Media Experts: Medicaid Outreach and Enrollment
To request an interview with one of our staff or community experts, contact Terri Woodmore, NHCHC Communications Manager.
Council Staff
Barbara DiPietro
Senior Director of Policy
Barbara DiPietro directs the policy and advocacy activities for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. This includes conducting policy analysis, providing educational materials and presentations to a broad range of policymakers and other stakeholders, coordinating the Council’s policy priorities with national partners, and organizing staff assistance to the Policy Committee and the National Consumer Advisory Board.
Cindy Manginelli
Director of Community Engagement
Cindy Manginelli directs the Council’s efforts to engage and create a diverse community of individuals, coalitions, and programs that directly address issues at the intersection of homelessness and health care. She also manages the Council’s ongoing work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the community of those who experience and address homelessness.
Courtney Pladsen, DNP, FNP-BC, RN
Director of Clinical and Quality Improvement
Courtney Pladsen leads initiatives to improve the delivery of primary care, substance use treatment, and mental health care nationally. She directs training and quality improvement initiatives, and contributes to research and policy recommendations on emerging clinical issues affecting people experiencing homelessness.
Bobby Watts, MPH, MS
Chief Executive Officer
Bobby Watts is the chief executive officer of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, which supports Health Care for the Homeless programs and medical respite providers with training, technical assistance, sharing of best practices, research, publications, and an active policy and advocacy program working to eliminate homelessness. He has 30 years of experience in administration, direct service, and implementation of homeless health services, beginning as a live-in counselor at the New York City Rescue Mission. In February 2021, he was appointed as a member of the Biden-Harris Administration’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
HCH Community Experts
Patricia Brown, BA
Affiliate Faculty, University of Washington Oral Health Collaborative
Lynnwood, WA
Eric Hunter
Videographer/Photographer, Ebenezer Baptist Church
Atlanta, GA
Elizabeth Torkington, BSN, RN, PHN
Street Health Outreach Director, Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center
Oakland, CA