TRAILBLAZERS
RECOG NIZING TH E SUCCESS AN D ACCOM PLISH M ENTS OF ALU M NI W H O H AV E M A D E A L A S T I N G I M PAC T I N T H E I R F I E L D
M E D I C AI D E XPA N S I O N
» As chief deputy to the Medicaid Program
in Virginia, K A R E N K I M S E Y (Cert.’96/HP; M.S.W.’96/SW) helped develop and launch the state’s Medicaid expansion benefit, which brought health insurance to more than 250,000 people as of April 2019. She recalls the thrill of seeing the first ad letting people know the benefit would be available. “There are so many stories of individuals whose lives are being touched” by the benefit, she says. “I am so grateful that many of these individuals, some of whom are caregivers for family members, will now be eligible to receive health coverage for themselves.”
H E A LT H C A R E O P E R AT I O N S
» RICHARD
Photo Allen Jones, University Marketing
SURGEON FOR CHILDREN IN NEED
»
DAV I D
LANNING,
M .D.,
PH .D.
(M.D.’95/M; Ph.D.’00/M; H.S.’02/M), co-surgeon-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, is best known for leading the team that separated conjoined twins Maria and Teresa Tapia in a 2011 surgery. The surgery was arranged through the World Pediatric Project. Lanning has volunteered with the group for years, traveling abroad to perform general and thoracic surgery on children in need and bringing children with particularly complex conditions to Richmond for treatment. He serves as the organization’s medical director and on its board.
B R AC K E N (M.H.A.’77/HP; H.L.D.’11) served as chairman and CEO of HCA Healthcare in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the world’s largest operators of health care facilities, from 2009-14. Bracken’s tenure at the top of the organization was the culmination of over three decades of work with HCA, where he used his deep understanding of hospital management to help steer HCA through the challenges of a changing industry. He restructured the company’s focus on patient quality and safety and also led the company through an initial public offering of stock that remains one of the largest in history. At the time of his retirement, HCA operated 165 hospitals and 115 free-standing surgery centers in 20 states and the United Kingdom. Bracken now sits on the board of CVS Health Corp. and became the first chair of its Medical Affairs Committee upon its formation in 2016. Bracken’s contributions to VCU include the Richard M. Bracken Leadership Award, which has recognized student leaders since 2006. He received the university’s highest honor, an honorary doctorate in 2011. He and his wife, Judith, established the Richard M. Bracken Chair, the first endowed chair in VCU’s Department of Health Administration, in 2012. The HCA Distinguished Executive in Residence Professorship in the College of Health Professions was created in 2014 by HCA in tribute to Bracken.
LIST OF FIRSTS
» VA L E R I E
J A C K S O N (B.S.’71/B) was among the early African American women to earn an M.B.A. from the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She already had experience breaking new ground at that point in her life. She and her two brothers were the first African American students to attend Henrico High School in Richmond, Virginia, in 1963. She was also one of the first African Americans to work as a telephone operator at the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. Jackson went on to become the first African American account executive at Grey Advertising in New York City and the first African American regional marketing supervisor at TWA’s corporate headquarters in New York. For 19 years, she has been the awardwinning host of Atlanta’s NPR shows “Between the Lines” and “Valerie Jackson in Conversation,” featuring guests such as Sanjay Gupta, M.D., former President Jimmy Carter, author Toni Morrison and musician Wynton Marsalis. In 2003, Jackson was appointed to the board of the Georgia Commission on Women, and she has received Atlanta’s highest citizen award, the Phoenix Award. She shared 26 years of marriage and work with the late Maynard H. Jackson Jr., the first African American mayor of Atlanta. She is partner in Jackmont Hospitality, one of the most awarded licensed franchisees of TGI Fridays.
Winter 2019
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