boston Architectural College (BAC); Chief of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at MBCR; leading human resources for a division of BAE Systems; and working in the financial industry for several years at BankBoston.
Michael's volunteer positions include serving as a strategic advisor and facilitator for the Northeast Human Resources Association and City-Wide Dialogues on Ethnic & Racial Diversity.
He holds an MBA from Suffolk University and a BA in psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He grew up in Boston and he is the proud husband to Charlotte and father to their three wonderful children.
Dr. Shear is an Emergency Medicine trained physician who currently works at Harvard University Health Services. Prior to Harvard University Health Services, Dr. Shear was an attending physician at Emerson Hospital (Concord, MA), Mount Auburn Hospital (Cambridge, MA), and Lahey Clinic Medical Center (Burlington, MA).
Dr. Shear has extensive medical relief work experience in Micronesia with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in Haiti through the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and in Haiti with the International Medical Corps. Dr. Shear also practiced two years in Nepal
Since 1994, Dr. Shear has served as a physician member in the Commonwealth's medical tribunals for the review of malpractice claims.
Dr. Shear received his medical doctorate (MD) from the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco, completed his post-doctoral residency in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and received his bachelor of arts (BA) from Harvard College.
Job Titles:
- JFYNetWorks in 1995 As the Director of Development
Paula Paris joined JFYNetWorks in 1995 as the director of development, where she has contributed to the growth and diversification of the funding portfolio. She was named Deputy Director in 2003 and has since led the organization through outcomes measurement, social enterprise development, and other strategic initiatives. Paula has prior experience in commercial banking, fundraising in education and the arts, and public policy research in workforce development. She has been an adjunct faculty member of Southern New Hampshire University's School of Community Economic Development. Ms. Paris earned a Master of Management degree from the Heller School of Management and Social Policy at Brandeis University, where she is a member of the Board of Overseers, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Hartford's Hartt School. Ms. Paris also served on the Cambridge Health Alliance Board of Trustees from 2007-2016.
Job Titles:
- Newborn Hospitalist / Pediatrics
Job Titles:
- Health Advocate and Writer
A mental health advocate and writer, Rae specializes in public understanding of serious mental health conditions. Her recent, grant-funded advocacy initiatives have focused on improving messaging about mental health conditions, working with organizations such as the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, the Boston Museum of Science, and the FrameWorks Institute. She currently serves on the board of the Cambridge affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
Holding a PhD in communication research from Stanford University, Rae served on the faculty at MIT for 11 years and senior staff for 25 years. She created and directed MIT's first undergraduate and graduate science journalism programs, then MIT's first family resource center. She also served as a consultant to the World Health Organization, United Nations, CBS, WGBH, Harvard's Center for Health Communication, and others, and founded the National Parenting Education Network. Rae has given over a hundred presentations in the US and abroad, and published over 50 books, book chapters, and journal articles, as well as popular articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Cognoscenti, and elsewhere.
Rebecca Osgood, MD, is Chief of Pathology at CHA. She has been part of CHA for 27 years and has contributed greatly to the Department's work including initiating the project of electronic reporting of reportable infectious diseases to the MADPH from Microbiology Laboratory and bringing molecular infectious disease testing to CHA providers. Dr. Osgood has provided outstanding oversight of the Somerville Campus laboratory services, the Microbiology section of CHA laboratories, and has served as Medical Director of the Spaulding Hospital Cambridge Clinical Laboratories. She is also currently the Medical Director of MIT Health Services Clinical Laboratory. Dr. Osgood is an Instructor in Pathology at Harvard Medical School. She is a Clinical Associate in Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining CHA, Dr. Osgood was the Medical Director of Microbiology at Beth Israel Hospital.
Dr. Osgood serves on the Executive Board of the Massachusetts Society of Pathologists and is a representative of the House of Delegates for the College of American Pathologists. Dr. Osgood is part of the Global Pathology group at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a member of the College of American Pathologists, Massachusetts Society of Pathologists, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, and the American Society of Cytology. Dr. Osgood interests are infectious disease pathology and cytopathology. Dr. Osgood is dedicated to providing excellent pathology and laboratory services to providers and the patients of the CHA community.
Outside CHA, Dr. Osgood is the mother of four children and married to an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Thomas Hoerner. She has participated in many community projects. She has volunteered her services as a pathologist along with her husband with Health Volunteers Overseas, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving the availability and quality of health care through training and education. With this organization, she has worked in Cambodia, Tanzania, and Costa Rica.
Dr. Osgood is a graduate of the Weil Cornell Medical College and completed her pathology residency training at MGH. She received her bachelor's from Smith College and graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Executive Vice President
- in 2014 As Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Renée Kessler joined CHA in 2014 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, bringing a 25-year record of operations leadership experience. During her career, Renée has been a leader, mentor, and team player, achieving success in a range of large and complex hospital environments that care for vulnerable populations.
From 2007-2014, Renée served as Chief Operating Officer of Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital, a 683-bed urban teaching hospital in Nashville, TN. In this role she was responsible for all patient care operations, including quality and safety, staff and physician satisfaction, and overall budget, productivity, and cost performance. During her tenure, the hospital's operating margins grew from 5% to 8.6%. She also directed a four-year effort to achieve Voluntary Protection Program status through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration focused on employee safety, which was secured in 2012, making Saint Thomas Midtown the first Tennessee hospital and 14th in the United States to achieve this distinction.
Prior to her work in Nashville, Renée served as the Chief Operating Officer/Administrator at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ, a 350-bed community teaching hospital. She led a significant financial turnaround spurred by revenue enhancement and program growth that saw the hospital achieve break-even cash flow two years ahead of schedule. She also developed a strategic plan that resulted in program and volume growth and the recruitment of new physicians in various service lines.
Kessler earned her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in health care administration from Ohio State University.
Richard Pels, MD, was appointed to the position of Chief of Medicine at CHA in 2017. Dr. Pels has been with CHA since 1983, serving in numerous leadership roles including associate chief of medicine, president of the medical staff, director of the Internal Medicine Residency program, director of graduate medical education and most recently, interim Chief of Medicine.
Dr. Pels graduated summa cum laude from Duke University and received his medical doctorate from the University of Florida. He completed primary care internal medicine residency training at CHA and fellowship training in general medicine and medical education at Harvard Medical School. His special interest areas are refugee health, chronic pain and medical education. Dr. Pels is the recipient of many prizes and awards including the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award at HMS, CHA's Medical Staff Lifetime Achievement Award and the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Siva Vithiananthan, MD, FACS, FASMBS, FICS, joined CHA as chief of surgery in 2021. Prior to CHA, Dr. Vithiananthan led a clinical practice in minimally invasive and robotic approaches to gastrointestinal diseases, complex hernias and bariatric (weight loss and metabolic) surgery at Brown Physicians Inc. and Brown Surgical Associates in Providence, R.I., and was the chief of bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at The Miriam Hospital and medical director of the Center for Bariatric Surgery at The Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals. Dr. Vithiananthan was also a professor of surgery, clinician educator at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the site-director of the Brown Surgical Residency and Medical Student Programs at The Miriam Hospital. His main research focus is on social determinants of healthcare and the metabolic and physiological effects of weight loss surgery.
Having served in leadership capacities in many national and international surgical societies, Dr. Vithiananthan has been invited around the world to offer his expertise in training surgeons. He was nominated by the International College of Surgery to serve as the inaugural surgical ambassador in minimally invasive surgery to Nanjing Medical University in Nanjing, China. He has trained hundreds of surgeons in China, Sri Lanka, and Hungary in the techniques of minimally invasive surgery over the last decade.
Dr. Vithiananthan is board certified in general surgery and surgical critical care and fellowship trained in advanced laparoscopic surgery and surgical critical care. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He completed his residency at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., and fellowships at New York Presbyterian Hospital and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine/Hartford Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Chief Development Officer
Susie came to CHA in 2022 from the University of Vermont Health Network, where she served as the network director of philanthropy and population health. She began there as a major gift officer and was promoted to senior development officer and then director of development before entering her latest role in 2019. Susie planned, built, and implemented a central team and a data and metrics reporting process while managing a 16-person team across Vermont and New York with an annual fundraising goal of $14M (as part of a $35M Academic Health Sciences goal). Prior to this role, she was the community impact director at the United Way of NW Vermont.
As chief development officer, Susie is a member of CHA's senior leadership team and works closely with CEO Assaad Sayah, MD, other senior leaders, the CHA Foundation Board, and clinical leadership to meet development goals. She provides leadership for a growing development department and works on fundraising strategies to support CHA's plan to improve population health, aid facilities development, and expand its academic and clinical programs.
Susie earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Northern Vermont University and a master's degree in healthcare administration with a focus on population health management from Champlain College. She holds certifications in healthcare management and facilitative leadership and has two decades of experience addressing social determinants of health for the communities she has served.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Obstetrics / Gynecology and Women 's Health
- Women 's Health / OB / GYN / Gynecology / LGBTQ Health
Tara Singh, MD, is CHA's chief of obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Singh joined CHA's OB/GYN department in 2009 and has since played a key role in medical education, serving as associate director of the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship as well as the site director for OB/GYN, co-founder and director of the longitudinal PA program, and rotation director for both Harvard and Tufts OB/GYN residents.
In 2018, Dr. Singh began a novel physician assistant training program-the first known model of longitudinal integrated PA training-and has expanded this program to include interprofessional learning for PA and medical students.
Dr. Singh received her MD from Dalhousie University and is currently completing a master's degree in health care delivery science at Dartmouth College.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Pediatrics
- LGBTQ Health
Traci Brooks, MD, has held nearly every pediatric leadership position across the system since joining CHA in 2000. Dr. Brooks assumed the role of Chief of Pediatrics in April 2022, after serving as the medical director at CHA Cambridge Pediatrics and all three school-based health centers in Cambridge, Somerville and Everett.
Dr. Brooks is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and she completed her pediatrics residency and adolescent medicine fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a HMS-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship faculty member. She also provides clinical supervision for transitional and family medicine residents at CHA as well as training for adolescent medicine residents at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and adolescent medicine residents and fellows at Boston Children's Hospital.
Bill Lahey is a Cambridge resident and has served on the CHA Board since 2016. He recently retired from the full time practice of law after a 40 year career as environmental and energy lawyer handling matters across the country and internationally. He published numerous law review articles and is regularly recognized as a leading lawyer by various national publications. He was a partner at Palmer & Dodge and Anderson & Kreiger where he is currently Senior Counsel.
Bill serves on the boards of several other organizations, including the Boston Rescue Mission, one of the oldest homeless shelters in the United States, and Oceana Action, a national advocacy organization focusing on marine protection and climate change. He was also the founding board chair of a Roxbury charter school and served on the board for the National Alliance for Mental Illness Massachusetts.
Bill received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin and his Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Yvette Verdieu (Somerville, term ends 6/30/2021, eligible for reappointment) is a Somerville resident who has served on many boards and committees, including the City of Somerville Human Rights Commission Executive Board, the Somerville Community Corporation Executive Board, and the East Somerville Neighborhood For Change. She is an advocate for new immigrants and ensuring that their voices and concerns are heard. She was named the Community Unsung Heroine by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women in 2008. She currently serves as a manager analyst in the certificates unit at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. She received her Bachelor of Science in Management Studies, Diversity in Work place certificate, and her Master of Management from Cambridge College.