The World Health Organization defines Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” 1
They include factors like socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, gender, education, one’s physical environment, employment, incarceration, social support, access to healthcare, as well as health literacy.
This summit engages participants in the discussion of SDOH and in developing and implementing data-driven, community-centered solutions to prevent long-term chronic health conditions, especially in vulnerable communities. The summit brings together healthcare leaders, clinicians, non-profit organizations, and representatives from the public sector. The goal is to share best practices and discuss emerging approaches to addressing SDOH to better serve our population.
1. World Health Organization. Social determinants of health. (October 2011). Retrieved January 30, 2020, from https://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en/
Meet our speakers
Commissioner
Connecticut Department of Social Services
Dr. Deidre Gifford began serving as commissioner of the Department of Social Services (DSS) on June 21, 2019. Since 2016, Dr. Gifford has served as deputy director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Washington, D.C., where she oversaw the full scope of Medicaid functions at the federal agencies.
Immediately prior to joining CMS, Dr. Gifford served as the Director of State Policy and Programs at the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD), where she led that organization’s efforts with states to support and advance value-based purchasing in Medicaid.
From 2012 to 2015, Dr. Gifford served as Medicaid Director in the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services, having previously served as the agency’s medical director. During her tenure, she advanced changes in the payment and delivery system to improve the quality of care and enhance the value of Medicaid services, including the development of numerous initiatives in care coordination, information technology, and provider payment innovations.
From 2005 until 2011, Dr. Gifford was co-founder and Project Director of Rhode Island’s multi-payer Medical Home demonstration, one of the nation’s first and most enduring multi-payer payment reform initiatives. She was also the Director of Healthcare Policy and Programs for Rhode Island’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization from 1998 to 2008.
She received a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles; an MD from Cornell University Medical College in New York; and completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and received an MPH in epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Executive Director
Christian Community Action, Inc.
Rev. Bonita Grubbs has been the Executive Director of Christian Community Action, Inc. since December 1988. Prior to that, from 1985 - 1988, she was employed as Assistant Regional Administrator in Region V (Northwest Connecticut) for the Department of Mental Health within the State of Connecticut.
Currently, she is an advisory board member of the Tow Youth Justice Institute Advisory Council and board member of the Regional Workforce Alliance.
Past board memberships include: Connecticut Housing Coalition, Connecticut Voices for Children, Community Economic Development Fund, Hospital of St. Raphael, Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Project Access New Haven, the State of Connecticut’s Healthcare Cabinet, State of Connecticut’s Judicial Review Council, Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut, Connecticut Center for School Change, and Dwight Hall at Yale University.
She has also served as Interim Pastor of Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hamden, Connecticut, President of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Co-chair of New Haven’s Fighting Back Project Steering Committee, Lecturer in Supervised Ministries and Homiletics at Yale Divinity School, and President of the American Baptist Churches of Connecticut (ABCCONN).
In 2013, she received the New Haven Register’s Person of the Year Award, along with outgoing Yale University President, Richard Levin. She also received the Humanitarian Award from the Connecticut Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission that year.
In 2015, she was confirmed as Deputy Chaplain of the State Senate of the Connecticut General Assembly.
Rev. Grubbs holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology and in Afro-American Studies from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She received two degrees from Yale University–a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Public Health. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Albertus Magnus College in 2001.
She was ordained to the Christian Ministry within the American Baptist Church in November 1987.
Associate Professor, General Internal Medicine
Director, Equity Research and Innovation Center
Director, Center for Research Engagement
Core Faculty, National Clinician Scholars Program
Deputy Director, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation
Yale School of Medicine
Associate Professor
Yale School of Public Health
Associate Professor
Yale School of Management
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Management, and Founding Director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) at Yale University. ERIC's research focuses on promoting health and healthcare equity for structurally marginalized populations with an emphasis on supporting healthcare workforce diversity and development, developing patient-reported measurements of healthcare quality, and identifying regional strategies to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases. She is the principal investigator on several NIH and foundation-funded grants. Dr. Nunez-Smith is also Deputy Director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Core Faculty in the National Clinician Scholars Program, Director of the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Leadership, Co-Director of the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship, and Director of the Center for Research Engagement (CRE) at Yale University. Dr. Nunez-Smith is board-certified in internal medicine, having completed residency training at Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a fellowship at the Yale RWJF CSP where she also received a Master’s degree in Health Sciences. Originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, she attended Jefferson Medical College, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Anthropology and Psychology at Swarthmore College.
Director of Health Services
Connecticut Department of Social Services
President
National Association of Medicaid Directors
Kate McEvoy is the Director of the Division of Health Services at the Connecticut Department of Social Services. In her role as Director of Medicaid and CHIP, Kate has had the privilege of overseeing major transformation in Connecticut HUSKY Health, migrating from capitated managed care arrangements to a self-insured, managed fee-for-service approach. This has streamlined and simplified the program for both members and providers, freed up resources for an extensive array of care delivery and value-based payment interventions, and enabled the program to reduce both per member, per month costs and overall spend. During Kate’s tenure, Connecticut has expanded Medicaid and utilized a broad range of tools and funding under the Affordable Care Act to cover new services, take a person-centered approach, and enable choice and self-direction for older adults and people with disabilities.
Kate is a graduate of Oberlin College with a BA in Economics and English, received her law degree from the University of Connecticut, and graduated from the CHCS/NGA Medicaid Leadership Institute. Her background is in community-based services for older adults, and she is the author of Connecticut Elder Law, a treatise that is republished each year. Kate is currently serving as the President of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Medicaid Directors and on the executive committee of the Reforming States Group.
Founder and Chairman
Wholesome Wave
Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award winning chef with over 35 years of leadership advocating for a more healthful, sustainable food system. He is Founder and Chairman of Wholesome Wave, Co-Founder of the James Beard Foundation’s Chef Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner, with the late actor Paul Newman, of the former Dressing Room Restaurant. Nischan, whose parents were farmers, began his career at 19, cooking breakfast at a truck stop. He quickly realized that the ingredients coming in the back door fell far short of the farm-fresh harvests he’d grown up on, and began a life-long career championing the farm-to-table concept, decades before it had a name.
Nischan and his late partner, Gus Schumacher, were instrumental in securing $100M for Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grants for the food equity field in the 2014 Federal Farm Bill, which was recently expanded to $250M in the 2018 Farm Bill to become a permanent part of all future farm bills. The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program permanently expands affordable access to fruits and vegetables for low-income Americans, while creating a legacy for Wholesome Wave’s late co-founder Gus Schumacher.
He's also the author of three cookbooks on sustainable food systems and social equity through food. A lifetime Ashoka fellow, he serves as a director on the board of the Jacques Pepin Foundation; and on the advisory board of Chef’s Collaborative, Modern Farmer, Good Food Media Network, and The Culinary Institute of America. The James Beard Foundation honored Nischan as the 2015 Humanitarian of the Year, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Post University with the graduating class of 2019.
To learn more about Chef Nischan, follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and visit www.chefnischan.com.
To learn more about Wholesome Wave, follow us on Twitter and Instagram or visit www.wholesomewave.org.
Chief Programs Officer
Connecticut Food Bank
Dr. Foster currently serves as the Chief Programs Officer at the Connecticut Food Bank. Previously, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and doctoral training at the UCONN College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, with a specialization in Community Nutrition. Dr. Foster’s work has three primary areas of focus, all working to provide nutritious food to people in need: 1) to strengthen, support, and monitor the greater than 300 member agencies (food pantries and soup kitchens) in the Connecticut Food Bank network; 2) to develop, implement, evaluate, and continuously improve programs aimed at addressing hunger, food insecurity, nutrition, and obesity-related chronic diseases offered by the Connecticut Food Bank; and 3) to advocate for food security in the Connecticut Food Bank’s six county service areas and beyond. Further, Dr. Foster is a Registered Dietitian, with a career long passion for, and proven record of, community organizing, education, research, and advocacy in the nutrition and food insecurity space. She has had numerous studies published in peer-reviewed papers and most recently is leading an effort to launch a food insecurity research consortium for the Connecticut Food Bank.
Chief Executive Officer
Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
Dr. Richard Cho is the Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. Richard brings 20 years of experience in the housing and homelessness sector to this role, having previously served as Division Director, Behavioral Health at the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Prior to that, Richard served as the Deputy Director at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and as Director of Innovations and Research at the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
For the last two and a half years, Richard has been helping to lead national efforts to improve police interactions with people with mental health needs, and to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails, including helping to increase connections to stable housing. He currently serves on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force, as well as the Kings County/Brooklyn (NY) District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s Justice 2020 Committee, Mental Health Subcommittee. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Chicago, a Master’s degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Doctor of Philosophy from New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
During the course of his career, Richard has led federal policy initiatives to end homelessness among veterans and chronic homelessness, and has contributed to national policy efforts to address housing as a social determinant of health, including developing policy to encourage states to cover housing and tenancy supports under Medicaid programs. He has designed and tested interventions combining care management and affordable housing to improve health outcomes and reduce hospitalizations, incarceration, and costs among high need/cost Medicaid beneficiaries, people involved in the criminal justice system, and families involved in the child welfare system. Richard lives with his wife and two children in Hamden, Connecticut.
Chief Executive Officer
Charter Oak Communities
Vincent Tufo is Chief Executive Officer of Charter Oak Communities (COC), formerly the Stamford Housing Authority, a progressive community development organization serving Stamford, Connecticut. Mr. Tufo is also founder and president of Rippowam Corporation, COC’s real estate development subsidiary. COC is entering the final phases of its plan to replace or recapitalize its original publicly-assisted housing properties and to create mixed-use and community facilities in Stamford’s underserved neighborhoods. Overseeing a multi-year $650 million housing redevelopment program, Tufo has completed two HUD HOPE VI community revitalization initiatives, along with numerous mixed-finance public housing replacement projects.
Charter Oak Communities’ commitment to the value of forming strategic partnerships has significantly improved its capacity to undertake diverse initiatives that have served to strengthen the Stamford community.
Under Tufo’s leadership, COC has created a dedicated entity – Dovetail: Social Innovation Platform (SIP) – to support multi-sector solutions to complex socio-economic challenges. The SIP team currently serves as an incubator for several pilot initiatives including the Vita Health and Wellness District and the Stamford Cradle to Career program. In its efforts to “think globally,” SIP is co-sponsoring national and regional initiatives with affiliate organizations to build capacity and leverage social enterprise. In one such effort, SIP has partnered with the New York metro area Regional Plan Association in creating the Anchor Opportunity Network to leverage anchor strategies to drive comprehensive neighborhood revitalization.
Tufo has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Binghamton University (SUNY) and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan. He is a long time member and past chair of the Connecticut Housing Coalition, a statewide advocacy and capacity building membership organization. He is an active national advisory board member of the Association for Community Health Improvement (an affiliate of the American Hospital Association). Tufo has presented extensively on the issues of public housing transformation, community and economic development, real estate structured finance, strategic partnership formation, and social innovation.
Deputy Commissioner
Connecticut Department of Labor
As a professional, a policymaker, and parent, Danté Bartolomeo brings a wealth of labor and human services-related experience to her position as Deputy Commissioner at the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL).
Danté, who joined CTDOL in January 2019, immediately began facilitating a number of service redesigns that are shifting the agency’s approach toward workforce policy and programming. Heavily involved in 2-Generational policy and Whole Family Approach to Jobs, Danté is focusing her work on a holistic, person-centered approach to employment.
Prior to her current position, Danté served as the Labor Director of Governor Ned Lamont’s successful campaign, where she worked to promote policies for increasing the alignment of Connecticut workers with Connecticut jobs.
No stranger to the political process, Danté served as a Meriden City Councilor from 2008 through 2012, and from 2013 to 2016 she served as a State Senator for the 13th District. As Senator she chaired multiple committees including the Committee on Children, Housing Committee, and the Higher Education & Employment Advancement Committee. Prior to being elected to the state Legislature, Bartolomeo was a community organizer with the Healthcare for Everyone campaign.
Danté continues to reside in Meriden with her husband Doug and their two sons.
Superintendent
Hartford Public Schools
Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez is the Superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, one of the largest urban school districts in Connecticut. Raised in Hartford and a product of Hartford Public Schools, she has served as an education leader in Greater Hartford for over two decades.
Her mission is to provide access to educational excellence for all students. Dr. Torres-Rodriguez’s deeply rooted commitments guide her to continuous learning and to building leadership capacity in herself and others while collaborating to improve educational outcomes for every student. She believes that all students are beautiful and capable, with the potential to transform our world.
Dr. Torres-Rodriguez began her career in education at the San Juan Tutorial Program, Inc. in 1995. During her five-year tenure there she supported the community-based agency in offering year-round academic intervention and enrichment programs to Hartford Public Schools students, and provided organizational leadership as Assistant Director and Interim Executive Director.
As a school turnaround expert with a passion for educational equity, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez held several school leadership positions at Manchester High School, served as Principal of Great Path Academy at Manchester Community College, Principal of CREC Public Safety Academy in Enfield, and Associate Program Coordinator at the Connecticut Center for School Change, where she developed and facilitated programming for a community of practice of 26 turnaround principals across the state.
Prior to her appointment as Acting Superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez was the Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Leadership within Hartford Public Schools, where she provided culturally courageous leadership to support the comprehensive improvement efforts of a network of 11 schools. Dr. Torres-Rodriguez also taught social and behavioral science at Capital Community College and served students and families at Goodwin Technical High School as a School Social Worker.
A proud graduate of Hartford Public High School, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez received a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut, and she earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Central Connecticut State University.
Recently, she was the recipient of the 2019 Connecticut Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (CALAS) Award for Educational Leadership, the 2019 National Brillante Award for Educational Excellence from Prospanica, and she was featured in “Women of Distinction” by Hartford Magazine in December 2019. She is a fellow of The Broad Academy, the nation’s most prominent professional-development program for urban school system leaders. Dr. Torres-Rodriguez currently serves on the Hartford Promise board, co-chairs the Mayor’s Cabinet for Young Children in Hartford, and is a member of the Governor’s Workforce Council. She is a proud resident of Hartford, where she lives with her husband and two sons.
Chief Operating Officer
All Our Kin, Inc.
Erica Phillips brings a diverse set of business and education experiences to All Our Kin, Inc., a leading social enterprise in early education. As the Chief Operating Officer, she is responsible for strong program implementation across multiple sites, ensuring fidelity to All Our Kin’s nationally-recognized model for improving availability and quality of home-based child care, and leading All Our Kin’s expansion into new markets. Prior to joining All Our Kin, Erica founded Second Home Early Child Care Centers, which prepares children in family child cares for life-long achievement. Previously, Erica was Senior Director at Achievement First Charter School Network, where she created and led the Human Capital team. Erica was also a fellow with the Education Pioneers 2008 NY cohort and 2014 NextGen Pahara Cohort. Erica began her career working as a strategy consultant at Monitor Group. Erica holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Education from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.
