Vince Ventimiglia is the President of Leavitt Partners Collaborative Advocates and leads the Leavitt Partners D.C. office, including the firm’s alliances and federal advocacy work. With over three decades of congressional and health policy experience, Mr. Ventimiglia plays an integral role in facilitating relationships with congressional and executive branch offices and providing in-depth analysis of federal government action. He also leads complex, multi-disciplinary collaborations among multi-sector health care organizations seeking to implement significant health care policy initiatives.
In previous roles, Mr. Ventimiglia was the assistant secretary for legislation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this capacity he served as the department’s liaison to Congress and as the Secretary’s chief advisor on all legislative matters affecting the department. Prior to his time at HHS, he served on the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee as Health Policy Director of the Chairman´s Health Policy Team. In 2005, Mr. Ventimiglia moved with Chairman Gregg to serve as Policy Director for the Senate Budget Committee, where he also worked on entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and welfare.
From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Ventimiglia served as director of the Government Affairs Office for Medtronic, Inc., one of the worlds´s leading medical technology companies. Before joining Medtronic, Mr. Ventimiglia a held a variety of health policy positions on Capitol Hill, serving as counsel to the United States Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee for Senator Dan Coats of Indiana. He previously worked with the committee on health issues from 1985 to 1988.
Mr. Ventimiglia graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and holds a juris doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Theo Spencer is an Environmental Policy Consultant based in New York City. Until late 2018, he was Senior Policy Advocate at the Natural Resource Defense Council where he worked for 18 years and focused on a wide variety of climate, land, and water issues. Those included state, regional and federal vehicle and power plant emissions standards, efforts to overhaul the federal coal program, challenges to proposed new coal plants, and the impacts of climate change on water resources. Mr. Spencer also helped manage NRDC’s urban climate preparedness initiative. As a former reporter at Fortune magazine, he has worked with the financial community to raise awareness about risks posed by climate change, and opportunities in clean energy investment. Mr. Spencer holds a Bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College, and a Masters from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
He serves on the boards of the Population Council, the Trust for America’s Health, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. He is a past President of the Rockefeller Family Fund. Mr. Spencer lives in New York City with his wife, Tracy, and three sons, Henry, Avery and Benno.
Spencer is a Co-Founder of Trust for America’s Health.
Tamara Coombs is the Social Media and Web Publishing Manager at Trust for America’s Health. She leads engagement and communications through TFAH’s social media presence on platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn. She develops social strategies and messaging for TFAH’s reports, policy recommendations and other organizational priorities. Tamara also manages content development and publishing on tfah.org and other TFAH and TFAH and partners web properties.
Tamara holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland University College in Computers and Information Systems.
Cecelia Thomas, JD
Cecelia Thomas is Senior Government Relations Manager at Trust for America’s Health. In this role, Cecelia leads TFAH’s advocacy around infectious disease and other public health issues, including funding for prevention. Most recently, Cecelia served as Manager of Legislative Affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. In that capacity, Cecelia advocated to protect federal funding for health centers, implemented PPFA’s legislative strategy and co-led the National Sex Education Coalition. Prior to her time with PPFA, Cecelia was a senior advisor in the U.S House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Associate Director of Oversight at the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the Secretary. She has also served on the staff of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Office of Senator Bernie Sanders.
Cecelia received her J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law and graduated cum laude from University of Michigan with a degree in political science.
Dr. Umair Shah is the Secretary of Health for Washington State. He was appointed to this position by Washington Governor Jay Inslee in December 2020.
From 2013 to 2020, Dr. Shah was the Executive Director and Local Health Authority for Harris County Public Health (HCPH) – a $100 million agency comprised of 700 public health professionals serving the nation’s third largest county with 4.7 million people.
Dr. Shah has enjoyed a distinguished career as an emergency department physician at Houston’s Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center. His career in public health began as Chief Medical Officer of Galveston County Health District before joining HCPH to oversee its clinical health system and infectious disease portfolio. Under his leadership, HCPH has won numerous awards including recognition as Local Health Department of the Year by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in 2016 for its work in innovation, engagement, and health equity.
Dr. Shah is the current president of NACCHO representing the nearly 3,000 local health departments across the U.S. and recently served as president of its Texas affiliate. He remains active in clinical and academic activities through various Texas Medical Center institutions. He has responded to numerous large-scale emergencies such as Tropical Storm Allison; Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike; novel H1N1 influenza; the devastating earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti; and responses to Ebola and Zika, respectively. Dr. Shah served as medical branch co-director for the 27,000 Katrina evacuees sheltered at the Houston Astrodome in 2005 and led Harris County’s public health efforts in response to Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
In addition to his service on the TFAH board, Dr. Shah sits on numerous additional national boards and advisory groups including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Network for Public Health Law, Texas Department of State Health Services, and Texas Medical Association. Dr. Shah earned his BA in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University and MD from the University of Toledo Health Science Center. He completed Internal Medicine residency, General Medicine/Primary Care fellowship, and an MPH in Management & Policy Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center. During his training, he also completed an international health policy internship at World Health Organization headquarters in Switzerland.
Dr. Sanchez serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Prevention and is the American Heart Association (AHA) lead on Target:BP (a joint initiative with the American Medical Association), KnowDiabetesbyHeartTM (a joint initiative with the American Diabetes Association) and COVID-19-related activities. Prior to joining AHA, he served as Vice President and CMO for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) and before that, he served as director of the Institute for Health Policy at the University of Texas (UT) School of Public health. Dr. Sanchez served as Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services from 2004 to 2006 and Commissioner of the Texas Department of Health from 2001 to 2004. He oversaw the SARS response in 2003-04, the influenza vaccine shortage of 2004, and the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
He served as the local public health officer in Austin-Travis County from 1994 to 1998. He has served on numerous health-related boards and advisory committees at the local, state and national levels. From 2008 to 2012, he served as chair of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Sanchez obtained his M.D. from the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, an M.P.H. from the UT Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, and an M.S. in biomedical engineering from Duke University. He holds a B.S. in biomedical engineering and a B.A. in chemistry from Boston University. Dr. Sanchez is board certified in family medicine.
Dr. John A. Rich is the director of the RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity, a part of the Rush University System for Health. The RUSH BMO Institute coordinates health equity programs across the University System for Health and within its diverse communities.
Prior to his appointment at RUSH, Dr. Rich was a professor and former Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy at the Drexel Dornsife University School of Public Health. He was also the Co-Director of the Drexel Center for Nonviolence and Justice, a multidisciplinary effort to address violence and trauma to improve physical and mental health. Dr. Rich’s work has focused on issues of urban violence and trauma and health disparities, particularly as they affect the health of men of color. Dr. Rich is also an expert in qualitative research methods and narrative analysis. In 2006, Dr. Rich was granted a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In awarding this distinction, the Foundation cited his work to design “new models of healthcare that stretch across the boundaries of public health, education, social service, and justice systems to engage young men in caring for themselves and their peers.”
Prior to joining Drexel University, Dr. Rich served as the Medical Director of the Boston Public Health Commission where he led the city’s initiatives on Men’s Health, Cancer, Cardiovascular Health and Health Disparities. As a primary care doctor at Boston Medical Center, he created the Young Men’s Health Clinic and initiated the Boston HealthCREW, a program to train inner city young men as peer health educators. His book about urban violence titled Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009) has drawn critical acclaim.
Dr. Rich earned his AB degree in English from Dartmouth College, his MD from Duke University School of Medicine, and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his internship and residency in primary care internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and a fellowship in general internal medicine at the Harvard Medical School. In 2009, Dr. Rich was elected to the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., is executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin. The foundation’s grants and programs support mental health services, research, policy analysis, and public education projects in Texas. The Hogg Foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. Martinez holds an appointment of Senior Associate Vice-President within the division. He is also a Professor of Psychiatry at the Dell Medical School, Clinical Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work; Faculty Affiliate with the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice in the School of Law, and Adjunct Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry.
Martinez serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Preparedness and Response Board of Scientific Counselors and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Health and Medicine Division’s Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity. Martinez has a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University’s School of Public Health, an M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration with a concentration in finance from The University of Texas at Austin. He was Chief Resident during his psychiatric training at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and is an alumnus of The Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. David Lakey is the Chief Medical Officer and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at The University of Texas System. Dr. Lakey previously served as the Founding Dean of the School of Community and Rural Health and Isadore Roosth Distinguished Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Tyler. Dr. Lakey received his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine and his postdoctoral clinical training from Vanderbilt University Medical Center specializing in internal medicine, pediatrics and infectious disease. He earned his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.
Dr. Lakey served as the Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, where his responsibilities included the state’s public health regulatory programs, emergency medical services and trauma services, WIC services, family planning, vital statistics and health data, infectious disease control, chronic disease prevention, public health laboratory services, substance abuse services, the mental health system and the health components to disaster response. Accomplishments during his tenure include responding to emergencies such as H1N1, West Nile, Ebola, West Fertilizer Company explosion, and multiple hurricanes. Dr. Lakey led efforts to decrease infant mortality and prematurity, expand and improve the Texas Newborn Screening program and Texas Mental Health System, and improve agency infrastructures. Dr. Lakey was instrumental in implementing an eliminate tobacco use policy on all health and human services campuses and encouraged other state agencies to implement eliminate tobacco use policies of their own.
Dr. Lakey served as president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in 2011-2012, and received several national awards including the AMCHP President’s Award, the March of Dimes President’s Public Health Leadership Award, and the Arthur T. McCormack Award.
Dr. Harris currently serves as senior medical director for General Dynamics Information Technology, in its consulting management contract with North Carolina Medicaid operations. He brings to the TFAH board many years’ experience in clinical medicine as a primary care physician, in academic medicine as clinical faculty at Duke University School of Medicine, and administrative medicine having served in senior executive positions with several health insurance companies. Most recently, he was Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Healthcare with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, where he launched nationally acclaimed initiatives addressing obesity/childhood obesity, coverage for bariatric surgery, smoking/second hand smoke, immunization promotion, and affordable outpatient drugs with no-copay generics. Dr. Harris is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American College of Physician Executives. In addition to serving on the TFAH Board he has served on the board of a privately held clinical laboratory company. Currently, he serves on the board of the Duke Alumni Association (Triangle Region) and on the board of a community theatre in Raleigh, NC.
Dr. Harris is a graduate of Duke University (BS), Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (MHS), and Emory University School of Medicine (MD). He also completed a year of theological study at Yale University Divinity School.