HCH2017 Award Winners
Congratulations to our 2017 award winners! The National HCH Council and its membership groups will honor these worthy individuals with awards at our 2017 National HCH Conference & Policy Symposium.
Philip W. Brickner National Leadership Award
Dr. Janelle Goetcheus, MD, Christ House; Unity Health Care
Janelle Goetcheus, MD, works on behalf of underserved individuals in Washington, D.C. In 1979 she founded Columbia Road Health Services, a community health center that serves the poor and uninsured of D.C. In 1985, she founded Christ House as a live-in respite care facility for up to 34 sick patients without homes. Dr. Goetcheus is also Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at Unity Health Care, Inc. in Washington, D.C. Unity is currently the largest primary health care agency in the area and sees over 100,000 patients per year. Unity has a network of 29 health centers and a mobile medical outreach vehicle, which are strategically located within all eight wards of Washington, D.C.
Karen Rotondo Award for Outstanding Service
Charita McCollers, MSW, Lincoln Community Health Center – Health Care for the Homeless Clinic
Charita McCollers, MSW, is a Clinical Social Worker at Lincoln Community Health Center – HCH Clinic in Durham, NC. McCollers meets individuals where they are and continuously goes above and beyond her job description in unwavering and constant service to her clients. She demonstrates creativity and vision, collaborating with partners to create change in her community. Clients and colleagues laud Ms. McCollers’s tireless service and her advocacy for equal rights for all people.
Ellen Dailey Consumer Advocate Award
Amber Gray, Tom Waddell Health Clinic
Amber Gray has spent the past 16 years working as a counselor with LGBTQ high-risk youth without homes, a health educator with a mentoring program, a prevention case manager in a residential housing program, and now in a senior program management position with HIV Education and Prevention services for transgender women of color and their partners. She is also a group facilitator for “Transgender Tuesdays” at the Tom Waddell Health Clinic and mentors youth around principles of independence and empowerment. Amber’s dream is to reduce the stigma that continually plagues her community. She is committed to encouraging, motivating, and empowering transgender women of color.
Willie J. Mackey National Medical Respite Award
Sarah Ciambrone, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Sarah Ciambrone is Director of Clinical Innovations at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). Sarah began working at BHCHP in 1998 as the Director of the Barbara McInnis House. She considers herself lucky to have worked with such amazing colleagues and patients, both at BHCHP and other HCH programs and is proud to be a founding member of RCPN.
John N. Lozier Scholarship for New Members
Jennifer Bradford, MD, Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program
Dr. Jennifer Bradford completed her medical training at UMass Worcester Family Medicine program in 2013 and went on to earn her Master of Public Health while completing a Preventive Medicine Residency in 2015. Dr. Bradford has had a multifaceted and dynamic medical career. She provides primary care at the Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program in Worcester, MA; delivers medication-assisted treatment though Spectrum Health Systems; and serves as faculty in the UMass Preventive Medicine Residency.