Your role is to support Fellows and ASN members in the US who are driving systemic change in healthcare and wellbeing. Why have you chosen this role? 

I’ve had the opportunity to work with quite a few Ashoka Fellows over the years, and each and every one of them has been extraordinary. The Ashoka Fellow selection process is excellent. So, it’s great to have the opportunity to work with Fellows and see if I can support their work. I’ve been in the healthcare sector for a number of decades, building and scaling programs — trying to do it in a way that innovations can grow with a durable, sustainable structure. I like to draw on that experience and try to be helpful, especially since many of the Fellows I’ve worked with are in healthcare. In my past career, until about 10 years ago — I was a health lawyer providing advice in the healthcare field. Now I’ve moved from providing legal advice to strategic advice on how to take complex problems, combine resources in new ways, and support the development and spread of new programs. 

You co‑founded the Project on Advanced Care and Health Policy at Harvard Law School. How do you see academic research and Ashoka’s entrepreneurial approach complementing each other?

We co-founded the Advanced Care and Health Policy project at Harvard Law School to convene people studying advanced illness and serious illness, analyze best practices, and translate that into real-world change. Another key aspect is showcasing what works, learning from breakthroughs, and helping people avoid reinventing the wheel. We convened groups of experts that don’t often sit together. Ashoka’s social entrepreneurs complement this work as they lead the way, in the often-messy real world, by combining resources in new ways, showing how it’s is possible to break through and achieve systemic change.  

How did you find out about Ashoka, and why did you get involved? 

I had been doing pro bono and public-interest work for many years in my law practice, and decided I wanted to devote more time to social impact work. I did research on who was doing interesting and impactful work — and that led me to Ashoka. 

There had been an Ashoka conference in Miami that was written up and highlighted Lorena García Durán, so I looked her up.  She was wonderful, and immediately connected me with Ashoka and Ashoka Fellows, and explained how to contribute to their work through the Ashoka Support Network. I was very impressed by Lorena and what I learned about the Fellows’ work. 

I also came across a book about Bill Drayton and Ashoka Fellows, and I read work by Marc Freedman — an Ashoka Fellow — about Encore careers, which I found thought-provoking. Many paths led me to Ashoka, and everyone I met was inspiring and led me to get more involved.

You’ve collaborated with many Fellows. 

Can you share an example that’s especially close to you?

I was invited to an event in Detroit about eight years ago with many new Ashoka Fellows. One Fellow was Anne Basting who brings creative engagement to individuals with cognitive impairment, many with dementia. She has developed ways to connect with them that bring them to life and help them rejoice in the connections they can still make, rather than focusing on memory deficits. She draws on her background in the creative arts, her experience as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, and improvisation. 

She founded an organization called TimeSlips. Around the time she was selected as an Ashoka Fellow, she was also selected as a MacArthur “genius” award winner. A few years ago, she asked me to join her board, and I’ve been involved with TimeSlips as a board member and advisor.

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What is your personal mission as a changemaker? 

I’ve worked for many years in healthcare policy and innovation, often connected to aging populations. I’ve been fortunate to be involved in two longstanding U.S. initiatives: the PACE program (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), supporting people who would otherwise be in nursing homes, to allow them to stay at home with an interdisciplinary care team; and the hospice care movement, supporting people nearing end of life, again with interdisciplinary services that allow people to stay at home. I’ve also worked on public-private partnerships to expand medical research institutes into new geographies, including Scripps in Florida and The Jackson Laboratory expanding into Connecticut. I’ve seen what can happen when government policymakers and private-sector leaders work collaboratively. I’d like to think part of my mission has been to support efforts to explore new pathways, find common ground, and build durable structures that enable people, as they age, to receive better care and improve their quality of life. 

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