Our Team

Charles E. Allen III, MSPH
Board Director

Charles Allen is President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association (HCNA). Founded in 1981, the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association is a neighborhood organization in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, whose mission is to improve the living conditions and serve the needs of its residents, preserve cultural and architectural heritage, serve as a clearinghouse for information, and actively represent the interests of the neighborhood with city, state and federal agencies, private businesses, community organizations, and individuals, for the purpose of improving the community. As HCNA President, Mr. Allen has helped to spearhead multiple restoration and recovery efforts in the Holy Cross/Lower Ninth ward community. Mr. Allen has been an active REACH NOLA partner since its inception in April 2006. Mr. Allen co-leads the Sustainability Workshop Project and sits on the Health and Resilience Project Council.

Katrina Badger, GSW, MSW, MPH
Director of Operations
Health and Language Access Program Manager

Katrina Badger began at REACH NOLA as an intern in January 2008 and has been an active member of the team since that time. Ms. Badger is dedicated to improving access to and involvement in high quality mental health and health care services by individuals with limited English proficiency. She trains medical and community interpreters, supports health, mental health and social service organizations in developing and implementing language services, and co-chairs the Language Access Coalition. Ms. Badger received dual master degrees in public health and social work from Tulane University. During her studies she both provided counseling services in Spanish and developed Latino health education sessions and community discussions in Spanish. Before moving to New Orleans, Ms. Badger was a Fulbright Fellow in Thailand, where she conducted research on the impact of support from and relationships with family, community and lay-health workers on the health and well-being of individuals and families impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Larry Campbell
Board Director

Larry Campbell is a minister of Israelite Baptist Church in the Central City community. Founded in 1945, Israelite Baptist Church of Central City New Orleans has generated a wealth of resources and initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life for residents in the Central City community including after-school tutoring, computer literacy, mentoring, counseling, recreational activities for children, health classes, feeding the hungry, health fairs, referrals to other agencies and outreach programs. Through his ministry at Israelite Baptist as well as a strong personal commitment to seeing positive change in his neighborhood, Reverend Campbell has forged strong, lasting partnerships that honor the diverse perspectives of Central City residents and strive to meet community needs. Reverend Campbell has been an active REACH NOLA partner since its inception in April 2006. Currently, he is a Board Director and co-leads the Health and Resilience and New Orleans VideoVoice Projects.

Luanne Francis, MPH, CHES
Board Director

Luanne currently serves as the Director of New Orleans Faith Health Alliance (NOFHA). NOFHA was founded in 2008 and is a primary care health center whose mission is to serve the working uninsured and their families in the Greater New Orleans area. Luanne has been doing community health work in New Orleans for the past 11 years, enrolling children in the Louisiana Children’s Health Insurance Program (LaCHIP), working with the Walkers/Talkers at Kingsley House and facilitating community meetings across the city. She became involved with REACH NOLA in 2009 when NOFHA needed help with Medical interpretation and providing health care to the Limited English Proficient Community.

Diana Meyers, RN
Board Director

Diana Meyers is Community Wellness Director of St. Anna's Medical Mission (SAMM), a healing endeavor of St. Anna's Episcopal Church of New Orleans established in early 2006 in response to the lack of healthcare available after Hurricane Katrina. Mrs. Meyers has contributed thousands of hours to the planning, design, partnership building, implementation, coordination, and management of all aspects of St. Anna's Medical Mission. The goal of the medical unit is to provide free physical, behavioral, and preventive services, and health education directly to poor and working class people in Greater New Orleans while improving health literacy and empowering individuals in their own health care. In addition, Mrs. Meyers is actively involved in the coordination of other Mission Programs of the church, continues to be a member of the Boy Scouts of America and is a past leader in the Girl Scouts. Mrs. Meyers has been an active REACH NOLA partner since its inception in April of 2006 and is a Board Director.

Diem Nguyen
Board Director

Diem Nguyen is the Executive Director and Health Center Project Manager at MQVN Community Development Corporation. Diem provides leadership to the organization and is responsible for the development and day-to-day management of the organization in accordance with the guidelines set by the Board of Directors. She is also the current health center project manager, serving as the principal lead in all aspects of the health center. Through creating a partnership with Tulane University School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital, two bridge clinics have been established for the New Orleans East community. Diem attended Xavier University of Louisiana, College of Pharmacy, receiving her PharmD degree.

Benjamin Springgate MD, MPH
President, Board Director

Ben Springgate is a founder of REACH NOLA; Clinical Instructor at Tulane School of Medicine; Adjunct Scientist at RAND Health; and Medical Director of the St. Anna Medical Mission. Dr. Springgate has been active with REACH NOLA since its inception in April of 2006. He co-leads the Health and Resilience Project, and the Mental Health Infrastructure and Training Project.

Meshawn Tarver
Board Director

Forthcoming.

Our Advisory Board

Brittany Butler

Brittany Butler began working with REACH NOLA in April of 2007 and transitioned from the role of Executive Director to Advisory Board Member in July 2010. Since graduating from Yale in 2004, Ms. Butler has dedicated her career to facilitating multi-stakeholder initiatives that improve community health, quality of life and the quality of health services for all people. Prior to working as Executive Director of REACH NOLA in a full-time capacity, Ms. Butler worked for the RAND Corporation as a Research Assistant and Director of Partnership Initiatives in New Orleans, where she contributed to the development and management of REACH NOLA's early programs. Ms. Butler also has worked in Los Angeles at UCLA Health Services Research Center, employing Community Based Participatory Research methods to develop, implement, analyze and disseminate health programs to increase quality of health care and decrease stigma associated with mental health services. Through her work in these academic settings, Ms. Butler has published scientific articles related to power-sharing dynamics in community-academic partnerships for health, improving the quality of mental health care in the U.S., and the cost of providing quality mental health care in post-disaster settings. In addition to being Executive Director of REACH NOLA, she was also Program Manager of the Health and Resilience Project.

Roxane Duka

Roxane Duka is Research Manager for Gerson Lehrman Group’s North America practice. In this role, she is responsible for managing all research projects being conducted in the Energy & Industrial space for the firm’s Hedge Fund clients. Ms. Duka has significant experience in organization restructurings and large-scale merger consequences. Prior to joining Gerson Lehrman, Ms. Duka was a strategy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she worked with the U.S. Army on its $10 million acquisition of a new Information Technology services department. Before Booz Allen, she held positions as: Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Information Technology, Para Planner at Pharaoh Financial Group and Staff Assistant at UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor of Research Office. Additionally, she served as a summer intern at Fox News Channel, The White House, Paramount Pictures and Capitol Hill. Roxane is also active with non-profit microfinance organization Pro Mujer – an organization that works to secure microloans for female business leaders in Latin America. She assists with business training, savings programs and healthcare services to clients. Ms. Duka holds a Political Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Donnisha Dunn

Dr. Donisha Dunn is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Tulane University Medical Center School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Louisiana State University where she studied Zoology, Chemistry, and Sociology. Dr. Dunn matriculated to Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center where she received her Medical Doctorate. She went on to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois as a resident and Chief Resident in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. In 2008, following residency she returned to New Orleans and joined the Tulane University Health Sciences Center as a Clinical Instructor in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry.

Dr. Dunn is now the Director of Mental Health programming at Tulane University Community Health Center (TUCHC) at The Covenant House. She is active clinically as a psychiatric consultant to primary care providers at TUCHC and seeing adult patients for primary care and psychiatric care at TUCHC and St. Anna’s Episcopal Church Mobile Medical Mission. Dr. Dunn’s clinical interests are in promoting collaboration and integration of mental and physical health in health care settings and as a public health priority. She received her MD from Louisiana State University School of Medicine and completed her residency at Internal Medicine and Psychiatry, Rush University Medical Center.

Michael Enow

Michael E. Enow, Esquire received his legal education from the University of Yaounde, Cameroon and at the Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He was called to the Louisiana State Bar in 1996 and immediately thereafter founded his firm Enow & Associates, APLC. He has maintained a practice in the City of New Orleans since then with a focus in the areas of insurance law, commercial class action litigation, energy law, investment law and international business transactions. Mr. Enow is also a businessman and entrepreneur and is the Founder and CEO of Holistic Healthcare Services, Inc; Evergreen Psychosocial Services, Inc; and Africa Atlantic Petroleum, Inc.

Joan Harris

Forthcoming.

Arthur Johnson

I am a native of Washington, DC but my roots are in New Orleans. Although I was born in Washington, my mother was born in New Orleans and I had been coming to Louisiana since I was a teenager. I permanently moved here in 1999. I have over 30 years of experience in the fields of journalism, public relations and fundraising. My tenure here has allowed me to be a part of Tulane and Xavier Universities, New Orleans Public Schools as well as the American Heart Association. I have worked in many professional arenas, including federal and local government, public education, higher education, private industry and nonprofit. I was even a presidential appointee in the Office of EEOC in Washington. Serving on boards and commission has been a way of life for me. I believe in giving back and learning from others as part of my infrastructure for growth and development. I am a graduate of George Washington University and the University of the District of Columbia. My wife is a native of New Orleans and I have 3 sons and one grandson.

Paul Koegel

Paul Koegel is an Associate Director of RAND Health and manages the internal affairs of its more than $60-million research portfolio. Dr. Koegel’s 25-year research career as a medical and urban anthropologist has focused on the effect of health care systems on the adaptation of vulnerable populations—for example, homeless individuals, adults with mental illness, and substance abusers—to urban settings. He is currently developing methods for researchers to work together with community partners to solve community problems. He worked closely with Healthy African American Families (HAAF) on the Witness for Wellness initiative, a South Los Angeles community-based participatory research effort that mobilized community members to devise and implement quality improvement strategies that target depression and depression care. He is currently contributing to Community Partners in Care, a randomized clinical trial of the impact of community engagement strategies on the uptake of evidence-based depression care in underserved communities. Dr. Koegel received a BA from Queens College, City University of New York, and MA and PhD degrees in anthropology from UCLA.

Max Niedzwiecki

Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D. is the executive director of Integrity USA, a national organization that pushes for LGBT equality in the Episcopal Church and the wider society. Previously he was a consultant with Daylight Consulting Group focusing on planning, fundraising, research, evaluation and training for nonprofit organizations across the U.S. A recent transplant to New Orleans from Washington, DC, he has worked in the nonprofit sector for over two decades and served as the executive director of several national organizations. Much of his work has focused on social justice, immigrants and immigration, diversity, advocacy, community development, mental health, nonprofit management, and philanthropy. He holds a doctoral degree in Cultural Anthropology from Boston University and a B.A. in Asian Studies and Clinical Psychology from Tufts University.

Anita Powell

Anita Powell is a native of New Orleans, with a passion for making hats. Her inspired lines and dedication for hat designing has become her career as she selects exquisite fabrics and textures to create timeless and sophisticated one-of-a-kind hat creations. Her work allows women a red carpet picture of elegance, by accessorizing their haute couture hats to compliment and complete their classic, chic or trendy look. Her hat designs have graced the runways for Parisian designers Kiba Gomez, Myra Wallace of Woven Integrity/MKO Man, A Cut Above, etc. She also does community work with her church to feed the homeless and with the Common Ground Health Clinic as an administrative assistant.

Hilary Taylor

Hilary Taylor currently lives in New York City. She graduated from Yale University and the University of Michigan law school. Before law school, she worked as a teacher in a prison in Terrebonne Parish and as a public high school teacher at Sarah T. Reed Senior High in New Orleans. After law school, Hilary worked as a public defender in Jefferson Parish and with the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana. She moved from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and has worked as an attorney in New York and Los Angeles.

Steven Vannoy

Steven Vannoy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Vannoy has received clinical training and conducted outcome research in a wide range of psychotherapy modalities. These modalities include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, group-based psychotherapy, family therapy for post partum depression, and problem solving therapy in primary care. Dr. Vannoy’s current research interests focus on delivery of effective prevention and treatment of depression and suicide in late-life in community settings. Dr. Vannoy received his PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and performed his internship in the Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy program at the University of Washington.

Ken Wells

Kenneth B. Wells, M.D., M.P.H., received his M.D. from UCSF and his M.P.H. from UCLA. He is a psychiatrist, a Senior Scientist at RAND, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Professor of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health. He directs the Health Services Research Center of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, which focuses on improving quality of care for psychiatric and neurological disorders across the lifespan. He is the Principal Investigator of the NIMH-UCLA/RAND Center for Research on Quality in Managed Care and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Partnership Initiative. He is also Co-Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation UCLA Clinical Scholars Program and Chair of the Community Health Improvement Collaborative. Dr. Wells is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). He was the first recipient of the Young Investigator Award and also received the Distinguished Investigator Award of Academy Health. In 2006, he received the American Psychiatric Association Award for Research. His current research interests focus on community-based participatory research methods for mental health services improvement in disadvantaged communities.

Tyson Yu

Tyson is the Director of Planning and Strategic Initiatives at FSB Global Holdings, Inc., one of the largest global suppliers of baked goods to foodservice and retail markets. At FSB, he coordinates strategic and financial planning around the world. He works closely with the CEO, CFO and business presidents in FSB’s regional businesses. Prior to joining FSB, Tyson was an associate at Lindsay Goldberg, a $10 billion private equity firm and majority shareholder of FSB. At Lindsay Goldberg, Tyson evaluated potential investments and oversaw existing portfolio companies. Working closely with senior management, Tyson attended numerous management and board meetings. Previously, Tyson worked at Merrill Lynch & Co. in its investment banking division focusing on consumer products. Tyson graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Economics and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is also a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy. Tyson is currently advising the founder of Urgent Content, a digital advertising agency pioneering branded user-generated media. Since its inception, he has helped Urgent build its business plan and assisted the company when it obtained its first major client, a Fortune 500 technology company, in September 2009. Tyson is an avid patron of the arts and is a Junior Associate at the MoMA and a member of the Whitney Contemporaries in New York. Currently, Tyson lives in Manhattan Beach, California.