CPHS Advisory Board
Center for Public Health Systems Advisory Board
Monica Bharel, MD MPH
- Global Clinical Lead, Public Sector Health, Google
Dr. Monica Bharel is a physician executive, internist, and public health innovator focused on using the power of data and analytics to drive innovation and equity in health.
Monica previously served as a Senior Advisor to the Mayor of Boston, leading an effort at the intersection of mental health, substance use disorder, and homelessness. Prior to that she served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health from 2015-2021.
She is a board-certified internist who has practiced general internal medicine for more than 20 years in various settings.
She holds a Master of Public Health degree through the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy and a medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine with a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Boston City Hospital/Boston Medical Center.
Chelsea Cipriano, MPH
- Managing Director, Common Health Coalition
Chelsea Cipriano, MPH serves as Managing Director of the Common Health Coalition, a not-for-profit organization created to help ensure the US health system is prepared to confront the next crisis by improving the health system through better partnerships between healthcare and public health.
Prior to this role, Chelsea served as Executive Director of Government Affairs and Deputy Public Information Officer for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Chelsea also served in the New York City Mayor's Office, first as a Health Policy Advisor and then as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of Management and Budget. She has held additional roles in public health at multiple levels of government focusing on policy, emergency response, and partnerships.
Chelsea began her career at the intersection of health care and public health in the back of an ambulance as an emergency medical technician in New Orleans. She earned her Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Tulane University.
Lori Tremmel Freeman, MBA
- Chief Executive Officer, NACCHO
Lori Tremmel Freeman has been the Chief Executive Officer for the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) since May 2018, having returned to the organization after previously serving as its Associate Executive Director from 2010-2014.
In the CEO role, Ms. freeman works to ensure our country's local health departments have the capacity to deliver essential health services to their communities, advocates for local public health within the US governmental public health system and assures strategic alliances and partnerships with a wide variety of federal, state, local, public and private agencies and organizations to advance the health of our nation.
She is a career non-profit executive, having enjoyed three decates of working in senior association leadership and management roles.
Brittany Giles-Cantrell, MPH
- Program Director, deBeaumont Foundation
Brittany Giles-Cantrell, MPH, is a Program Director at the de Beaumont Foundation, where she leads a portfolio of partnerships and programs to strengthen investments in public health systems, policies, and practices that center health and racial equity.
Prior to joining the de Beaumont Foundation, Brittany served as a Senior Program Manager in Kaiser Permanente's Community Health Department, where she held both national and regional roles to catalyze partnerships and investments in the health and well-being of communities experiencing inequities and injustice, and held roles as a graduate student fellow at PolicyLink and worked at the National Academy for State Health Policy providing research and analysis on state health care reform issues.
Brittany holds a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the Gillings Schools of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Georgia Heise, DrPH
- Public Health Director, Three Rivers Health Department
For the last 21 years, Dr. Heise has served as the Director for Three Rivers District Health Department, one of the first health departments in the nation to achieve PHAB accreditation. Dr. Heise is an alum of both Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky. Because of her love for the people of Kentucky and for the profession of public health, Dr. Heise has been involved in many initiatives across the Commonwealth. She led the strategic planning effort for the Kentucky Health Department Association which produced the precursor document for the development of Kentucky's Public Health Transformation legislation.
Dr. Heise represents Kentucky nationally within a number of organizations and projects. She was recently recognized as a "Rural Health Champion" by the Kentucky Office of Rural Health. At the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), she is a member of the Past President's Council and chaired the search committee that led the nationwide search for the current executive director. She is also a certified Emergenetics instructor and a National Public Health Leadership Institute Fellow.
Morgan F. McDonald, MD
- National Director for Population Health, Milbank Memorial Fund
Dr. McDonald leads the Milbank Memorial Fund's state health policy programming and leadership development, bringing together state and local executive and legislative branch leaders and connecting them with nonpartisan, evidence-based resources and experience.
Dr. McDonald served for eight years in executive administration at the Tennessee Department of Health, most recently as the Interim Health Commissioner and previously as Deputy Commissioner for Population Health and Assistant Commissioner for Family Health and Wellness. In these roles, she provided senior leadership for the state's pandemic response and recovery efforts, championed the Department's rural health and health equity implementation work, and successfully led the state's maternal and child health improvement initiatives.
Board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics, Dr. McDonald has continued to see patients in Nashville's immigrant community to maintain the roots of policy making in patient journeys.
Judith Monroe, MD
- President and CEO, CDC Foundation
Dr. Judith Monroe, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation, has dedicated her career to protecting people and saving lives. She joined the CDC Foundation in February 2016 as president and CEO, following her role as a deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and director of CDC's Office of State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support.
The CDC Foundation mobilizes philanthropic and private-sector resources to extend the lifesaving work of CDC and the public health system, managing hundreds of programs in the United States and in nearly 80 countries.
Dr. Monroe received her doctor of medicine from the University of Maryland and a bachelor of science degree from Eastern Kentucky University.
Sarah Ravenhall, MHA
- Executive Director, NYSACHO
Sarah Ravenhall serves as the Executive Director of the New York State Association of County Health Officials (NYSACHO), a nonprofit membership organization representing New York local health departments, where she provides strategic leadership and operational oversight, managing statewide advocacy efforts, membership engagement, and cross-sector partnerships.
Before joining NYSACHO, Sarah directed the Population Health Improvement Program at the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, where she was responsible for setting program strategy, overseeing fiscal operations, implementing evidence-based health interventions, and evaluating community health outcomes.
Sarah's contributions to the public health field have been recognized by City & State, which named her to its Health Power 100 and 40 Under 40 lists, honoring her leadership and advocacy on behalf of New York's communities.
Sara Rosenbaum, JD
- Professor Emerita, Health Law and Policy, George Washington University
Sara Rosenbaum, JD is Professor Emerita of Health Law and Policy and Founding Chair of the Department of Health Policy at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. She also holds an emerita title in the School of Law.
A graduate of Wesleyan University and Boston University Law School, Professor Rosenbaum has devoted her career to issues of health justice and health care for medically underserved populations. A teacher and scholar, a highly popular speaker, the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and a widely-read writer on many aspects of health law and policy, Professor Rosenbaum has emphasized public engagement as a core element of her professional life, providing public service to Presidential Administrations and Congress for nearly 50 years.
She is best known for her work on national health reform, Medicaid, health insurance and managed care, health care access for medically underserved communities and populations, and civil rights and health care.
Umair Shah, MD MPH
- Founder and CEO, Rickshaw Health
Dr. Shah recently served as Secretary of Health for Washington State, successfully guiding the state's response through the pandemic and beyond. Before that, he led one of the nation's largest local health departments in Harris County, Texas. He's also deployed globally, responsing to earthquakes in Haiti and Kashmir.
His belief that true transformation happens when systems work for people--not the other way around--led him to launch Rickshaw Health, a firm that helps organizations across sectors transform how they think about health, safety, leadership, and innovation. Today, he advises governments, health systems, and private sector partners--bridging public health insight with strategic action.
Dr. Shah is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of HPM at Mailman School of Public Health.
Olajide A. Williams, MD MS
- Professor of Neurology, Vice Dean of Community Health, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Olajide Williams is a Professor of Neurology and Vice Dean of Community Health at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. He attained his medical degree from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and completed his neurology residency and neuromuscular fellowship training at The Neurological Institute of New York. Dr. Williams also holds a Master of Science degree from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Dr. Williams is founder and chair of Hip Hop Public Health, an internationally recognized organization that creates and implements multimedia public health interventions that target and engage young people in the health of their families and communities.
An influential clinician-educator, Dr. Williams is an innaugural member of the VP&S Academy of Community and Public Service and co-director of the Columbia Center for Community Health at the Jerome Green Science Center where he leads pioneering initiatives.
Dr. Williams has published numerous scholarly articles including the book Stroke Diaries and received many prestigious international, national, and regional awards.
Patsy Yang, MPH DrPH
- Senior Vice President for Correctional Health Services, New York City Health + Hospitals
Patsy Yang, DrPH currently serves as Senior Vice President of NYC Health + Hospitals for Correctional Health Services, which provides health care to individuals detained in the City's carceral system.
Prior to this appointment, she served as the Director of Health Policy in the NYC Mayor's Office, advising on matters of health care and public health, and serving as the City Hall liaison to NYC Health + Hospitals, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Her experience in public health includes serving as Executive Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She also served as the Acting Commissioner and as the First Deputy Commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Health, New York; and s President of the NYS Association of County Health Officials. Her health care experience includes executive positions at Bellevue Hospital Center, at Metropolitan Hospital Center in NYC, and at Mount Sinai of Miami Beach, Florida.
Patsy is a native New Yorker and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, and a Master of Public Health and a Doctor of Public Health with Distinction from Columbia University.