OUR TEAM

Mark was the biggest champion for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. He strongly believed in finding meaningful solutions to improve healthy equity by supporting the work of community health workers. His research at Akron Children’s Hospital Risk Reduction Research Initiative focused on ways to highlight how effective CHWs were. Risk identification and risk reduction became the basis of the Pathways Community HUB Institute℠ Model. This work also included the development of strategies to tie financing to confirmed reductions in risk. It was his early insight that led to the development of the PCHI℠ Model Certification program that is in place today.

Mark received his medical degree from Wright State University School of Medicine and completed his Pediatrics residency at the University of Maryland. Mark was a well-loved primary care pediatrician at Akron Children’s Hospital in Mansfield, Ohio.

Mark’s passion for improving health and social outcomes continues to motivate our team today. PCHI is striving to fulfill his mission.

Sarah is the Founder of the Pathways Community HUB Institute, a nonprofit organization established in 2015. PCHI supports the PCHI℠ Model through national certification and technical assistance to communities to assure Model fidelity. Sarah, and her late husband Mark Redding, MD, co-founded the Pathways Community HUB Institute℠ Model.

For the past three decades, Sarah has been involved with developing new strategies to provide sustainable community-based care coordination, train community health workers, and build outcome-based funding strategies. Her focus has always been on improving health equity.

Sarah received her medical degree from the Wright State University School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. She completed her residency in General Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

Jan Ruma is the President & CEO of the Pathways Community HUB Institute (PCHI), a national nonprofit organization founded to advance health equity by partnering with communities to implement the PCHI Model of community health worker driven care coordination.

She has more than 35 years’ experience in institutional advancement in healthcare and higher education. Prior to joining PCHI in 2021, she was the Vice President of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio for 24 years, where she focused on facilitating and resourcing outcome-oriented community partnerships to address health inequities, including directing the first nationally certified Pathways Community HUB in Ohio.

Jan holds a certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, a master’s degree in training and development, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, both from Bowling Green State University.

She has been recognized for her leadership with several awards: YWCA Milestones Award, a University of Toledo Champion for Human Rights & Social Justice Award, the Area Office on Aging President’s Award, the ProMedica Health Advocate of the Year Award, the St. Vincent Mercy Children’s Hospital Child Advocacy Award, and the Toledo 20 UNDER 40 Leadership Award.

Brenda A. Leath, DPS, MHSA, PMP, is the Director of Certification at the Pathways Community HUB Institute.  Dr. Leath brings a historical context to this role, drawing from more than a decade of experience working in various leadership capacities with the founders of the PCHI® Model - Dr. Sarah Redding and the late Dr. Mark Redding. In her former positions as senior study director and director of the Center on Health Disparities & Health Equity Research at Westat, Dr. Leath was instrumental in leading various sponsored projects that supported the promotion of the PCHI® Model as a healthcare innovation, pilot testing certification, developing performance measures, and implementing a learning network. She is a seasoned health professional with more than 35 years of experience in the health services industry and is recognized as a thought leader, author, advocate, and health policy strategist. Dr. Leath is founder & CEO of Leath & Associates, a minority woman-owned company in the District of Columbia. Dr. Leath earned her Doctorate of Professional Studies in Biomedical Ethics and Health Policy from the Albany Medical College, Alden March Bioethics Institute. She is a graduate of The George Washington University (Master of Health Services Administration) and Georgetown University (Bachelor in Psychology). She has maintained continuous certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute since 2006.

Anne Biddle Seifert is a Senior Training Consultant for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. She has more than 30 years of experience in community-based care coordination and higher education including co-development of Ohio’s first Board of Nursing-approved community health worker (CHW) curriculum. Since 1999, she has worked with the founders of the PCHI℠ Model - Dr. Sarah Redding and the late Dr. Mark Redding - developing training curriculum for the Model. Anne has helped to develop the PCHI Education and Training Division. Anne holds a master’s degree in community counseling from Kent State University, and a bachelor of arts in communications from Ashland University.

Rick Wilk, MPH, MBA, is director of community engagement and development for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. He has more than 30 years of experience in assisting communities in identify resources to enhance and/or redesign their health care delivery systems through multi-sector partnerships. Specializing in comprehensive, community care coordination, delivery system development, and public health interventions to ensure quality services to underserved populations, Rick has advised communities, provider groups, government entities and associations in ways to enhance their health care and human service offerings. Previously serving as the regional administrator of the HRSA Chicago Regional Office, Rick provided leadership in operations enhancement, national campaign development, program planning and oversight, support for FQHCs, non-profit organizations, hospitals, and governments to leverage resources to expand service offerings and access to services. Additional experience includes large meeting pacing event design and facilitation, and job coaching.

Michelle Edison, MPH, MS, is director of network development for the Pathways Community HUB Institute®. She has more than 20 years of experience in driving innovative public health equity initiatives, working with regional and national organizations, public agencies, and non-profit and for-profit partners. Michelle has worked closely with the PCHI® for several years and successfully launched the Mahoning Valley Pathways HUB in Youngstown, Ohio (PCH) in 2016, which achieved national certification in its first year of operation. Additionally, she is a champion for collaborative leadership and has successfully engaged with community partners, lawmakers and stakeholders toward actionable change and improving access to healthcare while reducing health inequities. Michelle holds leadership certifications in Diversity & Inclusion as well as Change Management from Cornell University. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in exercise physiology from West Virginia University. Michelle also earned a master of public health from Youngstown State University and is working toward her doctorate in public health concentrating in health equity and social justice from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. She is actively involved on many regional and state-wide boards and committees and is a member of the American Public Health Association, Ohio Public Health Association and the Black Women’s Roundtable Mahoning Valley Chapter.

Amy Vreeland is the Chief Quality Officer at the Pathways Community HUB Institute, responsible for the PCHI® Model Continuous Quality Improvement Process, Quality Benchmark Report, Technology Vendor Certification, and special projects. Amy works collaboratively across the PCHI Network to foster innovation and performance to advance health equity.

Previously, Amy was the technology and analytics advisor to PCHI in the development of the updated PCHI® Model and the PCHI® Technology Vendor Certification Program. Amy has more than 30 years of experience in health technology and consulting, including as the CCO of an early-to-market company focused on community-based care, and as a co-founder of lifeIMAGE, a cloud-based enterprise image exchange platform. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Connecticut.

Mary Martell is the Director of Education and Training for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. Mary has more than 15 years of experience in program development and post-secondary education including leading the development and implementation of a Pathways Community HUB in northeastern Ohio, and serving as an assistant lecturer at the University of Akron. Currently enrolled as a doctoral candidate at Youngstown State University, Mary holds a master’s degree in health and human services from The University of Akron.

Ellie Kaufman, MPH, is the Manager of Operations & Certification of Pathways Community HUB Institute. Her bachelor and master degrees are from the University of Toledo and the Northwest Ohio Consortium of Public Health. She has more than six years of public health experience focused on maternal & child health, community health assessments and company health education.