ABOUT
Learn about our values and team.
“People who are closest to the problem are closest to the solution.”
Our Values
Equity. HealthierHere leads with equity. We work to eliminate disparities in health and well-being and address the current power dynamic and structural racism in our health care system that perpetuates inequities. Read our Equity Definition and Guidelines here.
Partnership. Intentional partnerships between government agencies and community and provider partners is critical. No one participant or sector controls the direction, agenda, and decision-making. We take a multi-sector, multi-pronged approach to make systemic change at the local, state, and federal levels.
Results. HealthierHere improves health outcomes across King County, with a particular focus on health equity and eliminating disparities. We prioritize resources and efforts to those most marginalized. We implement strategies that can scale for broader population health impact.
Community. Populations most impacted by health inequities play a substantive role in our work and are valued for their expertise. We ensure community members have what they need to engage effectively and develop formal, ongoing feedback processes for those making decisions to respond to and take action on consumer recommendations.
Innovation. HealthierHere commits to fundamental system transformation. We prioritize strategies that improve health care delivery and address population health, prevention, and the social determinants of health. We model continuous learning.
Our Vision
What does success look like? Our vision is that people in King County will experience significant gains in health and well-being because our community worked collectively to make the shift from costly, crisis-oriented responses to health and social problems to a connected system of whole-person care that focuses on prevention, embraces recovery and eliminates disparities.
We believe the following will be essential to that improved system of care:
Mechanisms for consumer voice to help inform decision-making for healthcare
Information sharing systems that support community-clinical partnerships
Care teams that are culturally competent and representative of community
Payment models that reward improvement of health outcomes
Our Staff
(Click names for info)
Our Staff
(Tap names for info)
Christine Berch
Accountant/Contract Analyst
Bio coming soon
Alexis Desrosiers
Associate Director for Data Strategy
Alexis Desrosiers joins HealthierHere from the Policy and Research Department of the King County Housing Authority. Alexis has nearly 10 years of experience managing data-focused initiatives with nonprofit and public organizations in a variety of sectors, including housing, community-based counseling and advocacy, public health, and emergency and supportive shelter programs. Alexis’ area of focus is building systems and capacities that enable organizations to effectively utilize and leverage data as a tool, including the development and implementation of analytic strategies, performance measurement and management systems, and cross-sector data partnerships. After living and working in New England for more than a decade, Alexis returned home to Seattle in 2016, where she now lives with her wife and two dogs.
Tavish Donahue
Senior Practice Transformation Manager
Tavish Donahue, MPH, MA has close to a decade of experience managing projects and improving processes for healthcare and non-profit organizations. Tavish came to HealthierHere after working in Long-term care and community health, ultimately coming to HealthierHere’s attention while working with Seattle-based affordable and public housing organizations to build a model of embedding Community Health Workers in low-income housing communities with residents from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Early on in her career Tavish was a music writer for an alternative weekly paper in her hometown of Charleston, SC and then spent the early 2000s working in the media/communications world of New York City. She loves the PNW lifestyle and outside of work she can be found frequenting local dog parks, seeing live music, and hiking in the mountains.
Marya Gingrey
Director of Equity and Community Partnerships
Marya Gingrey is a committed Civil Rights and Social Justice Practitioner offering 25 years of successful social justice, equity and human rights experience. She previously served as the Executive Director for the Regional Equity Network. As a transformational leader skilled in vision sharing, consensus building, relational networking and authentic community engagement, Marya has assisted a variety of organizations in their efforts to become more equitable, diverse and inclusive in their programs and service delivery. She has worked to advance Social Justice, Equity and Civil Rights in health, education, housing, employment, transportation and the criminal justice systems. Firmly rooted in the Puget Sound Region, Marya believes in the collective power of community, organizations and institutions working together to create communities where all people can thrive.
Myani Guetta-Gilbert
Community and Tribal Engagement Manager
Myani Guetta-Gilbert joins Healthier Here with years of experience advocating for social justice and racial equity. She has worked on community driven policy advocacy through coalition and community organizing as well as leadership and capacity development. In her earlier years, she worked with children and families as well as communities struggling with behavioral health conditions and substance use disorder. Her passion for authentic and equitable community engagement is driven by her commitment to an intersectional and equity focused approach to fighting for healthy communities. Myani received her Master of Social Work degree with a focus on community development from the University of Washington.
Thuy Hua-Ly
Chief Financial Officer
Thuy Hua-Ly’s expertise includes extensive state government financial background on Medicaid financing mechanisms, rate setting for Medicaid providers, and working with the state legislature. Her prior position as the Chief Financial Officer for the Washington State Health Care Authority prepared her for the unique financing structure of the Medicaid Transformation Project. Thuy’s focus is to provide excellent financial support, processes and strategies to ultimately support and make a difference in the lives of the clients we serve.
Abriel Johnny
Community and Tribal Engagement Manager
Bio Coming Soon
Gena Morgan
Chief Operating Officer
Creating change for social good through innovation has been a unifying theme of Gena Morgan’s (she/her) career. For over a decade, she worked to develop programs and partnerships through cross-sector collaboration at PATH and Microsoft. Her work at HealthierHere is an exciting new challenge to leverage cross-sector collaboration and the Medicaid Transformation Project to transform the healthcare delivery system and improve the lives of King County residents. She is excited to join HealthierHere after helping develop and launch the King County Accountable Community of Health as an employee of Seattle-King County Public Health. A Seattle native, Gena has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys working cross-culturally, having traveled in 5 continents for both business and pleasure.
Jaspreet Malhotra
Network Manager, Community Information Exchange
Jaspreet Malhotra (she/her) has years of experience supporting large networks of community partners and ensuring that community partner voice is included in the development of technologies and strategies to provide client-centered services. Before joining HealthierHere, Jaspreet worked with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. There she facilitated partnerships with community organizations across the state, provided the community partner perspective, and applied innovative strategies to strengthen service coordination. She also has experience with the outreach and enrollment program for Michigan health centers. By utilizing change management, process improvements, systems building and community linkages, she helped pioneer the expansion of outreach and enrollment to enabling services for Michigan health centers. Jaspreet is dedicated to improving health outcomes by addressing the social determinants of health and working across sectors.
Michael McKee
Director of Clinical Practice Transformation
Michael McKee has more than 25 years’ experience practicing community and public health education, administration and research in nonprofit, academic and government agencies, serving many diverse communities. Before joining HealthierHere, he was Director of Health Services and Community Partnerships at International Community Health Services. He is passionate about serving those who are often marginalized without a voice at the table and enjoys starting new programs. Areas of interest and experience include: health equity and health disparities for refugee and immigrant populations; community health workers; outreach and enrollment – including health system navigation; culturally and linguistically tailored health education; enabling services; population health and chronic disease self-management.
Susan McLaughlin
Executive Director
Susan McLaughlin, PhD, became HealthierHere’s very first staff member when she accepted the role of Executive Director in 2017. Prior to leading the HealthierHere team, she served as the Health and Human Services Administrator for the King County Department of Community and Human Services. She has been a pioneer in advocating for family and youth involvement, including authoring a family inclusion model to ensure family and youth voice in systems and program development. Learn more about Susan from the Public Health Insider blog.
Sully Moreno
Community Engagement Manager, Community Information Exchange
Sully Moreno (she/her) brings years of experience developing community partnerships to create culturally relevant programs and communication strategies for government agencies and non-profits. She has worked on topics ranging from environmental education to accessible transportation to housing, always centering racial equity and the voices of the most impacted communities. Sully was born and raised in Panama, and she has called the Pacific Northwest her second home since 2012. She’s had a lifelong interest in learning new languages – her first language is Spanish, she learned English and French as a child, and now she is learning to speak Romanian. Sully is most energized by working with community to advance social justice and by spending time outdoors, whether it is camping, hiking, swimming, or reading in her hammock.
Sara Standish
Associate Director, Community Information Exchange
Bio coming soon
Lisa Watanabe
Project Manager
Lisa Watanabe (she/her) joined the team from PATH, a global health non-profit, where she managed strategic planning and organizational change across public health and product development programs. Prior to PATH, she worked as a technology product manager of electronic health records systems, software as a service and mobile applications. As a northwest native, she looks forward to strengthening system-wide coordination and collaboration to address some of the troubling challenges in our region. Outside of work, she enjoys music, art, lectures, reading, and the mountains.
Careers
Want to join us? We post job and internship opportunities here when available.
HealthierHere is currently hiring for two full-time positions, a Clinical Practice Transformation Manager- Quality Improvement and a Communications Manager. Are you or someone you know looking to join a great organization that is committed to working in innovative ways to improve the health and well-being of King County residents? If you do, please click here for more details about these open positions.
As an equal opportunity employer, HealthierHere is committed to a diverse, multi-cultural work environment. Healthier Here does not discriminate in employment based on age, race, creed, gender, religion, marital status, veteran’s status, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation. People of color, women, veterans, people with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual orientations are encouraged to apply.
