Ronda Kotelchuck was the founding CEO of the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), a unique public-private partnership with a mission of expanding access to primary and preventive care in underserved communities.

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From 1981 to 1993, Ms. Kotelchuck served with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) where, as Vice President for Corporate Planning and Intergovernmental Relations, she spearheaded development and adoption of HHC’s first strategic plan which focused on community-based primary care.  

Ms. Kotelchuck’s previous background is in health planning and policy and she received her BA from Lewis and Clark College and her MRP from Cornell University.

Adria Cruz is Children's Aid Deputy Director for HealthMs. Cruz obtained her undergraduate degree in Accounting from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, in her native Dominican Republic graduating at the top of her class. In 2009 she obtained a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College in NYC, where she was invited to join the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration honor society, Pi Alpha Alpha, for outstanding scholarship and accomplishment in public affairs and administration. At Children’s Aid she has been recognized first in 2007 with an Excellence Award; and in 2009 as Supervisor of the Year, honor for which she was nominated by the staff she supervised at the time.

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Prior to this role, Adria was responsible for the overall administrative operation of all eight Children’s Aid community and school based health centers (SBHCs), including leading the opening –from the ground up– of two new SBHCs.

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Ms. Cruz obtained her undergraduate degree in Accounting from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, in her native Dominican Republic graduating at the top of her class. In 2009 she obtained a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College in NYC, where she was invited to join the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration honor society, Pi Alpha Alpha, for outstanding scholarship and accomplishment in public affairs and administration. At Children’s Aid she has been recognized first in 2007 with an Excellence Award; and in 2009 as Supervisor of the Year, honor for which she was nominated by the staff she supervised at the time.

Ms. Cruz lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Chris Kjolhede, MD, MPH is an Attending Pediatrician and Research Scientist at Bassett Healthcare Network in Cooperstown, NY. He received his medical degree from Michigan State University, and his MPH from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Dr. Kjolhede did his pediatric training at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York.
 
His clinical practice in Cooperstown, NY, includes a primary care clinic and he is the Co-Director of a School-Based Health Program that has 21 school-based health centers in 17 school districts in four counties. Dr. Kjolhede was co-author of the most recent American Academy of Pediatrics, Council on School Health policy paper on School-Based Health Centers.
 

Dr. Kjolhede is a member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the Bassett Research Institute. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of its Council on School Health. He served on the Board of Directors for the New York School-
Based Health Alliance and is a member of the National Alliance for School-Based Health.

He is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics for the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York.

Larry McReynolds has served as Executive Director of Family Health Centers at NYU Langone since February 2005 and has over 30 years of experience in health care administration. Dr. McReynolds oversees administration, planning, and finance for one of the nation’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center networks. In addition, he serves as Senior Vice President of Community Health as well as Clinical Professor of Population Health for the NYU Langone Health System.

Under Dr. McReynolds’ leadership, Family Health Centers at NYU Langone has evolved to become the medical home for approximately 145,000 individuals in underserved communities around New York City, and oversees a budget of $296 million. The Family Health Center has grown to include 8 main primary care sites with dental clinics co-located at 6 sites, SBHCs co-located in 61 New York City public schools, a 9-site community medicine program serving over 7,000 homeless New Yorkers, a myriad of community-based programs impacting youth, adults and elderly, and 5 sub-recipients of Section 330 funding.

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As New Jersey resident for the past 30 years, Dr. McReynolds started in hospital administration at Clara Maass Medical Center and the St. Barnabas Health Care system before becoming the Executive Director of the Jersey City Family Health Center.

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Dr. McReynolds is a past Board Chair of Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) as well as Board Member of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). He has been the recipient of the HRSA National Community Service Award and honoree of the New York Association of Ambulatory Care. Additionally, he was honored by The Arab American Association, Mixteca Organization, and by the New York Chinese Planning Council honoree for leadership in cultural competence and community health. His health center was a pilot grantee for Patient Chronic Disease and Prevention Act which established the national model for patient navigators. In 2005, Congressman Menendez inducted Larry into the Congressional Record. Most recently, he was the recipient of the Kriser Medal from the NYU College of Dentistry in May 2019.

In his spare time, Larry enjoys traveling with his family (along with twin girls aged 6 years), playing tennis, and watching Masterpiece Theater. Larry received his Doctorate in Health Administration from A.T. Still University, a Master’s Degree in Health & Hospital Administration from Washington University School of Medicine, and a Bachelors of Arts degree from Wheaton College, Illinois.

Dr. Viju Jacob currently serves as the VP of Medical Affairs/Medical
Director at a large FQHC, Urban Health Plan, in Bronx, NY.  His day to day responsibilities include providing oversight for 12 School Based Health Practices, 2 Family Practice sites and shares responsibilities in managing 6 School Based Dental Practices among other institutional responsibilities in the realms of regulatory affairs, policy and external affairs. 

Urban Health Plan (UHP) is a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers that has been offering access to affordable, high quality, health care to the South Bronx for almost 50 years and more recently to serving communities in Corona, Queens and East Harlem in Manhattan.

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Interestingly, as a new immigrant to the Bronx, Dr. Jacob was also a user of a School Based Health Center; he received some of his earliest dental care from the School Based Dental Clinic located in PS 8 in the North Bronx.  He completed his Bachelor’s from the Sophie Davis School for Biomedical Education at The City University of New York, where he had the pleasure of being a student of Dr. Jack Geiger, one of the founders of the Community Health Center movement.  He received his MD from State University of New York-Health Science Center Brooklyn.  He completed his Pediatric Residency and Chief Residency from
the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at The Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York.  He currently lives with his wife and 20 year-old twins in Westchester, NY.

Karla joined Albany Medical Center in October 2016. Prior to AMC, she worked at Whitney Young Health, an Article 28 Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Albany, NY. For nearly 10 years she oversaw the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program; she ran the center’s three School Based Health Centers and provided administrative support to two dental programs.

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Karla also purchased and operationalized a mobile health unit that was utilized in the area’s schools and community based organizations.

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Karla received her Bachelor’s in Nutrition Science from Russell Sage College and her Master’s in Business Administration from the College of Saint Rose.

Roger Platt, MD was Assistant Commissioner and Director of School Health for the NYC Departments of Education and Health and Mental Hygiene for 18 years. During this time new programs were established in mental health, asthma care, vision services and reproductive health services. Over 40 new school-based health centers were established, many supported with New York City funding.
 
A graduate of Cornell University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, he is an internist and has experience directing ambulatory care in different community and academic practice settings at Einstein, Harvard and Mount Sinai.  He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Healthcare
Network, a large NYC federally qualified health center, a fellow at the NY Academy of Medicine and former Chair of the Hermann Biggs Society.

Martha Wolfgang has over 20 years’ experience in hospital and health care administration in New York City. 

She was the Vice President for Planning at New York Presbyterian, the Vice President for Planning and Network Development at the Presbyterian Hospital and the Vice President for Planning at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center. She is currently an adjunct lecturer at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.  She is also a Board member and Vice President Grants of the Funding Arts Network in Miami Florida.

John Sipple has served as a faculty member at Cornell University for the past 25 years. His research focuses on the responses of public-school districts and communities to changes in state and federal policy. Central to his work are issues of community and organizational change and how they relate to fiscal, demographic, and learning opportunities for students across racial, socioeconomic, and geographic lines. He studies and has directly served rural communities across New York State and he has conducted projects and research directly for the New York State Education Department. He teaches courses on the organizational, social, and political contexts of community vitality and the U.S. educational system. Sipple has also served as the Director of the New York State Center for Rural Schools since 2008.

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Appel’s fundamental career interest has been to develop a financially stable, comprehensive and collaborative model for primary care services for children in a poor urban environment. As Director of the Montefiore School Health Program, David had the opportunity to do just that. Over the past 20 years, David has had the opportunity to experiment with different staffing and service models, build teams of health care professionals to serve targeted populations of children, and address core health problems from different professional perspectives. Dr. David Appel received his medical education from State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center and performed his residency at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in pediatrics.

Braulio Carrero, MBA, JD, is a Growth Officer, V.P. of Business Affairs & Special Counsel at Urban Health Plan. Urban Health Plan (UHP) is a network of federally qualified community health centers based in the South Bronx, Central Harlem and Corona, Queens and has been serving the community since 1974. At UHP, Carrero supports the organization’s long-term growth through establishing strategic goals and objectives, evaluating the effectiveness of business operations, coordinating with other departments to develop strategic partnerships, and much more.

Braulio received his bachelor’s degree from Fordham University, then went on to receive his MBA from Iona University, focusing in health care administration and management, and his JD from The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, focusing in health care and health law. He was admitted to both the New York and New Jersey State Bar Associations in January of 2014.

After working as a Court Attorney for the Supreme Court of New York for two years, Braulio started at Urban Health Plan, working as Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff. Braulio then went on to serve as Counsel for several different medical centers and medical technology companies before returning to Urban Health Plan and taking on his current role.

Lisa Handwerker, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician specializing in Community Pediatrics and Adolescent Health.  Her most recent position was as Chief Medical Officer for Children’s Aid, an antipoverty organization, where she was responsible for assuring the provision of quality health services to over 15,000 children each year.  Dr. Handwerker serves on the Executive Committee of the NYS American Academy of Pediatrics, the Board of Directors of the NYS School-Based Health Foundation, and on Children’s Advisory Boards for Health First, MetroPlus, NYCDOHMH Nurse Family Partnership, and United Hospital Fund.  She is a Clinical Associate Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Dr. Handwerker’s areas of interest are school based health centers, teen pregnancy, children affected by the child welfare system, and providing equitable services and care to children and families.