Recent Projects
Relationships with my clients are built on a shared commitment
to pursuing health equity and social justice in our work.
Supporting Food is Medicine with Illinois’ Section 1115 Demonstration Extension
I’ve been working closely with local and national Food is Medicine experts to guide the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and Medicaid managed care organizations as they prepare to cover new health related social needs, including food and nutrition, under Illinois’ 1115 waiver extension.
Modeled after groundbreaking work in states like California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, our team advocated for the inclusion of Food is Medicine interventions in the waiver to better support eligible Medicaid patients who are experiencing food insecurity and chronic illness.
As the state now prepares for implementation of the waiver, we are looking to the expertise of socially disadvantaged growers, producers, and values-aligned small businesses who can guide and partner with Medicaid managed care organizations and healthcare systems to deliver food is medicine programs to patients.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing
I’ve partnered with a local university to support implementation of their diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan in their school of nursing.
Within the school’s first year of implementation, we’ve focused on building a foundation for students, faculty, and staff that will serve as a bedrock for our work on culture and systems change in years to come.
Our short-term goal has been to create an interdisciplinary team of leaders and to cultivate resources that build the capacity of these leaders to steward diversity, equity, and inclusion in their respective areas of work. We’ve also begun to identify different levers and power structures across the school of nursing that will be critical to act upon as we strive to make meaningful and lasting changes. Throughout each of these phases of work, we will thoroughly evaluate our progress and continue to evolve as implementation unfolds.