NWH Community Collaborative Council Leadership

Cardiovascular Council – George Philippides, MD, Hospital Co-Champion

Dr. George Philippides received his undergraduate degree from Yale University. He then attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where he graduated with Honors in clinical cardiology research. Dr. Philippides completed his Internal Medicine Residency training at Boston City Hospital and completed his Cardiology Fellowship at Boston University. He became a staff cardiologist at Boston Medical Center in 1994. Dr. Philippides was also the Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs and Chief Quality Officer for the Boston Medical Center Cardiovascular section. From 1997 to 2008, Dr. Philippides served as the Director of the Boston Medical Center Coronary Care Unit.  He has been a volunteer for the American Heart Association and has served as President of the AHA Founders Board. In July 2014 Dr. Philippides moved to Newton-Wellesley Hospital where he is now the Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Director of the Elfers Cardiovascular Center.

Cardiovascular Council Daniel Destin, Hospital Co-Champion

Daniel is the manager of the Newton-Wellesley Shipley Fitness Center. He also serves as the health coach for the Elfers Cardiovascular Center. Since starting his career in 2004 at Newton-Wellesley hospital he has developed wellness programs for both employees and patients. Daniel has a degree in Exercise physiology from the University of Massachusetts Boston and is a certified fitness trainer under the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He completed health coaching training through Wellcoaches school of coaching. Daniel is a resident of the city of Waltham and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Waltham YMCA.

Cardiovascular Council - Beth Keane, Community Chair

Beth is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, outdoor enthusiast, and Reiki Master. Her avid interest in health and wellness fuels much of her volunteer work, including the Cooking Matters project to end childhood hunger, the Reiki program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and the Cardiovascular Health Council at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Beth has BAs in Economics and French from Mount Holyoke College and a pre-motherhood career in software consulting which continues to serve her well in volunteer roles within her community’s civic and educational organizations. Beth and her husband Brian live in Weston and have three grown children.

Domestic/Sexual Abuse Council – Josephine Pang, Hospital Champion

Josephine Pang, LICSW (she/her/hers) is the Program Manager, Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program at NWH. A trauma-informed, community-oriented counselor and yoga practitioner, Josephine is committed to addressing issues around health/mental health disparities that disproportionally impact communities of color and individuals with intersecting, marginalized identities. Josephine is a first-generation Chinese American, raised by immigrant parents in Los Angeles, CA where she received her B.A in Critical Gender Studies at the University of California- San Diego. She later earned her MSW degree at Boston College’s School of Social Work and has been supporting survivors of abuse and violence within community-based, school-based and hospital settings throughout the Greater Boston Area since 2011.

Domestic/Sexual Abuse Council - Sarah Perry, Community Co-Chair

Sarah served for four years as Executive Director of The Second Step, a Newton-based organization that delivers comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence. Prior to leading The Second Step, Sarah was the Executive Director at Harvard Business School Community Action Partners, which provides pro bono performance improvement services to Boston-area nonprofits. Sarah has led strategic consulting projects for many local organizations, including The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, City Year, Citizen Schools, WBUR, and The Boston Foundation. Sarah currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League, the Newton Schools Foundation, Temple Emanuel of Newton, and the Jewish Women’s Archive and on the Advisory Board of Dove (Domestic Violence Ended). Sarah has spoken extensively about domestic violence and nonprofit effectiveness as a lecturer and panelist, and has published articles in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Newton Tab on the issue of domestic abuse and prevention. Sarah graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in History and has an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and an M.P.A. from Harvard’s Kennedy School. Sarah lives in Newton with her husband, Tony Kingsley, and has three children.

Domestic/Sexual Abuse Council – Lauri Meizler, Community Co-Chair

Lauri is a Financial Advisor at Merrill. She has built a formidable wealth management business leveraging her extensive and highly successful financial experience. She has a strong interest in socially responsible/ESG investing. Lauri is also a budding entrepreneur and health enthusiast. She received her health coach certification from the Institute for Integrated Nutrition and practiced as a health coach for nine years. Lauri resides with her four children in Needham, Massachusetts. She is an avid runner and practices yoga regularly. She graduated from Georgetown University and received an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School with a Merit Scholarship from the Financial Women's Association. Lauri is active in the community, sitting on many nonprofit boards She is a judge and mentor for MassChallenge and is on the Steering Committee for the Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Awards in Massachusetts, and the Board of the Friends of the IDF. She is also a speaker for Domestic Abuse/Violence on behalf of Journey to Safety, Jewish Family & Children’s Services.

Elder Care Council – Jennie Wright, RN, Hospital Champion

Jennie Wright BA, RN, CCM Director of Population Health and Continuum, Newton-Wellesley Physician Hospital Organization. A graduate of the NWH School of Nursing, Jennie’s goal is to create a seamless support network for all patients, but especially our elders, as they transition across different healthcare settings. In 2012, she Initiated ICMP, a complex care management program available to high-risk patients in primary care practices. She obtained the first MGB Population Grant for Serious Illness Conversation Training now required for all medical specialists and primary care providers, a conversation to guide patients in considering what matters most as they grapple with illness. Jennie also launched a care continuum approach across Newton-Wellesley linking Inpatient with Transitions and Complex Care Management. She is a firm believer in right care, right place, and right time.

Elder Care Council - Ellen Leiter, Community Chair

Ellen Leiter is the Director of Community Development at Good Shepherd Community Care, a community-based, not-for-profit hospice and palliative care agency in Newton. Her career as a registered nurse spans 45 years, including over 30 years of leadership roles in community hospitals and other community-based health care organizations. Ellen held nursing leadership positions at Newton-Wellesley Hospital from 2008-2017. She has served on several not-for-profit boards, in board member and president/chair roles, including the Natick Visiting Nurse Association, the Boston Chapter of Amigos de las Americas, and Good Shepherd Community Care. Ellen is currently a member of the board of directors for Maristhill Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Waltham. She lives in Wellesley with her husband Andrew.

Maternity Services Council – Lisa Dunn-Albanese, MD, Hospital Champion

Dr. Dunn-Albanese received her Bachelor of Science in Engineering and worked at Delco Products Division of General Motors before starting medical school.  She graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1995, then did her residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital combined program.  She completed her fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Ohio State, then joined the faculty MFM practice there.  In 2004 she moved back to Boston, where she joined the MFM division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.  She has been seeing patients in the NWH MFM Outreach Program since 2004 and became the medical director of the program in 2013.  She is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical school.  She lives in Brookline with her husband and two children.  

Maternity Services Council - Erin Kelly, Community Co-Chair

Erin Kelly lives in Medway with her husband, Matt, and two children. She is the Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR), a strategy, technology, and analytics company focused on the sports and entertainment industry. Prior to KAGR, Erin spent 15 years in management consulting with deep expertise in the application of analytics, business intelligence, and data science across multiple industries, and most recently led Boston’s Data & Analytics practice for Slalom. Erin joined the NWH Collaborative for Healthy Families and Communities in 2018, and serves as the co-chair for the Maternity Services Council, focused on increasing awareness and improving treatment of pregnancy-related depression.  Erin is also a Board of Advisor at NWH (2019).

Maternity Services Council - Anne Steer, Community Co-Chair

Anne Steer  is the head of sales and client management and a member of the Management Committee for Congress Asset Management, a boutique privately owned asset management firm in Boston.   Anne has been with Congress for 5 years and has over 30 years of executive leadership experience with a focus on creating and implementing growth strategies for financial services organizations. She held senior leadership positions at State Street Corporation, Fidelity Investments, and Dwight Asset Management. She is on the Board of Governors of the Money Management Institute and is a member of the Board’s Executive Committee. Anne joined the Board of Overseers at Newton-Wellesley Hospital over ten years ago and is a member of the Newton Wellesley Hospital Development Committee.  Anne received her BA at Mount Holyoke College and her MBA at Booth School at the University of Chicago. She lives in Weston with her husband, Ralph Sheridan, and is the proud mother of Quinn Sheridan who was born at Newton Wellesley Hospital in 1995.

Palliative Care Council – Kosha Thakore, MD, Hospital Champion

Dr. Kosha Thakore was appointed Director of the Palliative Care Service at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in the fall of 2017. Dr. Thakore obtained her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. After residency, she joined the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Academic Hospitalist at the University of Michigan. In 2009, she joined the medical staff at Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) as a Hospitalist and saw an opportunity to make an impact on the care of the seriously ill by joining the Palliative Care Service in 2011. She achieved board certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 2012. As a member of the Palliative Care Service, Dr. Thakore pursued a specific interest in palliative care education and created a curriculum for interns and medical students rotating on the Palliative Care Service. She sits on the Partners Palliative Care Committee, as well as on the NWH Cancer Care Committee where she has launched a health care proxy project for patients receiving care at the Vernon Cancer Center.

Palliative Care Council - Ann T. Ingram, Community Co-Chair

Ann Ingram lives in South Natick with her husband, David. After college and graduate school, she moved to Boston to accept a job at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library as a librarian/archivist. She returned to graduate school for an M.B.A. and moved to Chicago to join The First National Bank of Chicago as a corporate loan officer. Still with the bank, she moved to Dallas and then back to Boston. Ann finished her banking career with The Bank of New England. She joined NWH first as an overseer (1993) and then served as a Trustee (1994-2001) before becoming a director of the newly formed Charitable Foundation (1999). Educating our healthcare providers about palliative care is of particular interest to her.

Palliative Care Council – Steve Sullivan, Community Co-Chair

Steve Sullivan is the founder of Wild Blue Flight Simulators, LLC. and is a commercial pilot and flight instructor. He is the retired Senior Vice President, Communications for the Liberty Mutual Group where he was responsible for advertising, public relations, internal communications, and worldwide branding.  Prior to Liberty Mutual Steve served as President of Mintz & Hoke Advertising and P.R., and Chief Operating Officer of Clarke Goward Advertising, both in Boston.  He graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and served in the U.S. Air Force for six years including a combat tour in Vietnam.  Steve was Chairman of the Board of The Association of National Advertisers and Chairman of BPA International, the circulation auditing firm. He was Chairman of Junior Achievement of Eastern Massachusetts and an Assistant Scoutmaster with Boy Scout Troop 205. He serves as a Corporation Member of Mass General Brigham Healthcare System and is a Trustee Emeritus of Newton Wellesley Hospital.  Steve and his wife, Rebecca, live in Wellesley, MA. They have four children.

Resilience Council – Elizabeth Booma, MD, Hospital Champion

Dr. Elizabeth Booma is the Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and director of the Division’s community health initiative, The Resilience Project. Dr. Booma grew up in Houston, TX. She earned a BA in psychology from Emory University, attended a post-bac pre-med program at NYU, and received her M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College. She trained in adult, adolescent and child psychiatry at the combined MGH/McLean residency and fellowship program. Following graduation, she was a staff psychiatrist at McLean Hospital for several years and joined Newton-Wellesley Hospital in the fall of 2015 as the Director of the Child Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison service. She became Chief of the Division in October 2018. Her areas of expertise include psychopharmacology, psychiatric emergencies, and systems of care. She is a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. Outside of work she enjoys hiking, cooking, and going to the beach with her family.

Resilience Council - Brenda Haynes, MD, Community Chair

Dr. Brenda Haynes currently serves as Chair of Newton-Wellesley Hospital’s Trustee Development Committee, is a member of the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Board of Trustees and is co-chair of the Resilience Council supporting NWH Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Resilience Project. She practiced Hematology and Oncology in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and most recently at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts. She’s previously served as chairwoman of annual giving and on the Board of Trustees at The Winsor School in Boston. Dr. Haynes earned her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed her internship, residency and fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She currently resides in Wellesley with her husband and three children. 

Substance Use Services Council –Catharina Armstrong, MD, Hospital Champion

Catharina Armstrong, MD MPH is Associate Director of the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Substance Use Services. Dr. Armstrong graduated from University College Dublin School of Medicine. She completed Internal Medicine residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Armstrong was awarded a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard Medical School in 2015. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Addiction Medicine and is an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. She is the HIV and Addictions medicine consultant at Framingham Women's prison, where she cares for patients and leads education efforts in the field of Infectious Disease and Addictions Medicine. She is a member of the Continuing Medical Education (CME) board for American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). Her clinical and research interests are in prevention and management strategies to engage and support high risk groups with substance use disorders and infectious diseases, particularly those co-infected with Hepatitis B and C and HIV. She is the Medical Director for Windsor Mountain International Camp. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Boston Bulldogs, a non-profit wellness and running club established to provide an anonymous and safe community of support for all those adversely affected by addiction.

Substance Use Services Council – Alicia Abad, Community Chair

Alicia Abad is an active volunteer for a variety of nonprofit, community, and educational organizations. She currently serves on the development committee for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and is an Overseer for Newton-Wellesley Hospital. She has served on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood League of MA, Roxbury-Weston Programs, Inc., the Weston Parent Teacher Organization, and the Town of Weston Technology Committee. She is also a steering committee member for the Boston-based Invest to Elect group – a women’s political giving circle.  Alicia credits her early education by the Catholic Sisters of Charity; her father, Chief of Surgery at a hospital with a mission of ministry in healing; and her mother, a hospice volunteer, with instilling in her the importance of giving back to society and causes which promote healthcare and social justice.  A former software consultant in the technology industry, Alicia holds a B.S in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems from Western New England University. A native of New Jersey, Alicia lives in Wellesley and has two sons.

Workforce Development Council – Beth Downie, Hospital Champion

Beth Downie has served as Chief Information Office of Newton-Wellesley Hospital since 2011. Beth started her career at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 1999 as an Applications Analyst, assumed increasing levels of responsibility and was promoted to Chief Information Officer in 2011. Beth has more than 30 years of Healthcare IT experience. In addition to her 23 years at Newton-Wellesley Hospital she had worked at two Massachusetts based healthcare software vendors as well as two Massachusetts community hospitals. Beth became the Chair of the Workforce Development Council in the Fall of 2019 after assisting the NWH Community Benefits Team with some Workforce Development Events. She has a passion for helping students and employees develop skills to guide them on their career journey.  Beth holds a BA degree in Psychology from Stonehill College. She is a member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society. 

Workforce Development Council, Phara Boyer, Community Chair

Phara Boyer is the Director of Corporate Partnerships and Workforce Development at Mass Bay Community College. Her professional experience spans 20+ years in higher education with a focus on career/job readiness, placement, and training. She has a background in education, non-profit management, workforce development, program management, and brings an understanding of individual student/client needs and works towards enhancing support systems that provide equitable access to any and all opportunity.