Celebrating CHC Leaders
Celebrating Leaders in the CHC Movement
John started at Salud in 1972 and was instrumental in advocating for dental care as an essential part of primary health care at Salud, as well as throughout the state and the country. He was a leader at every opportunity, ensuring oral health care has a place at the table and is valued as a critical aspect of good patient care.
Among his many accomplishments, John was the founder and past president of the National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA), the organization of community, migrant and homeless dental providers. He was also co-founder of the Colorado Dental Health Network and a member of several state and national dental societies and associations. In 2007, John received a Lifetime Achievement Award from NNOHA in recognition of his vision and leadership in founding and nurturing the NNOHA. NNOHA created the John McFarland Leadership Award, presented annually since 2016. John’s work inspired generations of dental students that had rotations at Salud and now work at CHCs.
John’s vision, love, and commitment to access to oral health care for all is the standard we aspire to meet in our advocacy for health care access for all. Keep advocating and keep smiling!
Jerry led Salud Family Health Centers for more than 40 years as president and chief executive officer. He was also a founder and served as a board member and president of CCHN. Jerry passed away in September of 2021.
Jerry made so many lasting contributions to the CHC movement, in Colorado and nationally
Jerry led us when we needed leading, lent a helping hand when we needed help, helped us think through confusing issues with his clear strategic way of thinking, taught and mentored us, and did all of this in his gentle lighthearted way to make each one of us feel welcomed.
On January 31, take time to think about the things you learned from Jerry and from others in the CHC movement that help you keep our shared vision growing, meaningful and effective.
Annette Kowal served as the CEO of Colorado Community Health Network (CCHN) for 28 years, prior to her retirement in late 2024. Under Annette’s stewardship and foresight, CCHN expanded from a staff of five with a handful of peer groups, to more than 20 highly-engaged staff, providing Community Health Center (CHC) technical assistance and supporting 17 CHC peer groups. She positioned CCHN toadvocate for policies to ensure every Coloradan has access to quality care, and animated CCHN’s policy agenda and resources to reach for the audacious goal of serving one million people in need in the state of Colorado
Annette created a culture of transparency and mutual support between Colorado CHCs to share data and best practices to support access and care delivery, strengthening CHCs across the state in the process.
She received numerous state, regional and national awards for her work supporting community health and as a visionary leader for the CHC system as a whole.
Annette also served as CCHN’s honorary Celebrator in Chief, lifting up the work of others, showing her support and love with “woo- hoos,” personal strong relationships, and a genuine sense of community. She earned the admiration and respect of her colleagues and staff, nationally and in Colorado, for her dedication, organization, knowledge, big heart, and seemingly endless supply of optimism and empathy.
BJ Scott Day honors dedication to the Community Health Center movement and to access to health care in Colorado.
BJ worked at Peak Vista Community Health Centers for more than 15 years, including 10 as CEO, and was CCHN Public Affairs Committee Chair for eight years. She also served as the executive director of the Peak Vista Foundation. She worked hard to make Peak Vista the successful Community Health Center system that it is, serving the Pikes Peak region. While at the helm of Peak Vista CHC, she was a model leader in expanding grassroots support for Peak Vista and CHCs through non-partisan candidate education and bi-partisan community involvement.
She co-founded the nonprofit Innovations in Aging Collaborative and the Affordable Housing Collaborative, which she helped transition to the Pikes Peak Housing Network. In March 2023, the Pikes Peak Hospice Foundation honored her with its Quality of Life Award.
Gigi worked as Valley-Wide Health Systems’ President and CEO for eight outstanding years of service. Gigi passed away in 2020.
Gigi served on the Colorado Community Health Network Board of Directors for eight years, holding the office of Secretary for two years. She also served as the Chair of the Public Affairs Committee for two years and Chair of the Strategic Workforce Committee for four years. Gigi made many lasting contributions to the CHC movement, to Alamosa and the San Luis Valley, to the Arkansas River Valley, to the state of Colorado, and to the nation as a whole. In 2018, Gigi was honored for those contributions with the CHAMPS 2018 Stanley J. Brasher Legacy Award, which paid tribute to her dedication to solving the problems of health, poverty, and human rights.
Gigi showed incredible commitment to quality and to continuous quality improvement, an amazing knowledge of health care and the health care environment and was admired for her dedication to the CHC mission, as well as her commitment to health care for all. She earned the admiration and respect of her colleagues and staff for her dedication, professionalism, leadership, enthusiasm, fabulous sense of humor, and a legal mind with a big heart.
Marguerite Salazar served as President and CEO of Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc. and in other key health care roles. She was also a devoted mother, grandmother, and wife. Marguerite passed away in 2022.
Marguerite gave outstanding service to Colorado’s Community Health Center Movement for more than 25 years at Valley-Wide, one of the largest rural Community Health Centers in the country. She served as president of CCHN’s Board of Directors and served many years on CCHN’s Public Affairs Committee. She was appointed twice to Colorado’s Medical Services Board, which oversees rules for state health care programs. Marguerite was selected by the National Association of Community Health Centers for the 2009 Aaron L. Brown Memorial Public Service Award, given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the community health field in public policy.
Marguerite was also Director of Region VIII for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. She served as Colorado Insurance Commissioner by appointment by Governor John Hickenlooper, a role in which she worked to bring an inclusive and fair-minded regulatory approach to insurance, including health insurance. In December 2018, Marguerite was appointed by New Mexico Governor-Elect Michelle Lujan Grisham to lead New Mexico’s Regulation and Licensing Department that administers credentials for a long list of professions, regulates local lending institutions, issues building permits and safeguards consumers from securities fraud, among other duties.
Michael Welch spent almost 30 years as Chief Medical and Dental Officer for Peak Vista Community Health Centers.
In addition to his role at Peak Vista, Michael served on CCHN’s Board, including a term as Chairman, and served on CCHN’s Public Affairs Committee. Prior to joining Peak Vista, he was an active-duty Navy medical corps officer and served as a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and the Navy Achievement Medal.
Michael has incredible commitment to quality and to continuous quality improvement, and amazing knowledge of health care and the health care environment. He has earned many awards, including the National Association of Community Health Centers’ Samuel U. Rodgers Achievement Award, the Colorado Springs Osteopathic Foundation’s John H. Drabing Award for Extraordinary Dedication and Support, and CCHN’s own Stanley J. Brasher Community Health Gratitude Award. He earned the admiration and respect of his colleagues and staff for his dedication, professionalism, leadership, use of note cards, enthusiasm, sense of humor, and knowledge, all with a big heart.
Pam McManus concluded her tenure in March 2021 after thirty years of outstanding service to the Community Health Center movement and at Peak Vista Community Health Centers, including as President and CEO.
Under Pam’s leadership, Peak Vista’s efforts to educate future health care workers and leaders grew, and Pam’s advocacy directly with Members of Congress helped expand eligibility for Teaching Health Center program grants for Peak Vista and other CHCs not previously eligible.
Pam helped grow the role of CCHN’s Board committees to focus the Board on strategy and advocacy. She cultivated valuable relationships with state legislators, and worked to grow one of the largest CHC grassroots advocacy networks in the state. She earned the admiration and respect of her colleagues and staff for her dedication, professionalism, compassion, humility, and quiet humor.
Chuck Stout’s wisdom, foresight, and determination helped create Colorado Community Health Network. Chuck made innumerable contributions to CHCs, including leading Colorado’s migrant health program. In that role, he served as one of the founders of CCHN in 1982.
When interviewed for our 25th anniversary in 2007, Chuck said “Back in college, you would have all these discussions about how things were so screwed up in the world, how if only they would do this or they would do that, things would be better. Suddenly we realized we are the “they” we always spoke of, that we can create our own future here, and let’s go do that.”
Paul Melinkovich gave 37 years of service to the Community Health Center Movement. Paul was director of Denver Health’s Community Health Service, where he led the work of eight CHCs, 15 School-Based Health Centers, and two Urgent Care Centers.
Paul is a board-certified pediatrician and has served on many committees and task forces of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is a founding member of the Colorado Children’s Campaign and has served as president of the board of directors of the National Assembly of School-Based Health Care. He was appointed by Colorado’s Governor to the Colorado Board of Medical Services and the Steering Committee of The Colorado Commission for Improving Value in Health Care.
David was executive director of Mountain Family Health Centers for more than 13 years and made many lasting contributions to the health and health care for the residents of the communities of Glenwood Springs, Basalt, Black Hawk, Rifle and the Western Slope and Colorado.
He fostered the development of innovative care models for prenatal women and patients with chronic disease. He championed the utilization of information technology to improve the efficiency and quality of patient care and as a result Mountain Family was the first rural Community Health Center in Colorado that funded and implemented a sophisticated electronic medical record (EMR) system.
He generously served on various committees at CCHN, including Public Affairs, Finance, Health Information Technology, Strategic Review, Strategic Data, and other workgroups and teams.
Kraig Burleson gave three decades of outstanding service at Inner City Health, including as president and CEO.
Kraig brought his leadership skills to Inner City and used this to procure the Health Center Look-Alike designation in 2018. He served on the CCHN Board of Directors from January 2019 to June 2024.
As an advocate for the uninsured, Kraig used his position of power and his morally courageous voice to make sure that people most in need of health care did not get lost in the Denver urban jungle. He has further supported the safety net and CHCs through board service on many foundations and organizations in the Denver metro area. He earned the admiration and respect of his colleagues and staff for his dedication, compassion and quiet and humble way.
Ross Brooks, CCHN’s CEO, has dedicated more than two decades to the Community Health Center Movement. Ross started at CCHN in 2002 as the Health Center Operations Director. In 2012, he became CEO of Mountain Family Health Centers. In 2024, Ross returned to CCHN as our CEO.
Ross’ contributions to the Community Health Center are too many to count: from directing organizations through change, leading innovative payment reform projects, advising the governor on a workforce program, helping secure ongoing funding for CHCs, and contributing to several organizational boards, Ross has done so much for Colorado’s health care system.
He is driven by the simple principle that access to affordable health care is a human right, not a privilege.
Mike was a tireless, dedicated, and visionary founder of community health in Colorado. He passed away in 2014.
Mike was director of Valley-Wide Health Systems in Alamosa in the late 1970s; helped establish CCHN, Colorado Community Managed Care Network (CCMCN), and Colorado Access in the 1990s; and led Sunrise Community Health through change in 1998-2006. Mike was also a founding father of the North Colorado Health Alliance in 2002 and its CEO from 2006-2012, leading the way toward integrated, collaborative partnerships and health care delivery. In addition, he was a visionary founder and board member of the Colorado HealthOp.
Mike was a passionate man who dedicated his life working for social justice internationally.
Pete served for more than 27 years at Clinica Family Health, during that time growing Clinica from a single site to five medical clinics and two dental clinics and increasing the number of patients served per year from about 1,000 to about 40,000.
He has always been a leader in implementing high quality culturally-competent care, electronic health records, same-day appointments, and integrated behavioral health care. He served generously on various committees at CCHN, including Executive, Public Affairs, Health Information Technology, and Strategic Data; chaired the Board of Directors and the Managed Care Committee; and served on other workgroups and teams.
He earned admiration and respect for his dedication, enthusiasm, sense of humor, leadership, big heart, and as a master fisherman.
Dave served as CEO of Metro Community Provider Network, now called STRIDE Community Health Center, for over a decade. Before that, he worked for over a decade at Plan de Salud Del Valle.
Dave embodies the mission to partner with the community to provide excellent, culturally-sensitive health services to meet the needs of each individual… every touch, every time.
Dave received numerous state, regional and national awards for his work in community health and as a visionary leader for the Community Health Center system. He has made many lasting contributions to the Community Health Center movement, in the state of Colorado, and the nation as a whole.
Jay served for more than 20 years as Executive Director of High Plains Community Health Center.
Jay courageously led High Plains Community Health Center through patient visit redesign, expansion of services, and through blizzards, droughts, tornados, and floods. Under Jay’s guidance, High Plains became one of the first rural sites in the nation to be recognized as a Patient-Centered Medical Home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance in 2011.
Jay offered a thoughtful and insightful voice at CCHN. He served as president of the Board of Directors and served on many other local and state boards; and he advocated at the state capitol and to Members of Congress about the importance of access to health care. Jay made many lasting contributions to the CHC Movement, to the City of Lamar, to the State of Colorado, and to the Nation as a whole.
Stephanie was among a number of health care leaders and activists in the 1970s and 80s working to make health care available for farm workers, laborers, and city families, no matter their ability to pay. She helped found CCHN.
Stephanie was the chief operating officer of Denver Health from 1997 until her retirement in December 2014. She has an incredible commitment to continuous quality improvement, and an amazing knowledge of health care and the health care environment. She has made many lasting contributions to the CHC movement, to the City and County of Denver, to the State of Colorado, and to the Nation as a whole.
Simon gave more than 27 years of outstanding service to the Community Health Center movement and at Denver Community Health Services. During his tenure he worked as a pediatrician, as the Director of General Pediatrics, and most recently as CEO and Chief Ambulatory Officer.
Simon provided pediatric care to patients even while serving in leadership at Denver Community Health Services. He was appointed by the Governor of Colorado to serve on the Medical Services Board of the state Medicaid agency, influencing Medicaid policy for Colorado. He also served the principle investigator on numerous CDC projects to improve vaccine safety and immunization delivery to the benefit of children everywhere.
Simon led efforts to increase access to health professions education and training within Community Health Centers, securing state and federal funding to support education of all levels of health care staff.
Simon helped engender a culture of mutual support and cooperation amongst Denver Metro CHCs, resulting in expanded access to care across the Metro area.
Byron Geer served for more than 14 years as CEO of Pueblo Community Health Center, Inc. (PCHC).
Byron would meet individually with each new employee, a practice carried on today by CEO Donald Moore, who said: “I would say the most significant mark Byron made at PCHC is establishing and ingraining a culture of respect, service, quality and integrity. I think it’s our greatest strength.”
Through Byron’s leadership PCHC achieved a score of 99 on its first JCAHO survey which, at the time in 1999, was only one of five CHCs nationwide to score this well.
Byron secured special populations funding and established programs for Health Care for the Homeless, Ryan White Early Intervention Services, and School Based Wellness Centers.
Byron established the PCHC Foundation, which created an investment fund for long term support of PCHC. It continues to operate today. It has contributed funding to several capital projects.
The number of patients served when he started in 1996 was about 9,000. When he retired, it had grown to more than 19,000.
Through the Eye of a Visionary: Dr. Virgilio Licona
A documentary on the life and contributions of Dr. Virgilio Licona as a Chicano activist and health care professional
This documentary portrays Dr. Licona’s contributions to the Community Health Center movement from the early 1970s to the present day in Colorado. Dr. Licona was able to identify health disparities within his community and problem-solved throughout his lifetime to fulfill unmet needs in underserved areas.
This educational video and study guide provides a tremendous opportunity to honor Dr. Licona’s legacy. It is a catalyst for reflection, discussion, and inspiration, and a learning tool for the next generation of professional healthcare workers impassioned to join the Community Health Center movement.
View the short video:
Through the Eye of a Visionary “Dr. Virgilio Licona” (8:47 min.)
Full documentary:
“A Product of the Chicano Movement Part 1”
“A Product of the Chicano Movement Part 2”
Discussion Resource:
CCHN Toolkit – Through the Eye of a Visionary includes information to facilitate a discussion around this documentary, including topics covering social justice, community-oriented primary care, access to health care, and workforce diversity. The documentary is also broken down into short video segments to enable discussion:
Segment 1: Personal Background and Historical Setting (3:30 min.)
Segment 2: The Chicano and Anti-war Movements (3:20 min.)
Segment 3: Giving Back to the Community (8:56 min.)
Segment 4: Becas Para Aztlán (2:11 min.)
Segment 5: Return to Northern Colorado (4:04 min.)
Segment 6: Manager Health Care (6:45 min.)
Segment 7: Salud Family Health Center’s Success (1:47 min.)
Segment 8: Dr. Licona: Product of the Chicano Movement (8:32 min.)
For more information on the documentary and related study materials, please contact:
Jessica Sanchez, Vice President of Quality and Operations
