Healthcare Communication Project, Inc.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Last Updated: May 23, 2011

Judith A. Greenfield, PhD, RN   
Founder and President

Judith Greenfield brings her experience of more than thirty years in healthcare to her role as Founder and President of the Project. As part of her health educator role within the Project, she writes and edits its free, semi-annual publication, the Healthcare Communication Review; conducts professional in-services; and speaks on a variety of topics before numerous community groups as well as at conferences. For this work, she draws on her past roles as a bedside nurse, child-birth educator, Executive Director of the Hospice Association of Ulster County, and teacher of biomedical ethics at both SUNY New Paltz and the New School University’s Graduate School of Management. Perhaps more importantly, however, she also brings her experiences as a patient and patient advocate for family and friends.

Jeffrey A. Falk, RN, MS, CEN, CLTCO
Vice President/Treasurer

Jeffrey Falk is a Registered Nurse, Masters Prepared in Community Health Administration and Wellness Promotion and a Certified Long Term Care Ombudsman in the state of New York. He has been in the field of health care for more than 20 years as a paramedic, an emergency room nurse, and a home care and infusion nurse. He has also worked in the insurance field as a Concurrent Review Nurse for a local HMO. Nurse Falk presently owns and operates Senior Health Care Solutions, serving as a Nurse Consultant and Care Manager for seniors in the Hudson Valley.

Emily Halstein
Secretary

Emily Halstein brings her experience as a bookkeeper and office manager of a local, not-for-profit arts organization to the Project. She also brings a perspective of patients and patient advocates.

Ursula M. Inghem

Ursula M. Inghem is employed by Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. She is a graduate of the paralegal program at Marist College. She has served on the board of several not-for-profits. She has dealt with the issues of finding reliable and adequate care for low income disabled patients and those with chronic illnesses.

Puja Thomson, MA, LMT

Puja A. J. Thomson is the founding director of ROOTS & WINGS in New Paltz, NY – an organization whose mission is to assist people with transitions and change. Her award-winning book, After Shock: From Cancer Diagnosis to Healing, provides empowering, practical, comprehensive step-by-step guidance drawn from her experience both as a patient and healthcare professional (Licensed Massage Therapist and Minister of Natural Healing). Before coming to the USA, Puja worked as an educator and training specialist in the fields of social work, education, community work and juvenile justice, at the University of Edinburgh and other institutions in Scotland.

PROJECT ADVISORS

Barry Bub, MD

Barry Bub is a physician, psychotherapist, educator and author of Communication Skills That Heal, Radcliffe Medical Press, Fall 2005. For more information about his offerings, visit www.processmedicine.com.

Marystephanie Corsones

Marystephanie Corsones is Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction at the Kingston City Schools in Kingston, NY. She has served in a variety of capacities within the field of healthcare, not the least of which was as Chief Financial Officer of a publicly traded HMO. She has also served on the Boards of Directors of numerous not-for-profit organizations, including CrossRiver Healthcare, Inc., the Kingston Hospital, The Hudson Valley Senior Residence and the American Red Cross. 

Howard H. Covitz, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA

Howard H. Covitz, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA is a psychoanalyst who practices near Philadelphia. He is Diplomated in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and a Licensed Psychologist in Pennsylvania and Virginia. For many years he was Director of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies in Bryn Mawr, PA where he trained a broad spectrum of mental health professionals in psychoanalytic theory and practice. His 1998 Oedipal Paradigms in Collision was nominated for the Gradiva Book of the Year Award. Hobbies? In addition to an avid penchant for writing comical verse about an aging psychoanalyst named Abe Isaacs, he teaches Mathematics in Temple University's Tyler School of Art and Biblical Characterology at Gratz College. He and his wife of 41 years enjoy traveling to visit their children and grandchildren.

Mary Jo DeForest

Mary Jo DeForest is Deputy Director of the Ulster County Office for the Aging and brings twenty years of experience in the field of human services and aging. She is an advocate for senior citizens and involved in the development of senior programs. She has been on the Boards of Directors for several not-for-profits and currently serves as a Board member for People's Place and Friends of the Senate House in Kingston, NY.

Sheldon Marc Feldman, MD, FACS

Sheldon Feldman is Chief, Division of Breast Surgery, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Vivian L. Milstein Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Feldman is a leading authority in minimally invasive breast cancer surgery. More information can be found at www.breastmd.org.

Arlen Gould, MAT (History)

Arlene Gould, an advocate for humanism-in-medicine, served as the first full-time administrator and newsletter editor for The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which pioneered the White Coat Ceremony, now part of medical school orientations at more than 97% of all US schools of medicine and osteopathy as well as in China, Israel, Great Britain and Pakistan. She is an experienced public relations, marketing consultant and writer and has worked in the arts, wine industry and as Diversity Coalition business liaison for the Eleanor Roosevelt Center.

Neil Prose, MD

Neil Prose is director of pediatric dermatology at Duke University Medical Center. He teaches courses and seminars for medical students, residents and practicing physicians in doctor-patient communication.

Kathryn R. Reed, CMPE

Kathryn Reed has been a member of the Executive Staff of the Mid-Hudson Family Health Institute, headquartered in New Paltz, New York, since 1981. In addition, she serves as Executive Director of the Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center located in Highland, New York. For more information regarding these two organizations, visit www.fpinstitute.org and www.catskillhudsonahec.org, respectively.

Helen A. Robinson, RN, MSN

Helen Robinson earned her Bachelors degree in Education from St. John’s University and a Masters Degree in Nursing from Sage College. For more than 20 years, she served in a variety of administrative positions at The Kingston Hospital in NY. These include: Assistant VP for patient Care Services, Interim VP for Nursing, and VP for Clinical Support Services. She has also served as a participating Clinical Research Associate with the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group clinical trials for breast cancer and was honored by the YWCA of Ulster County, at their annual Tribute to Women dinner, for her accomplishments in Health Care Administration. Currently, she is VP & Chief Clinical Officer for Ellenville Regional Hospital, in Ellenville, NY.