STAFF
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Jessie C. Gruman, PhD, is president and founder of the Center for Advancing Health, a nonpartisan, Washington-based policy institute which, since 1992, has been supported by foundations and individuals to work on people’s engagement in their health care from the patient perspective. Prior to founding CFAH, Gruman worked on these same concerns in the private sector (AT&T), the public sector (National Institutes of Health) and the voluntary health sector (American Cancer Society). More information about Dr. Gruman. |
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Marie Briones-Jones (mbjones@cfah.org), deputy director, for the Kellogg Health Scholars Program (Multidisciplinary Track) and W.K. Kellogg Doctoral Health Policy Research Fellowships. Before joining CFAH, she was a senior program associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' Health Policy Institute. Previously, Ms. Briones-Jones was a senior manager with AcademyHealth, where she served as a co-principal investigator for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant "Racial/Ethnic Diversity in Health Services Research: Pockets of Progress but a Long Way to Go" and as an associate director at the national program offices of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research and the Picker/Commonwealth Scholars in Patient-Centered Care programs. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Ms. Briones-Jones also holds an MSHSA degree from the George Washington University. |
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Dorothy Jeffress, MBA, MSW, MA, (djeffress@cfah.org) executive director, joined CFAH in March 2008. Prior positions include vice president, Center for Information Therapy, 2005-2008, where she assisted with the IxAction Alliance membership program, the annual Ix Conference and finance/administration for the IxCenter; and as the assistant vice president of Value Based Purchasing for the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) from 2003 to 2005, where she directed the eValue8 Request for Information (RFI) program. She also worked with NCQA from 1999 to 2002 where she was the director of constituent relations and a senior health care analyst in HEDIS performance measure development. She has also worked for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as the director of a CDC/state-funded women's health promotion and chronic disease prevention program. She has managed a TPA for self-funded employee benefit programs and also been a benefit manager for a mid-sized employer. Dorothy has an MBA from Clemson University and an MSW in clinical social work and an MA in theology from Boston College. |
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Barbara Kivimae Krimgold (bkrimgold@cfah.org), senior project director, is responsible for initiatives at CFAH focused on improving health and reducing health inequalities through research, research training, policy and community action. Before joining CFAH, she was deputy director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research and director of the Picker/Commonwealth Scholars in Patient-Centered Care programs. She also was a senior budget officer at the Office of Management and Budget and a health expert at the Senate Aging Committee. A graduate of Harvard University, she has co-authored and co-edited several books and journal articles on socioeconomic status and health. |
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Kelly Malcom (kmalcom@cfah.org), editor of the Health Behavior News Service, is a senior-level science and medical writer, with experience in journalism, marketing and corporate communications. Before coming to HBNS, she was a writer and editor at the Johns Hopkins Health System, science editor and internal communications specialist at Duke University Health System and worked for several years at Science News Magazine in Washington, D.C. as editorial assistant and book editor. She has written about sickle cell disease, genetic screening, stem cell research, lung cancer, addiction and infectious disease, among other topics. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and the Association of Health Care Journalists. |
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Brandon Moore (bmoore@cfah.org), director of new media, is responsible for CFAH's communications, social media and outreach initiatives and the IT infrastructure. He has a background in Web development, IT, training and public affairs. Before coming to CFAH, he was webmaster/external relations at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Prior to that, Brandon was training assistant and intern in the Offices of Organizational Development, Training, and Rail and Bus Training at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. He attended North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC where he studied psychology and biology. |
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Goldie Pyka (gpyka@cfah.org), communications manager, joined CFAH in November of 2009. Goldie works closely with CFAH staff to maintain and enhance the center’s communications database and expand communications. She attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where she graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Cultural Anthropology. After graduating, she worked for the La Crosse Area Realtors Association and Greater MLS Corporation in Wisconsin, where she managed local, state, and national membership databases. Her professional experiences have also included internships in marketing and fundraising with the World Health Foundation and in the legal division at Pfizer Inc.’s corporate headquarters in New York. |
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David Torresen (dtorresen@cfah.org), vice president, finance and operations, is responsible for bookkeeping, human resources administration, and general office management at CFAH. He also serves as assistant to President Jessie Gruman and as coordinator for Center-sponsored conferences. Before joining CFAH, he worked as classified advertising manager, administrator and operations manager for the Washington Blade newspaper. |
MISSION
The Center for Advancing Health works to increase people's engagement in their health care.
VISION
All Americans act to fully benefit from their health care.
WHAT WE DO
Work with policy makers, clinicians, and communities to more effectively support people's engagement in their health care.
Produce and disseminate research news stories that people can use to inform decisions about their health and health care.
Offer Be a Prepared Patient resources to help people find good health care and make the most of it.
PRESIDENT'S LETTER & VIDEO
Since it was founded in 1992, the Center for Advancing Health has aimed to increase people's engagement in their health and health care.
While advances in medical knowledge have been responsible for steady increases in the length and quality of life of Americans, the potential of health care to improve individual and population health in the future rests increasingly in the hands of individuals. Whether we are sick or well, we will not benefit from the expertise of health professionals and the technologies they deploy unless we participate actively and knowledgably in our own care. More