Here are the members of Health Care for All NC’s Board of Directors, including the officers. All have committed to working for a health care system in the US that is high-quality, affordable and open to all.
Brenda Cleary, PhD, RN, FAAN
Brenda is self-employed as a healthcare consultant, improving eldercare through policy, education and evidence-based practice, drawing on her clinical, research and policy expertise in geriatrics and background in workforce issues. From 2008-2011, she served as a director at the AARP Public Policy Institute, analyzing proposed policy legislation around Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other social issues in terms of impact on an aging population. She also contributed to specific language in the ACA related to primary care. While in Washington, she represented AARP on the Eldercare Workforce Alliance, tasked with implementation of the Institute of Medicine’s Report to Congress on Retooling for an Aging America and also prepared multiple resources for the IOM Committee on the Future of Nursing. She was recruited to North Carolina to be the CEO of the first State Nursing Workforce Center in the nation, a position she held from 1996 – 2008. She has multiple presentations and publications to her credit, including 2 award-winning books: one on nursing/health professions workforce and the other on research in long term care.
Jonathan Michels
Jonathan is a freelance journalist, a healthcare worker and a premedical student based in Winston-Salem, NC. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2011, he embedded with social justice activists from around the state including participants in the Occupy Wall Street, marriage equality and Moral Monday movements. When Jonathan isn’t muckraking, he works as an x-ray tech in one of the largest community hospitals in the state. Caring for Winston-Salem’s poor and uninsured informed his belief that every person has a right to healthcare.
Will Cox, R.T.(R)
For more than 20 years, Will has worked as a radiology tech at one of North Carolina’s largest community medical centers. Before entering healthcare, Will managed a homeless shelter and organized protests against cuts to anti-poverty programs during the Reagan administration. He continues to work part-time in a domestic violence prevention program in Winston-Salem. As a small child, Will was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes which informed his belief that every person has a right to healthcare. It has been Will’s experience that fundamental rights such as universal access to healthcare have only been won through collective struggle.
Gary Greenberg, MD, MPH
Dr. Greenberg trained in Internal Medicine and is additionally Board-certified in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
After 18 years on fulltime staff at Duke University Medical Center, he transitioned from volunteer to the first (now only) staff provider at the Open Door Clinic, at Urban Ministries of Wake County. The Open Door is a full-service, charity-supported Free Clinic caring for uninsured, low-income adults living in Wake County. Most of the care is provided by a huge team of volunteers, including 50+ physicians, PAs, NPs and specialists, with hundreds of nurses, interpreters, lab, clerical and pharmacy personnel.
Photo is from a 3/21/10 Washington demonstration, the day the Affordable Care Act passed the US House (before ‘reconciliation’ with the Senate).
Eleanor Elaine Greene, MD, MPH
Dr. Green is a lifelong public health advocate and works to improve access to care for underserved populations. By training she is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist and practices in the area of women’s health. Dr. Greene founded of her practice at Triad Women’s Health and Wellness Center in High Point, NC. She serves on national, state and community boards advocating for universal access to quality healthcare. Additionally, she serves as State Director for Doctors for America, a grass roots advocacy group promoting access to cost effective quality health care for all and supported the passing and implementation of the Affordable Care Act as a tool to reach her larger goal of affordable healthcare for all.
Dr. Greene is also active in organized medicine, actively participating in the North Carolina Medical Society, the Old North State Medical Society, the North Carolina Medical Board and others.
Wayne Hale, MD, MS, CAQ Geriatrics
After 28 years of teaching family medicine/geriatrics at Cone Health Family Medicine, Dr. Hale currently works part-time at PACE of the Triad evaluating applicants for participation in this program, which is focused on keeping elderly patients in their home environment. In residency, he managed a clinic for Hispanic patients and has led short-term medical brigades to Honduras over 25 times during the past 18 years. Dr. Hale believes Health Care for All NC must make clear to the public that Medicare has been much more cost-effective than private insurance plans and he believes that “voucherizing” Medicare will lead to inadequate care with severe repercussions for the health of our elderly population.
Jonathan Kotch, MD, MPH
Dr. Kotch is a physician specializing both in Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine. After 38 years on the faculty of the Department of Maternal and Child Health, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, he retired in June, 2016. He is the author of numerous scientific papers and is the editor of the leading textbook in Maternal and Child Health, now in its third edition.
The photo was taken at the Moral Monday demonstration on June 3, 2016, when Dr. Kotch was arrested for civil disobedience.
Robin Lane, RN, PNP-C, MPH
Robin is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, former Lecturer at the UNCG School of Nursing and community volunteer (described here). She has a special and enduring interest in promoting the health of women and children with barrier-free access to primary care and mental health services. From 2007 to 2014, Robin was the chair of the League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad’s Health Roundtable which worked to promote understanding of the US health care system and options for reform. She currently serves as a member of several local boards and advisory groups dedicated to public health interests. Her professional and volunteer work have led to her commitment to bring health reform to a logical conclusion with the creation of a single system of care, free of discrimination and available as needed to every resident of the US.
Photo from LWV.org Moral Monday, Raleigh, June 17, 2013
Demetria Ledbetter
Hopefully Demetria’s photo & bio aren’t lost in cyberspace.
Kim L. McMasters, DC
A native of Asheboro, NC, Dr. McMasters graduated from Sherman Chiropractic College. Before entering Chiropractic College, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from East Carolina University and a Masters of Science degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Dr. McMasters has taught at Randleman Middle School (Randolph County Schools), NC A&T State University (Microbiology, Physiology and Biology), Randolph Community College (Biology, Anatomy and Physiology) and South Carolina Community College (Anatomy and Physiology).
William Murray
Claudia C Prose, MD, MPH
Dr. Prose is a pediatrician who has spent her career working in clinics for underserved children, and especially enjoys working with immigrant families. Her public health degree is in maternal and child health. Currently she is on the staff at Cone Health Center for Children, an innovative clinic providing comprehensive, integrated team care.
Photo was taken during the Moral Monday demonstration on May 19, 2014, when the N.C. Legislature sought to silence protesters.
Miriam Thompson
Miriam is a social worker, grandmother, and a veteran organizer in the movements for social change, including worker justice, union rights, health care for all, and public education advocacy.
Miriam’s views and tattoo(!) were featured in an AP story about the Moral Day of Action held at state capitals 9/12/16. Publications included Washington Post, Redding Record Searchlight, Virginian-Pilot, Daily Progress (Charlottesville), KCTV (Kansas City) and WBTV (Charlotte).
