New Members Bring a Wealth of Knowledge and Diverse Backgrounds to the Network
Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network Board of Trustees has added four dynamic new members, each who bring myriad experiences and knowledge and will serve four-year terms.
The Board of Trustees has voted to elect The Right Reverend Shannon MacVean-Brown, Dominic Eisenger, Ph.D., Dr. Michelle Cromwell, PhD, and Dr Kara Odom Walker, MD, to the 22-member body that oversees the health network.
Dr. Robert Laskowski, chairman of the UVM Health Network Board of Trustees, said the newly elected members of the Board are committed professionals who will help the health network push forward with its mission to better serve our communities.
“The Board of Trustees members at the University of Vermont Health Network are truly dedicated volunteers who love their communities and deeply care about the health of our neighbors in Vermont and the North Country of New York. The Trustees each bring different skills and critical insight from their various backgrounds. We all share a commitment to assuring that our patients have access to the excellent, affordable health care they want and desire. We take our role to represent the public seriously, and we consider it a privilege to supervise, guide and support the talented leaders of the University of Vermont Health Network as they provide service to our communities. The Board is grateful to welcome our new members as we continue this work," Laskowski said.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Shannon MacVean-Brown
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Shannon MacVean-Brown was elected bishop by the people of the Episcopal Church in Vermont on May 18, 2019, and was ordained and consecrated bishop on September 28, 2019. She is the 11th bishop of the Diocese of Vermont.
Ordained a priest in 2005, Bishop Shannon is committed to community engagement, social justice, and leading in multigenerational and multicultural communities through formation, liturgy, pastoral care, and the arts.
She is an experienced leader and community organizer and has held national leadership roles with Faith in Action, a national community organizing network, and has led Faith in Indiana and Act Indiana, partner organizations working on innovative, multi-faith solutions to statewide issues including immigration, mass incarceration, and access to healthcare and childcare. During her time in Detroit, she founded and led the Greater Woodward Community Development Corporation, which advances economic opportunities and well-being of underserved residents of Detroit’s North End.
Bishop Shannon holds a B.F.A. from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, a M.Div. from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, and a D.Min. from Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit. Before entering seminary, she worked as a commercial interior designer and jewelry designer.
Bishop Shannon and her husband, Phil, have been married for 27 years. Together they have a teenage daughter and a Chihuahua named Detroit.
Dominic Eisenger, Ph.D
Dr. Dominic Eisinger is a biotechnology executive and entrepreneur who combines his scientific expertise with business insights to achieve sustained commercial impact and value.
In his current role at Myriad RBM (a subsidiary of Myriad Genetics), Dr. Eisinger leads global sales, marketing, customer support, new product development, and partnership strategies to position the company as a top provider of protein biomarker testing services for drug development clinical trials. He is the company’s lead scientific speaker on pharmacodynamic protein biomarker research in oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular, kidney, and autoimmune disease therapies.
Dr. Eisinger’s commercial success is grounded in his experiences as an entrepreneur. He co-founded, raised capital, and built Multiplex Biosciences, a contract research laboratory in Lake Placid, NY which was acquired by RBM in 2006. Prior to that, he started and grew a business within a business at Upstate Cell Signaling Solutions – helping the company enter a new market and develop a reputation for innovation.
Dr. Eisinger previously served on the Board of the UVMHN, Elizabethtown Community Hospital for 9 years, including 3 years as Vice Chair and 2 years as Chair. Over this period, the hospital more than doubled its revenue and profitability, quadrupled the number of remote primary care clinics, and expanded or renovated all of its facilities.
Dr. Eisinger earned a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and his PhD from the University of Vermont, prior to completing post-doctoral training at Dartmouth Medical School.
Dr. Michelle Cromwell, Ph.D
Dr. Michelle Cromwell is an equity-minded educator, scholar-activist, conflict coach, circle facilitator, integrative nutritional coach, yogi, and Reiki practitioner. Described as a pracademic, which is a scholar-practitioner, who has one foot in the academe and the other in the wider community as an activist-partner, Michelle believes in building bridges between their integrative practice and the surrounding community.
Michelle serves as the inaugural Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SUNY Plattsburgh since July 2019. Prior to SUNY, Michelle served as the AVP for Inclusive Excellence at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, and as the Chief Diversity Officer at The School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Michelle has a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution with a specialty in Ethnic Conflicts, and an MS. in Dispute Resolution both from Nova Southeastern University in Florida where they were inducted as a Distinguished Alumni in 2018 for work in social justice and restorative practices. Dr. Cromwell’s B.Sc. in Social Work is from the University of the West Indies, in Trinidad and Tobago where Michelle was born. In their spare time Michelle enjoys Teaching Kundalini yoga and Reiki, and developing whole food plant based recipes to mimic favorite foods from a West Indian childhood.
Dr. Kara Odom Walker, MD
Dr. Kara Odom Walker was sworn in as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Services on February 6, 2017, and served until July 31, 2020. As Secretary, she led the principal agency charged with keeping Delawareans healthy, ensuring they received the health care they need in a fast-changing world, and providing children, families and seniors with essential social services including food benefits, disability-related services, and mental health and addiction treatment. She oversaw one of the largest departments in Delaware's government with an annual budget of more than $2 billion.
As Secretary, Dr. Walker chaired the Health Fund Advisory Council, and was a member of the Delaware Health Care Commission and the Delaware Center for Health Innovation Board. Dr. Walker previously worked as the Deputy Chief Science Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a nonprofit, nongovernment organization in Washington that is authorized by Congress to improve evidence available to help patients, caregivers, employers, insurers and policymakers make informed health care decisions. She managed the Institute's research investments, which totaled $1.6 billion in 2016, toward a planned total of $2.5 billion by 2019.
She is a board certified practicing family physician and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Prior to joining PCORI, she was a faculty member of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She has worked with several national organizations to advocate for health equity and for access to quality health care in minority and underserved populations, including the National Medical Association, the Student National Medical Association and the American Medical Association. Dr. Walker has been recognized for leadership by Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development, American Medical Association and the National Medical Association. A respected leader, innovator and clinician, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2018. Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, recognizing individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement.
Walker completed her family medicine residency at University of California San Francisco, and graduated with a Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a Masters of Health Services Research from University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health. She also completed her fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program and graduated valedictorian from Caravel Academy high school.
About The University of Vermont Health Network
The University of Vermont Health Network is an academic health system that is comprised of six affiliate hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group, and a home health agency. We serve the residents of Vermont and northern New York with a shared mission: working together, we improve people’s lives. Our partners include:
- The University of Vermont Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Porter Medical Center
- The University of Vermont Health Network – Home Health & Hospice
Our 4,000 health care professionals are driven to provide high-quality, cost-efficient care as close to home as possible. Strengthened by our academic connection to the University of Vermont, each of our hospitals remains committed to its local community by providing compassionate, personal care shaped by the latest medical advances and delivered by highly skilled experts.
Source: BURLINGTON, VT – The University of Vermont Health Network 2.26.2021 https://www.uvmhealth.org/