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 Paula A. Johnson, MD, MPH - Chairperson
Physician
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Paula A. Johnson is a cardiologist, the Executive Director of the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology and Chief of the Division of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Johnson has built an innovative, interdisciplinary clinical, research, education, and policy program in women’s health.
The health care practice that Dr. Johnson created and leads integrates primary care with health care specialties in a learning laboratory, bringing together clinical care, research and operations to improve the health of women. The clinical care integrates leading-edge research about women’s health and serves as a basis for research focused on the discovery of mechanisms that will explain sex differences in morbidity and mortality and disorders specific to women. Under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, a robust research program focused on discovering how disease is expressed differently in women and men has grown to be the premier program nationally. Dr. Johnson established a Women’s Health Policy and Advocacy Program to guide and advocate institutional, state, and national policy on health issues of critical importance to women. She has also founded a unique training program to build leadership in women’s health globally with the first trainees to begin in the summer of 2007.
Dr. Johnson is recognized as a national expert in the area of defining and understanding the quality of cardiology care for women and minorities, with a particular research focus on understanding disparities in health care for women and minorities. She founded the Center for Cardiovascular Disease in Women at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is dedicated to developing new sex- and gender-specific strategies for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of coronary heart disease in women.
Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges. She received her MD and MPH degrees from Harvard. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she also completed a fellowship in cardiovascular disease and served as Chief Medical Resident.
Dr. Johnson is the recipient of many awards recognizing her contributions in women’s and minority health and is featured as a national leader in medicine by the National Library of Medicine. She has also received the Abigail Adams Award from the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, which honors Massachusetts’s women leaders who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the realization of equal political, economic, and social rights for women. She has been named one of Boston’s “Top Doctors” by Boston Magazine and was featured in the Boston Globe’s “IDEAS Boston 2005” as one of twenty-four leading innovators in Massachusetts.
Dr Johnson serves on several not for profit boards including the Center for Reproductive Rights, the Greater Boston Division of the American Heart Association, and the Park School in Brookline, MA. She served for many years on the board of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and chaired the board from 1997-1998. Dr. Johnson also serves as an independent director on the board of West Pharmaceutical Services, a global corporation that is the premier manufacturer of drug delivery systems. She serves as an overseer at the Boston’s Museum of Science and the YMCA. She lives with her husband and two children in Brookline, MA.
 Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH
Director, Disparities Solutions Center, Massachusetts General Hospital
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Betancourt’s primary interests include racial and ethnic disparities in health care, cross-cultural medicine, minority recruitment into the health professions, and minority health/health policy research. He has served as Principal Investigator on grants from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Commonwealth Fund, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the California Endowment, in addition to being co-investigator on a project funded by the National Cancer Institute and the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Dr. Betancourt has served on several Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committees, including those that produced “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care”, “Guidance for a National Health Care Disparities Report”, and “In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce.” and served on the IOM Roundtable on Health Literacy. He was a member of the Massachusetts State Committee on Racial/Ethnic Disparities and served on the Boston Public Health Commission Committee on Racial/Ethnic Disparities. Dr. Betancourt currently co-chairs the Massachusetts General Hospital Committee on Racial/Ethnic Disparities and the Harvard Medical School Cross-Cultural Care Committee.
Dr. Betancourt has authored peer-reviewed articles on topics including racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care; public health; hypertension, diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease in minority communities; cross-cultural care and education; clinical decision making; ethics; workforce diversity; and the impact of language barriers on health care. Dr. Betancourt also teaches cross-cultural medicine, health disparities, and health policy to medical students and residents at and to students at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Betancourt received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland, his medical degree from the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Following residency, he completed The Commonwealth Fund-Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy, and received his Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
 Harold D. Cox
Associate Dean of Public Health Practice
Boston University School of Public Health
Harold D. Cox, MSSW, serves as the Associate Dean of Public Health Practice at BUSPH and as an associate professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr Cox was chief public health officer for the city of Cambridge from 1996 until he joined the BUSPH faculty. In that role, he managed all aspects of the city’s health department, including public health planning, service delivery, and regulatory activities. He has coordinated a regional emergency preparedness response for 27 local health departments and co-chaired a regional “no tobacco initiative” in 19 communities. He also facilitated citywide discussions on homelessness, developed a health-oriented walking program in Cambridge, and helped establish a Domestic Violence Free Zone. Before working for the City of Cambridge, he was director of client services for the AIDS Action Committee of Boston from 1992 to 1996.
Dr. Cox is a member of the Statewide Commission on Health Disparities, president of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, and past president of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition. He is a recipient of the Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health Work from the American Public Health Association and the Rebecca Lee Award for outstanding commitment to public health from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Dr. Cox graduated from North Texas State University, where he received a B.A. in Psychology. He received his MSSW at the University of Texas in Austin.
 John P. Cradock
Chief Executive Officer
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center
Jack Cradock has been involved in the planning, organizing and delivery of health care in Boston Health Centers for the past 25 years. He graduated from the BC School of Management in 1967.
In 1970, he was hired by the Boston Model City Administration and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital to establish the Brookside Community Health Center.
From 1976 to 1978, he was Executive Director of the South Cove Community Health Center in Boston’s Chinatown.
In 1978 he joined the staff of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, first as an Administrative Director and then as Chief Executive Officer, a position which he holds today.
The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the nation: in 1997, the Health Center provided over 250,000 visits to more than 50,000 individuals each year. EBNHC has developed a number of innovative research, service and training programs which have led to East Boston’s recognition as a leader in community based services. One of those programs is the East Boston Elder Service Plan, a community based demonstration program for frail elders, part of the PACE national demonstration.
Jack is active in the Mass League of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the Kellogg Foundation Community Partners Program in Boston and has served on a number of Community Boards including the East Boston Ecumenical Community Council, the Urban Edge Housing Corporation, the Christian Home of Reconciliation, the Boston Mayor’s Health Care Commission and the Boston Public Health Commission.
 Ruth Ellen Fitch
President and CEO
Dimock Community Health Center
Ruth Ellen Fitch began her tenure as Dimock Community Health Center’s new President and Chief Executive Officer in August, 2004. At this historic community institution, formerly the New England Hospital for Women and Children, Ms. Fitch oversees a staff of 500 and budget of more than $25 million. Ms. Fitch was chosen for her strong background as a corporate and non-profit leader and her keen ability to analyze, develop and execute strategies to attain organizational goals and financial success.
Prior to her position with Dimock, Ms. Fitch was with Palmer & Dodge for 21 years, where in 1991 she became the first black female partner at a large Boston law firm. From 1974-1980 she was Director of METCO (the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) in Brookline. She has also taught black literature at UMass Boston. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Barnard College and completed her law degree at Harvard Law School, where she served for three years on the Law School Administrative Board.
Currently, Ms. Fitch serves on the Boards of Trustees for Roxbury Community College, where she is Vice-Chair and recently Chaired the Presidential Search Committee. She also sits on the Board of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union. She has chaired the Board of Directors at Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries and served on the board of the Grimes King Foundation.
Ms. Fitch has received awards for achievement in the legal profession from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, the Woman of Achievement Award from the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, the Charles Hamilton Houston Public Service Award from the Harvard Black Law Students Association, and the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Girls’ Latin School/Boston Latin Academy, where she has been a Commencement Speaker.
Ms. Fitch is a member of the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, and serves as Director and Executive Committee Member for the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.
Ms. Fitch grew up in Roxbury, just a few blocks from Dimock, and now resides in Brookline with her husband Harrison. Her daughter Robin teaches in the Wayland school system and her son Chip lives in Lawrence with his wife and son.
 Celia A. Wcislo
President
SEIU Local 285/220
Celia A. Wcislo is the Assistant Division Director of the Massachusetts Division of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, representing 11,000 health care workers in Massachusetts and over 260,000 in nearby states. She has served as the President of SEIU Local 285/220 since 1981. Ms. Wcislo has campaigned steadily for broader health care access and improved wages and working conditions for health care workers.
While employed as a clerical worker at Boston City Hospital in the 1970’s, Ms. Wcislo became involved in union activities, organizing democratic elections for union leadership positions. By helping to organize the 1980 strike at Boston City Hospital, Ms. Wcislo was instrumental in earning layoff rights for public workers.
Ms. Wcislo graduated from the Harvard Trade Union Program in 1984, and received her degree in Labor Studies from UMass-Boston several years later. She is also a founding member of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. |
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Boston Public Health Commission
Board of Health Office
1010 Massachusetts Ave., 6th Floor
Boston, MA 02118
617-534-5855
boardofhealth@bphc.org
*Please contact Julie Webster, Board Secretary, at 617-534-5855 for additional Board of Health information.
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