Board of Directors, Advisory Board Members, and Founders

Board of Directors

Advisory Board

Marjorie Agosin, PhD Hortensia Amaro, PhD Byllye Avery, MA Judy Bradford, PhD Gloria Feldt Teresa Heinz Cathy Inglese Paula Johnson, MD Timothy R.B. Johnson, MD  Wanda Jones, PhD Florence Ladd, PhD

Susan M. Love, MD Meizhu Lui Ngina Lythcott, PhD Evelyn Murphy, PhD Cynthia Pearson Vivian Pinn, MD Ellen Poss, MD Joan Rachlin, JD Isaac Schiff, MD Gloria Steinem Frederica Williams

Founders

Bios

Marcia Brown, BS – Chair        
Ms. Brown has more than 25 years of experience as a professional fundraiser, including the past 13 years for U.S-based international organizations and more than 20 years for reproductive health providers, including Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, Pathfinder International, Management Sciences for Health, and the Population Reference Bureau. She presently works for ACCION International, an organization that works to alleviate poverty in the U.S. and the developing world through microfinance. Ms. Brown is also a former board member of Round Up for the Rainforest, a small environmental organization, and has volunteered for Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island.  [back to list of board members]

Bea Bezmalinovic, MBA, MPP – Co-Chair     
Ms. Bezmalinovic has over thirteen years of experience working as an international health and development consultant in more than 26 countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, including six years of overseas residence. She has been involved in three international entrepreneurial ventures in the start-up or early growth stages. Her recent positions have concentrated on business development, partner negotiations, and strategic communications (online communities/use of new media). She has also worked as a researcher and consultant on various non-profit initiatives, including a Harvard Business School faculty’s review of accountability of non-profit organizations and the Harvard School of Public Health's Global AIDS program. Ms. Bezmalinovic has consulted for Save the Children, Aid to Artisans, the US Agency for International Development, the Overseas Development Council, EngenderHealth, RTI, Family Health International, and the International Center for Research on Women. She has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an MBA from the Olin School of Management at Babson College. [back to list of board members]

Heather Nelson PhD, MPH - Clerk
As the Director of Community Services for the Women’s Health Network at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Heather manages public and community education and communications for the state’s Breast and Cervical Early Detection and WISEWOMAN programs.  In this role she has created, implemented, and evaluated train the trainer curricula that has been used to educate thousands of people in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer across the Commonwealth.  She also serves as the State Women’s Health Coordinator for Massachusetts for the Office on Women’s Health at the Department of Health and Human Services.  Over the past decade, Heather has been conducting research on emergency contraception and teaching public health courses including:  AIDS and STDS: A Global Perspective, Women’s Health, and Planning and Evaluation.  Ms. Nelson holds a PhD in Health Behavior and Social and Policy Issues in Women’s Health from Oregon State University, an MPH from Boston University in Social and Behavioral Health and a BA from the University of Denver in Biology and French.  [back to list of board members]

Jessica Halverson, MBA – Treasurer     
Ms. Halverson is a Development Programs Manager for Ceres, a national coalition of investors, public pension funds, foundations, labor unions, and environmental, religious and public interest groups, dedicated to advancing more sustainable business practices and corporate accountability. She manages individual giving and events, and designs the roll-out of special projects. Ms. Halverson has a background in nonprofit consulting and communications, and experience in women's health, sports, and arts organizations. She is also a former OBOS staff member, and has an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Sociology and Gender & Women's Studies from Grinnell College. [back to list of board members]

Benjamin Albert, JD, MBA       
A self-described “true Husky,” Mr. Albert received Bachelor of Arts, Masters of Business Administration and Juris Doctorate degrees from Northeastern University. Following law school, he litigated a variety of state and federal matters while working for a Boston-based international law firm. In addition to serving Greater Boston Legal Services and the Boston Bar Association fundraising efforts for Boston associates, he regularly clocked hundreds of hours of pro bono work each year. Writing a new chapter in his life, Mr. Albert left both Boston and the full-time practice of law to pursue a career in medicine. He is currently the oldest member of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine’s Class of 2011. Still passionate about the law and the application of a practical view to litigation, he serves as Of Counsel to Rodman, Walker & Di Marco LLC, a boutique Boston firm. Mr. Albert has spent many years teaching children as an apprentice instructor for Citizen Schools, an AIDS educator, and a high-risk issues teacher for middle school children. In the medical world, he provides healthcare to some of our most vulnerable citizens at homeless shelters in Connecticut, serves on the South Park Inn Medical Clinic Board of Directors, and has actively worked to eradicate breast cancer for over a decade. He and his wife, Patti are kept busy chasing their sassy, fun and funny two-year-old daughter, Ysabel. [back to list of board members]

Catherine L. Annas, JD       
Ms. Annas is the Director of the Eastern Massachusetts Healthcare Initiative (EMHI), a group of hospitals, health plans, provider groups and universities working together to create a high performance health care system in Eastern Massachusetts. She oversees projects related to patient safety, quality and cost in health care. Prior to joining EMHI, she served for five years as the Director of Patient Safety at the Department of Public Health and the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction. Before that, she worked for five years on the House staff of the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care. Ms. Annas received her J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in 1995, and her Bachelor’s Degree in English from the Catholic University of America in 1992.  [back to list of board members]

Joanne Barker, MS       
Joanne L. Barker is a marketing and communications professional who specializes in developing print and multimedia communications tools to effectively promote products, services, and ideas. With more than 15 years of experience, Joanne brings extensive knowledge of health communications, health information technology, HIV/AIDS and domestic violence issues to the OBOS board. Ms. Barker holds an MS from Tufts University School of Medicine. [back to list of board members]

Annie Brewster, MD        
A graduate of Harvard Medical School and a Board Certified Internist, Ms. Brewster is currently employed as a primary care physician at Mass General Hospital, Women’s Health Associates. She has experience in both psychiatry and medicine, having completed 2 years of a psychiatry residency before ultimately changing over to internal medicine. She also has had extensive experience as an educator, ranging from work in the elementary, high school and college settings as a contraceptive counselor, an AIDS educator, and as the Program Director for the Child Sexual Assault and Teen Sexual Assault Prevention Programs (Palo Alto, CA YWCA). In her current position at Mass General Hospital, she is co-director of the Harvard Medical School student Women’s Health elective. She has worked in curriculum development and designed a domestic violence protocol for a small community health center in rural Vermont. In addition, Ms. Brewster has served as a counselor and advocate for battered women and for survivors of rape. Finally, she has cross-cultural experience, having spent over one and a half years in Tibetan communities, learning about Tibetan Buddhism and meditation, as well as designing and implementing a medical anthropology study on cultural conceptions of reproduction and mothering. [back to list of board members]

Caroline Crosbie, MBA       
Ms. Crosbie has 25 years of program and management experience in international reproductive health, with emphasis on design, negotiation and implementation of major programs, and fund raising in the public and private sectors. As Senior Vice President of Pathfinder International, she oversees all program planning and operations, both at headquarters and in the field. A Pathfinder staff member since 1981, Ms. Crosbie has held a variety of positions both in the field (total of twelve years in Brazil, Haiti, and Peru) and at headquarters covering programs in Asia/Near East, Latin America and Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. [back to list of board members]

Myriam Hernandez Jennings, M.A.     
Ms. Hernandez Jennings is Project Director for a New England training center funded by the Office of Family Planning, Office of Populations Affairs, and also a New England training center funded by the Center for Disease Control. As director of these centers, she plans and manages the development of course content and identifies trainers, conducts and analyzes needs assessments, and conducts course evaluations. A native of Chile, she holds a B.A. in Communications and Marketing from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a Master of Arts (Theology) from Andover Newton Theological School of Newton, Massachusetts. She has significant experience in curricula development, facilitation of trainings, and development/implementation of large conferences, and participated in the editing of Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas (the Spanish language adaptation of Our Bodies, Ourselves) and Managing Contraception, both of which educate women of reproductive age and beyond about reproductive health choices. [back to list of board members]

Mary Poor, DVM, SM       
Ms. Poor has a DVM degree from Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine and a Masters of Science in Public Health, emphasizing epidemiology and maternal and child health, from the Harvard School of Public Health (two credits short of PhD in same area). She also holds a BA degree from Sarah Lawrence College, and has research and policy experience with genetics and genetic counseling (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), as well as business experience. Ms. Poor completed the Radcliffe College Publishing Course and is on the Board of the Maria Mitchell Association, a non-profit science organization. [back to list of board members]

Penelope Riseborough, BA
Director of Communications for John Snow, Inc., and World Education, Inc., in Boston, Ms. Riseborough has served in the past as communications director for Management Sciences for Health, Pathfinder International, and the JHPIEGO Corporation. She has almost 20 years of experience with family planning and reproductive health communications and marketing, especially in developing countries. [back to list of board members]  

Rachel Zack Ishikawa, MA, MPH
Rachel Zack is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Clark University. Her research explores the underutilization of mental health services among Latinos and the role of culturally competent mental health providers, services, and systems in increasing service use. Rachel previously worked with the Latino Health Institute, providing outreach about breast health to the Latino community in Boston, and with Global Health Action in Atlanta, where she provided leadership training for refugee girls, helped to develop mental health services for refugee communities, and conducted trainings for HIV program managers in Kenya and for domestic violence outreach workers in Bolivia. Rachel holds an M.P.H. in International Health from Emory University, and a B.A. in Anthropology from Barnard College. She and her husband Charlie are the proud parents of a baby boy, Akeakamai. [back to list of board members]

Miriam Zoll, BA
Miriam Zoll is an award-winning writer, researcher, teacher and public speaker with more than 20 years experience in the public policy and international development arena. She has worked with such global institutions as the United Nations, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS, Planned Parenthood, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Harvard University and the International Women’s Health Coalition. A certified yoga instructor, Miriam is the founding co-producer of the Ms. Foundation for Women’s annual Take Our Daughters to Work Day. The author of dozens of articles and publications, her work has been published by The Royal Tropical Institute, Columbia University, the United Nations, the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe, among other venues. In 2005 she was awarded a Research Fellowship at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Focusing on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, her research addressed how government and donor compensation to unpaid health care sector workers––either through salaries or direct cash transfers––can reduce poverty and HIV infection while improving standards of care and support to millions of children and people living with HIV/AIDS. [back to list of board members]