Kirsten Bean, MPH

Board Member
Board Term Ends: December 2025
Grants Development Coordinator
Sinclair Community College

Kirsten is a grant writer with experience in higher education and public health. Prior to working at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, she worked for over ten years managing health promotion and harm reduction programs for a local health department in southwestern Ohio. She has contributed to Community Health Assessments and Improvement Plans and has implemented home visiting and harm reduction programs that relied on the expertise of peer supporters and community health workers. Her work in public health also included addressing social determinants of health and COVID-19 response and vaccine education and access in the community. Kirsten has provided patient navigation and interpretation in healthcare settings and established interpreter services to make the local health department’s healthcare clinic accessible to individuals who do not speak English. In 2006 she worked with Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) to conduct a statewide survey of the Minnesota Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program.

Kirsten received her BA in Anthropology from Macalester College and her MPH with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Minnesota.

Magaly Dante, Ph.D, LMHC

Chief Executive Officer
Board Secretary
MHP Salud

Magaly “Maggie” Dante brings over 20 years of management experience in both the nonprofit and private sectors. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration and a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling.

She brings her experience in leadership, strategy, and behavioral health to MHP Salud with a commitment to serving the staff to bring out the best in themselves and in the families we serve. She was recently honored for her work in child welfare and received an award for her ability to bring people together.

As the daughter of Cuban parents and first-generation Cuban-American, Maggie has been engaged in working with and advocating for underserved minority populations throughout her career. Maggie’s lifelong commitment and passion for working with families is weaved in everything she does. She wants children to grow up in a safe and loving home with endless possibilities for success and the ability and desire to thrive.

During her free time, she continues to support underserved youth and communities by volunteering with foster care youth as a mentor.

Durrell J. Fox

Board Affairs Committee
Board Term Ends: November 2023
Community Health Worker
John Snow Institute

Durrell J. Fox is a Community Health Worker (CHW) with over 28 years of experience providing outreach, direct services, case management support and advocacy for HIV+ adolescents/young adults, their families and communities. He joined the John Snow Institute in 2015 and for 2 years served as a Technical Advisor for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund (PWTF) Project that employed over seventy CHWs across the state addressing diabetes, hypertension, asthma and senior falls prevention in nine communities across the state. He is currently a CHW-Health Equity Consultant at JSI providing technical assistance and support for several projects including CHW, HIV, youth gun violence prevention and youth E-cigarette/vaping prevention projects across several states.

In 2011, he was appointed to the US Office of Minority Health Region I Health Equity Council (New England RHEC) where he served as a member and co-chair of the CHW committee through 2018. He has served in many roles within APHA including as a member of the APHA Executive Board (2009-2015). Durrell is currently a member of the APHA Nominating Committee, Governing Council and a leadership member of the APHA CHW and HIV/AIDS sections.  He currently serves as a member of the National CHW Core Consensus (C3) Project Team and as a founding board of directors member for the National Association of CHWs.

Michael Harp

Treasurer
Finance Committee, Executive Committee
Board Term Ends: November 2023
Michigan Group Benefits, LLC
Lansing, MI

Born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Mike has worked in the employee benefits field since 1994 and has run his own business since 2002. As such, he brings experience in human resources, financial management and planning, and the legal issues around employee benefits to the table. In addition to serving on the Agent Advisory Board for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and The Physicians Health Plan, he has served on several other non-profit and profit Boards including the Strategic Benefits Network, LLC, Haslett Okemos Rotary Foundation, The People’s Church, and Florence Crittenton. As a first-generation college student, he has earned degrees in both Finance and Economics and has taught college courses in Economics. From his first job working in the fields in vector control to his current position of small business owner, Mike remains committed to his family and the diverse communities he serves.

Anisa Kline

Board Affairs Committee
Board Term Ends: November 2024
PhD Candidate
Ohio State University

Anisa Kline is a PhD candidate in the Geography Department at the Ohio State University, where she is also pursuing a minor in Health Behavior and Health Promotion. Her academic background is in Spanish and Latin American Studies, and her previous work experience includes being a partner in a small business, a journalist and advice columnist for a small-town newspaper, a college lecturer, and a trainer for Full Circle Learning, an international educational nonprofit. After working for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality doing farmworker outreach, she decided to focus on farmworker health in her graduate studies.  She researches the occupational health and healthcare access of Mexican agricultural guestworkers, specifically examining what kinds of policy changes would improve the health of this population.

Brenda Ivelisse Piñero Carrasquillo, JD

At Large
Finance Committee, Executive Committee
Board Term Ends: November 2024
Attorney and Director of Programs at ABA-ProBAR

Brenda Piñero is the Director of Programs at ProBAR—the largest pro bono asylum representation project of the American Bar Association. She advocates for access to justice, due process & adequate detention conditions for immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border, where she created mental health services programs and published a Blueprint for Integrating Social Work.

She joined MHP Salud’s Board in 2018 and is also a board member of the Southwestern Texas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Brenda advises on leadership, mediation, efficiency & equity strategies. She is a University of Puerto Rico Law School alumnus with specialized training in European and international law from Belgium, policy evaluation from Spain, and nonprofit management from Harvard. Brenda is a yoga teacher, certified personal trainer, and triathlete enthusiast.

Molly Sass

Finance Committee
Board Term Ends: November 2023
Senior Program Associate
Massachusetts Health Policy Commission

Molly Sass is a Senior Program Associate at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission where she manages grant awardees working to improve access to health care. Her current portfolio includes initiatives addressing social determinants of health and improving access to timely behavioral health care, specifically around medication assisted treatment in emergency rooms. She works closely with health providers and administrators across the state to implement innovative initiatives in hospitals, health centers and affordable housing sites. In addition, she brings her previous experience in community and hospital-based program development and implementation to the Board. Molly earned an MPH from Boston University School of Public Health and a BA in Spanish Literature and Anthropology/Sociology from Kalamazoo College.

Julie Smythe, LCSW

Board Member
Board Term Ends: December 2025
Vice President
Child Welfare Specialty Plan

Julie Smythe joined Sunshine Health as the Vice President of Child Welfare Programs in 2022. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 20 years of experience in administration of community mental health and child welfare programs focused on children and families. Julie has lived in Florida for nine years. During that time, she has worked in Community and Provider engagement, and Quality for a specialized Medicaid plan for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and as Vice President for Community Based Care Integrated Health.

Julie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and obtained her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She started her career in Kansas City volunteering with substance-exposed newborns, working direct care in a residential setting and then determining eligibility for aid to families for the state of Missouri. She completed internships in community mental health both in New Jersey and at the University of Chicago Hospital in the inpatient adult psychiatric unit.

After completing her master’s degree, Julie moved to Chicago and worked on the south side providing mobile psychiatric services through a model known as Screening, Assessment, and Support (SASS). She went on to serve as an adolescent and family unit therapist and social services coordinator for a large hospital.

When her family relocated to central Connecticut, Julie began working for an innovative community health center in the area. Her responsibilities included overseeing evidenced based practice programs for youth and families with DJJ or DCF involvement. She is especially proud of her contributions to the design and implementation of community support diversion model, as well as her training and oversight of multiple intensive outpatient EBP’s improving the safety, quality and health outcomes for youth and families.

David Vineyard, JD

President
Finance Committee
Board Term Ends: November 2023
Program Manager
Philips Healthcare Advanced Diagnostic Imaging

David brings experience in law and healthcare tech to the Board. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law and completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in international studies. He works in the medical device design and manufacturing field and is passionate about making life-saving technology understandable and obtainable to those who need it.

The son of a mother who immigrated from Guatemala, David has been engaged in serving in the Latino community in since his childhood, now continuing his efforts in Northeast Ohio where he resides with his family. David also loves teaching and has taught English as a Second Language, as well as Spanish and German language courses.