Staff

Joe Baker has been President of the Medicare Rights Center since June 2009. Mr. Baker is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Health Care Services and Committee on Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending and Promotion of High-Value Care. He also serves on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education. He is an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law, where he teaches a class on implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Previously, he was the deputy secretary for health and human services in New York State under Governor David A. Paterson, where he was instrumental in developing Medicaid reforms and a proposal to extend health coverage to younger New Yorkers. Mr. Baker served as assistant deputy secretary for health and human services under Governor Eliot Spitzer, after having directed the Health Care Bureau under Spitzer when he was attorney general of New York. Mr. Baker was executive vice president of Medicare Rights from 1994 to 2001, and prior to that was associate director of legal services for Gay Men’s Health Crisis. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

Walter Bach, Medicare Assistance Helpline Counselor, is a veritable Medicare dictionary. He began his career in human services more than 30 years ago as the director of a rehabilitative residential home for men in Brooklyn, a facility of the Industrial Home for the Blind (IHB), where he oversaw 35 residents who were blind to deaf-blind. He worked at IHB (now the Helen Keller Services for the Blind) until 1991. Mr. Bach has a love for life and entertains the Medicare Rights Center staff with colorful stories of his deep-sea fishing expeditions and his wonderful sense of humor.

Heather Bates, LMSW, is Vice President of Client Services and Program Management at the Medicare Rights Center. Ms. Bates has over 15 years of experience in the field of aging. Most recently she was the Director of Enrollment for Low-Income Programs at Medicare Rights. Before joining Medicare Rights, she served as Senior Education and Training Associate at the Health Assistance Partnership, a project of Families USA, in Washington, D.C. She also spent several years at the New York City Department for the Aging, providing education and advocacy support for people with Medicare, Medicaid and private long-term care insurance. She has led numerous presentations on volunteer management, public benefits enrollment and other aging-related topics at national conferences hosted by the National Council on Aging, the national network of State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) and others. Ms. Bates obtained her B.A. from Ohio University and her M.S.W. from Hunter College.

Marcin Bednarz is the Medicare Rights Center's Information Technology Manager. Mr. Bednarz graduated from the College of Staten Island (CUNY) with a B.S. in Computer Science, and previously worked as an administrative assistant and a web store administrator. Mr. Bednarz was born and raised in Poland.

Rachel Bennett, Vice President, Program & Product Development, joined the Medicare Rights Center in 2003. Ms. Bennett has helped develop and secure funding for programs of the Youth Service Opportunities Project, the New York City Taxi Workers Alliance, the Blacksmith Institute, and the National Physicians Alliance. Prior to coming to New York, she studied literature and writing in Ireland and health and economics in Ecuador, where she also worked in a nursing home. She writes and publishes poetry, and has a B.A. in English from Grinnell College.

Delores Bowman is a Senior Client Services Associate at the Medicare Rights Center. She works on appeals cases involving health service denials, and also counsels professionals who have Medicare questions. Ms. Bowman retired from Chase Bank in 1999 after 30 years of service as a Certified Billing and Coding Specialist. She joined the Medicare Rights Center as a volunteer in September 1999.

Mitchell Clark, Senior Communications Associate, is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a B.A. in Political Science and a Minor in Philosophy. Mr. Clark is a former volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club of America in Athens, GA, and is passionate about public service.

Allison Cook is an Education Associate at the Medicare Rights Center. Ms. Cook is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she completed both her undergraduate degree in Community Health and her master's in Public Health. She has previously worked in a variety of capacities with the Medicare population, including volunteering in nursing and assisted living homes, working as a home health aide, interning in the Senior Care Department at Care.com, and consulting for the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care.

Pat Esposito, Director of the Seniors Out Speaking Program in Westchester, has enjoyed two successful careers. Her first was in nonprofit management, where she advocated on issues such as economic development and labor/management relations. The second, as a legal derivatives specialist for international law firms and global investment banks, led her to a position as Vice President for the Royal Bank of Scotland, from which she retired in May 2010. Ms. Esposito has an undergraduate degree in Business Management, and was cited in the 1984-85 edition of "Who's Who of American Women."

Katherine Fitzpatrick is an Education Associate at the Medicare Rights Center. Ms. Fitzpatrick is a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College, where she completed a double major in English Literature and Political Science. During college, she served as an intern for two members of Congress, which developed her interest in public policy and her passion for social justice.

Kim Glaun, Senior Policy Counsel, works to ensure that the voice of the health care consumer is heard by the various branches of the federal government, and concentrates her efforts on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid. Prior to joining the Medicare Rights Center, she served as an attorney with the National Senior Citizens Law Center, where she specialized in health care issues. Ms. Glaun has also practiced law with the Legal Services to the Elderly Program of the Baltimore Bar Association. Ms. Glaun is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Maryland School of Law.

Doug Goggin-Callahan is the Medicare Rights Center's Director of Education and New York State Policy Director. Most recently he was the Client Services and Program Counsel at the Medicare Rights Center. Before joining Medicare Rights, Mr. Goggin-Callahan worked as an attorney at Ropes & Gray, where he worked on antitrust and securities matters. Mr. Goggin-Callahan received his law degree from Fordham Law School, and his B.A. from New York University. He is admitted to the New York State Bar and the Southern District of New York.

Denise Grant is the Executive Assistant and Event Coordinator at the Medicare Rights Center. She was formerly the Administrative Assistant/Educational Coordinator in the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where she organized and coordinated the fourth-year medical student program.

Jenny P. Havens, Senior Client Services Associate, is a graduate of the City College of New York with a B.A. in Business Management. Prior to joining Medicare Rights, she assisted a City College professor with research regarding the enhancement of primary care physicians' capacity to improve cancer patients' access to therapeutic clinical trials. This experience in the health care field, along with her passion for assisting others, led her to join the Medicare Rights team. Her interests include world travel and the study of languages. Her native language is Spanish, and she is fluent in English. She is also proficient in Brazilian Portuguese and conversational in French.

Krystal Knight is State Policy and Program Coordinator at the Medicare Rights Center. Most recently, Ms. Knight worked in federal affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers in Washington, D.C. Ms. Knight has years of experience in aging services, specifically in home- and community-based services for dual-eligible populations. Ms. Knight interned for two years at both an Area Agency on Aging and a skilled nursing facility, and she holds a B.A. and an M.P.H. from the University of Florida.

Cathy McElroy is the Director of Operations at the Medicare Rights Center. Before joining Medicare Rights, she was the Office Manager of John Bauers Music Productions. She worked in the Dublin and London branch offices of USIT, an Irish Student Travel organization., before moving from her native Ireland to become Manager of their New York Office, where she administered a cultural work-exchange program for Irish students traveling to the U.S. She served for several years as a Volunteer Coordinator at the Elysian Charter School of Hoboken. She is a graduate of University College Dublin with a B.A. in Psychology and Politics.

Ellen Minton is an Operations and Client Services Associate at the Medicare Rights Center. Prior to joining the Medicare Rights Center, she was an Account Executive at Alcatel-Lucent, where she was responsible for the marketing and sales of telecommunications equipment. She joined Medicare Rights as a volunteer in March 2011. She has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from New York University.

Samantha Morales, Bilingual Client Services Associate, graduated from the New School University for Social Research with a master's in Political Science. She is fluent in both Spanish and English, and has extensive field experience working with vulnerable communities in projects that focus on education and health care issues. Having spent two semesters abroad in Salamanca, Spain and Santiago, Chile, Ms. Morales has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and Europe. She comes to the Medicare Rights Center with a commitment to assist members of the Medicare-eligible community to obtain affordable, quality health care.

Emily Nash, Client Services Associate, graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in Psychology and is currently serving as an AVODAH service corps member. During her time at the University of Rochester, she gained experience working with older adults who suffer from visual impairments due to cortical brain damage. Emily studied abroad in Israel, and while there, volunteered with Magen David Adom, Israel�s national medical emergency response service. Emily is passionate about providing patients with support and empathy, and she is excited for the opportunity to help older adults and people with disabilities access affordable health care.

Ilana Raskind is the Helpline & Volunteer Coordinator at the Medicare Rights Center. Ms. Raskind recently completed her M.Sc. in International Development at the London School of Economics, where she wrote her dissertation on perceptions of food and health in Accra, Ghana. She previously worked for the International Rescue Committee and the Kokrobitey Institute in Ghana. Ms. Raskind is committed to working toward accessible and equitable public health services worldwide, particularly in the area of nutrition. She received her B.A. in Religious Studies from Vassar College.

Frederic Riccardi is the Director of Programs and Outreach at the Medicare Rights Center. He is dedicated to helping older adults and people with disabilities access affordable health care. His consumer advocacy and counseling work was featured in "Doggedly Persistent: Helping the Elderly Untie Medicare Knots" in The New York Times in 2007. He has trained professionals in the human services field on Medicare issues, and given presentations to hundreds of consumers throughout New York City. Prior to joining the Medicare Rights Center, he worked for SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) as the Office Administrator. He has an M.S.W. degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work, with a special focus on Aging and professional leadership.

Stacy Sanders is the Federal Policy Director at the Medicare Rights Center. Previously, she led national policy campaigns to enhance income security for older adults at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Wider Opportunities for Women. Her experience ranges from advocacy on responsible banking for older adults to protecting and strengthening Social Security for older women. She completed her M.S.W. at the University of Michigan as a fellow of the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education. She is an Executive Fellow of the Center for Progressive Leadership, a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and served as co-chair of the Income Security Committee of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations in 2011.

Sailendra Nath Sarker has been an Administrative Assistant at the Medicare Rights Center since December 1997. Prior to this position he worked for Asiatic American Technologies for one year as an Administrative Assistant and worked as a designer and news composer for a newspaper for three years. He graduated from Monroe College with a B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems.

Josh Schultz is a Client Services Associate at the Medicare Rights Center. While he was earning his B.A. in Politics from Willamette University in Salem, Ore., Josh built a health insurance consumer advocacy business. In this capacity, he helped patients around the United States navigate the fragmented health care delivery and insurance system, access needed medical care, and get their insurance claims paid. Josh is passionate about health care policy, and he views patient advocacy work at the Medicare Rights Center as a critical component to informing policymakers and ensuring good health policy outcomes.

Casey Schwarz is the Client Services Counsel at the Medicare Rights Center. Prior to holding this position, she served as a court attorney for the Honorable Marcy Friedman of New York County Supreme Court. She is a graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law. She is admitted to the New York State Bar.

Scarlet Watts, Director of Marketing and Outreach, has a B.S. in Biology from Hofstra University. She is committed to working toward health care access for all, and is passionate about protecting the natural beauty and wildlife on the planet. Ms. Watts currently volunteers time to support marine conservation issues, and works with friends to organize fundraising events for various nonprofit organizations.

Norman Weintraub is an Enrollment Specialist for both the Extra Help and Medicare Savings Programs. He is a member of ReServe, a program that connects experienced retired professionals with public service opportunities. He joined the Medicare Rights Center in December 2005 after employment with the Department for the Aging in New York City. Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, he is a true native New Yorker.

Denise Xu, Program Development and Client Services Associate, was a 2011 fellow at Medicare Rights through Harvard University’s Center for Public Interest Careers, drawn to the organization by an interest in the current state of U.S. health care and the role that federal programs can play in lifting low-income households out of poverty. At Harvard, where she graduated in May 2011 with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Ms. Xu was a teaching fellow for an organic chemistry course and a neurobiology tutorial. She was also an executive editor for the Arts section of The Harvard Crimson, and she volunteered with an ESL program for Chinese immigrants.

Staff

Staff

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