Fighting for a Healthier Future: Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky Recognizes 14 Healthy Kentucky Champions
The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has announced its 2023 Healthy Kentucky Champions, recognized for their dedication to improving the health and well-being of the communities they serve, at the local and/or state level.
This year’s recipients have been recognized for their work to address inequities in a variety of areas including mental, behavioral, and physical health, food insecurity, and support for rural and underserved communities. They are chosen by a committee made up of the Foundation’s Community Advisory Council members.
This year’s Healthy Kentucky Champions are:
Dr. Muhammad Babar – Doctors for Healthy Communities
Muhammad Babar, MD, is a board-certified physician in Internal Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. He is a clinical assistant professor with the University of Louisville Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Babar also serves on the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Long Term Care Task Force.
Dr. Babar has used his knowledge and skillset to support those in need throughout his career. He founded Doctors for Healthy Communities (DHC), a nonprofit organization supporting community health through education, outreach, and health equity efforts. DHC has conducted physicals in Jefferson County Public Schools in south and west Louisville for students without a medical home. The group has also provided school supplies, holiday gift cards, and health hygiene bags for students. Additionally, DHC offers nutrition support and health education for seniors.
Shelly Baer – Emerald Therapy Center
Shelly O'Neal Baer, LCSW, SAP, is a licensed psychotherapist, substance abuse professional, and executive life coach. She’s the founder and executive director of Emerald Therapy Center, a six-facility, certified, woman-owned healthcare group providing behavioral health services and psychiatry to children, teens and adults in underserved areas in Paducah, Mayfield and Murray. Last year alone, the center served more than 7,000 Kentuckians.
After tornadoes ravaged western Kentucky in 2021, the Emerald Therapy Center deployed a mobile crisis unit, meeting with survivors, victims’ families, and first responders at no cost. She, along with the Emerald team of compassionate medical, clinical, and non-clinical staff, continued to provide group and one-on-one services to those battling addiction, depression and other mental health issues. Their nonprofit division, The Emerald Foundation, has provided educational classes to the area for free to help end the stigma surrounding mental health.
Baer’s work has positively impacted not only those she has served, but the community at large. She knows where there are healthy people, there are healthy businesses, and where there are healthy businesses, there thrives a healthy community.
Mark Birdwhistell – UK HealthCare
Mark D. Birdwhistell, of Richmond, Kentucky, is passionate about advancing the health of all Kentuckians and has dedicated his career to reducing healthcare disparities through policy changes and administrative leadership. He serves as the senior vice president and chief administrative officer for UK HealthCare. Prior to his current position, Birdwhistell served in senior leadership roles in both the private and public sectors, including secretary for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Birdwhistell helped secure federal funding for care of individuals with mental and developmental disabilities. He also led the development of an innovative pilot project to combat the substance use disorder epidemic sweeping Kentucky and the nation.
Birdwhistell’s tireless championing of low-income Kentuckians through Medicaid expansion projects and policy, as well as health plan changes, has improved the overall health and healthcare access of communities across the commonwealth.
Donovan Blackburn – Pikeville Medical Center
Donovan Blackburn is the president CEO of the Pikeville Medical Center (PMC) and has helped change the healthcare landscape of eastern Kentucky. In his time as a healthcare leader he has facilitated the vast expansion of healthcare options in Appalachia that residents previously had to travel hours to obtain in larger cities.
In 2020, the Appalachian Valley Autism (AVA) Center opened. The Mettu Children’s Hospital opened in 2021, allowing PMC to collaborate with specialists at University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital. In 2022, a satellite center in Floyd County, which enabled the AVA Center to provide services for those in need of services from Pikeville and Prestonsburg.
Adding to a growing suite of services, PMC opened its Heart and Vascular Institute of Eastern Kentucky, the result of a $35.2 million capital investment. The new space includes a new cardiac rehabilitation department, 29 exam rooms and three state-of-the-art interventional cardiac catheterization labs.
Dr. Lacretia Dye – Western Kentucky University
Lacretia Dye, Ph.D. is a mental health therapist, yoga trainer and community wellness advocate who has helped Kentuckians with mental, emotional, and physical healing for over 10 years. The Bowling Green woman is trained and certified in a variety of interventions that focus on the integration of counseling, neuroscience, and trauma-informed body-based healing processes. As an Associate Professor at Western Kentucky University, she has shared her expertise through 500-plus workshops and presentations with parents, teachers, students, and community professionals in the areas of ancestral healing, yoga and drumming therapy, conscious menstruation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
During the pandemic, Dr. Dye partnered with the Foundation for Healthy Kentucky and facilitated an 8-part webinar series titled Kentucky Inspired: Bringing Justice Back to Our Bodies. The free series encourages the use of personal reflection of the breath, the brain, the body, beliefs, and the heartbeat as tools to heal, reconcile emotion, and engage in self-care.
Dr. Donald Frazier – UK Science Outreach Center
Donald Frazier, Ph.D. is the founder of the University of Kentucky Science Outreach Center, renamed the Donald T. Frazier Science Outreach Center in his honor. He is also a professor emeritus in the UK College of Medicine. Dr. Frazier has spent decades helping youth in underserved populations, focusing on making science more accessible to these future scientists and health care workers. Throughout his career, he has taught over 147,000 students across the state of Kentucky.
The Science Outreach Center hosted summer workshops, apprentice and mentoring programs. For many years, the Center, in concert with the Anatomy Department, has hosted high school junior and seniors, who are in advanced science/anatomy class, to a day-long physiology-anatomy presentation. Many students return to Dr. Frazier and tell them that it was this presentation that led them to a career in the health field.
Dr. Ellen Hahn – University of Kentucky College of Nursing
Ellen J. Hahn, Ph.D. directs the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, the BREATHE (Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments) research team in the UK College of Nursing, and the Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences (UK-CARES) at the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Hahn conducts community-engaged environmental health outreach and research to reduce risk from tobacco use, tobacco smoke exposure, and radon exposure especially in rural, lower-income communities. For the past 20 years, she has provided expertise and direction to communities looking to enact smoke-free policies.
Jeremy Harrell – Veteran’s Club Inc.
Jeremy Harrell founded Veteran’s Club Inc., a nonprofit based in Louisville assisting veterans with healing from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and substance abuse while also helping homeless veterans find housing and programs to get them back on their feet. Veteran’s Club Inc. has seven nationally recognized programs including an award-winning Equine Facilitated Mentoring Program for active duty, veterans, first responders, and their families. Harrell’s programs that have helped over 3,800 veterans and families in the last six years.
Harrell is a U.S. Army combat veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served honorably and was a non-commissioned officer. Returning from Iraq, Harrell was diagnosed with PTSD, TBI, depression in addition to other physical injuries. His recovery process inspired him to ensure others wouldn’t have to go at it alone.
Dr. Susan Jones – Western Kentucky University
Susan Jones, Ph.D, RN has helped shape the health landscape of the commonwealth for decades. She taught in the Western Kentucky University School of Nursing and Allied Health from 1970 to 2015 and continues her work with South Central KY AHEC. During her nursing career, she enhanced care for rural Kentuckians by building community-based partnerships providing education, health screenings, and services while incorporating student participation.
Dr. Jones developed academic curricula and continuing education in agromedicine, rural health and safety, and farmer’s health for incorporation in medical residency training, nursing, public health, and community education. She was a founding member of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Kentucky Lake chapter. Through her work with Anabaptist communities Dr. Jones aided in the development and founding of the WeCare Clinic in Pembroke, which provides care for adults and children with genetic diseases.
Dr. Whitney Jones – Colon Cancer Prevention Project
Whitney Jones, MD, of Louisville, is the founder of the Colon Cancer Prevention Project, a nonprofit focusing on increasing colon cancer screening for all Kentuckians including low-income and uninsured individuals. Over the past twenty years, CCPP has provided targeted outreach to increase screenings for those at heightened risk, including more than 1.2 million educational pamphlets, over 6 million digital ads, and three KET documentaries. The organization has a strong survivors’ support group, a colonoscopy chaperone program, and a first responder’s education program.
Dr. Jones advocated for and currently chairs The Kentucky Colon Cancer Screening and Prevention Program. He helped get a Kentucky law passed that requires testing for hereditary cancers for people who meet national guidelines to be completely covered by private insurance as a preventative service. He also is a strong advocate for new blood-based technology platforms focused on multi-cancer early detection.
Dr. Karl Lange – Mission Health Lexington
Karl Lange, DMD, has committed his professional life to dental health as a private practice physician for more than 40 years, a professor at the University of Kentucky for more than 30 years, and through his charity work providing care for low-income Kentuckians. Dr. Lange was the founder of a free dental clinic at Mission Health Lexington and served as chair of the board of directors.
Dr. Lange worked with other local dentists and community partners in converting a downtown storefront into a small dental clinic. Subsequently, a medical and optometry clinic and pharmacy services were added. Last year alone, volunteers provided 3,256 hours of service treating 303 patients who would otherwise not have been able to receive dental care.
Dr. Katherine Marks – Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities
Katherine Marks, PhD was recently named commissioner of the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (BHDID), an agency of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The Louisville woman previously served as project director for the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE). Her efforts have been key to the expansion of a comprehensive, recovery-oriented system of care which has changed the lives of countless individuals in the commonwealth who have been affected by the opioid epidemic. Under her leadership, Kentucky has led the nation in response, despite the many challenges of addressing this complex and evolving public health challenge.
Dr. Marks works closely with community and university partners to understand the unique needs of Kentuckians. Using a data-driven approach, Dr. Marks has identified disparities and inequities in substance use disorder interventions and directed funding and support to close those gaps.
Rhondell Miller – HOTEL INC.
Rhondell Miller is the executive director of HOTEL INC, a nonprofit organization based in Bowling Green addressing disparities in access to healthy foods, housing and healthcare in south central Kentucky. As a native of Appalachia, Miller developed a passion for food justice. It has been a driving force in her life for over 20 years. Her solutions have linked local farmers and their nutritious produce to their nearby communities.
HOTEL INC established the Delafield Co-op Market to bring fresh food to Bowling Green’s West End. Partnering with area farmers and local food carriers, the Co-op has provided an oasis to the community’s largest food desert. Participants from the West End can purchase discounted food and all items are EBT-friendly.
Miller has served in executive roles with Habitat for Humanity and Manna Meal and has served on several nonprofit boards. She currently serves as chairperson of City Shapers BG and as a board member for Centene Healthcare.
Jerry Ugrin – Primary Plus
Jerome “Jerry” Ugrin, is respected for his leadership, dedication, ingenuity, and passion for serving his community. Ugrin has guided the Lewis County Primary Care Center, dba PrimaryPlus for more than 30 years as its CEO. Through his leadership, the center has become the second-largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Kentucky. With 12 locations, the clinics serve approximately 70,000 patients per year.
Ugrin is known for his out-of-the-box thinking and sought to redefine the primary care clinical setting. PrimaryPlus has extended services like dermatology, urology, CT scans, dental, ultrasound, infusion services, mental health including counseling and psychiatry.
Looking for a solution to the nationwide physician turnover at rural FQHCs, Ugrin facilitated the development of a residency program that will be the first rural family medicine teaching facility where an FQHC would be the sole provider of a post-graduate training program.
____
“Kentucky faces unique challenges to improving the overall health of its citizens, and these 14 men and women have removed barriers to resources that are changing and saving lives,” said Ben Chandler, president and CEO, Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. “Because of their vision, hard work, and advocacy, our communities are better served.”