San Diego CA—The San Diego American Indian Health Center (SDAIHC) has announced new leadership. The organization has named Kevin M. LaChapelle, EdD, MPA as its CEO. LaChapelle holds expertise in implementing culture-focused performance improvement in clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, and hospitals. He is skilled in identifying performance gaps, defining strategy, and creating measurable change. LaChapelle has a strong focus on integrating systems and culture to align behaviors to achievements in safety, patient experience, and cost containment. He is also a community-minded leader with a lengthy history in serving refugee populations through the non-profit organization he founded in 1999 focused on leadership development and project-based learning for underrepresented refugee communities. This includes an annual medical outreach abroad for a month.
LaChapelle previously served as National Director of Care Experience, Patient Safety & Risk for Kaiser Permanente, Consulting Advisor for Press Ganey & Associates, Corporate Director of The Sharp Experience, The Sharp University, and Consumer Research at Sharp HealthCare, Director, Support Operations at Scripps Health, Adjunct Professor at National University and Walden University. He also served as a police officer and an elected school board member.
In addition, Tim Nguyen, MHA, FHFMA continues serving as CFO, having served in this role for the past two years. He has more than 23 years of healthcare experience working in health plan operations, medical groups/IPA and not for profit/for-profit/district hospital systems, and FQHC clinics. Nguyen holds a Certification of Healthcare Financial Professional (CHFP) from HFMA, Master of Healthcare Administration, Fellow in Healthcare Financial Management Association, and Fellow in American Association of Health Plans.
Young Suh, MD has also been named to the leadership team as Medical Director. Dr. Suh earned a Bachelor of Medical Science, Doctor of Medicine from the University of Alberta, and interned at the Royal Columbian Hospital in British Columbia, Canada. He started his medical career in the private sector with his own medical practice covering a local hospital, emergency room, and community outpatient clinic near Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, where he received his family medicine certification by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. After eight years, Dr. Suh moved his family to the United States to join a group practice and a Regional Medical Center in South Carolina, providing general medical care to the community. During the 10 years in the United States, Dr. Suh received his board certification in Family Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine.
Chelsea Richardson, D.M.D continues to serve SDAIHC as the Dental Director and has served in this role since 2008. Dr. Richardson received her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, San Diego prior to attending dental school at the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health in Mesa, Arizona. Dr. Richardson also earned a certificate in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her dental practical training in Southwest Florida, Colorado, Maine, and at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center for the Navajo Tribe.
Dr. Richardson is certified by the Western Regional Examining Board, is a member of the Academy of General Dentistry, and is a recipient of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists Sullivan Schein Pre-doctoral Achievement Award.
Bob Henley, PhD has been named SDAIHC’s Behavioral Health Director. He is a licensed California Psychologist and has worked in the behavioral health field professionally since 1988 providing counseling and psychotherapy services to individuals, couples and groups addressing a variety of issues including improving coping and communication skills, effectively managing trauma, managing serious mental illnesses, and helping to manage co-occurring substance use and mental illness issues safely.
Dr. Henley has worked the last 8 years as a psychologist and manager for the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s Wellness Center and as Director of Behavioral Health for the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe. He has over 12 years of experience as a manager and supervisor, plus has authored or co-authored more than 14 articles in professional journals on “enhancing resilience processes” as a program evaluation specialist.
Martin Furey joins SDAIHC as Program Development Director. Furey has worked within the nonprofit sector for several decades in the areas of program administration and development for both UC San Diego Health and the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has served as Senior Grant Writer for one of the nation’s largest Federally Qualified Health Centers, located here in San Diego. During his tenure as Senior Director for Programs and Advancement at the Jacobs Center, Furey was the San Diegan who initially convened agency leaders representing multiple nonprofit sectors to successfully pursue a federally designated Promise Zone for San Diego. He has served on the Board of Directors or fundraising boards of several San Diego nonprofits, including Compassion Breast, San Diego Reach Out and Read, and the San Diego International Sister City Association. Furey has also served as a member of the County’s CDC-mandated Community Review Panel for HIV Services passthrough funding.