MeHAF Community Advisory Committee
The foundation’s statewide Community Advisory Committee (CAC) includes individuals with diverse backgrounds who advise the Board and staff on critical issues that align with MeHAF’s mission. They provide thoughtful input into our periodic strategic planning and assessment efforts.
Katie Adams, MD, FAAFP
Dr. Katie Adams, MD, FAAFP (she/her) grew up in Southern Maine and received her Bachelor’s Degree with a major in Medical Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the University of New England. She received her Medical Degree in 2013 from the University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed her Family Medicine Residency at Eastern Maine Medical Center. She is a board-certified family physician and an American Academy of Family Physicians Fellow. Dr. Adams is passionate about providing evidence-based, high quality, compassionate care to those in need without financial or social discrimination. She has special interests in medical ethics, promoting professional wellbeing, substance use treatment, and advocacy and care for the underserved populations. Personal interests include spending time with family, traveling (she has traveled to all 50 US States!), and enjoying the outdoors with a particular love for hiking and kayaking.
Nélida Berke, MPH
Ms. Berke (she/her) came to the United States from Peru in May of 2001, with plans to extend her business in Peru. She later moved to the United States, married, and started a new life. Although her interest and experience was in business, opportunity opened a new career path for her in public health. In 2003, she joined the Portland Public Health Division’s STD/HIV Prevention, and then in 2005 she joined the Minority Health Program. In her role as a Community Health Outreach Worker (CHOW), she assisted Latinos, with and without health insurance, to obtain needed healthcare at major local health facilities. Her goal was to eliminate health disparities (language barriers, lack of transportation, lack of health insurance and awareness of resources, financial issues, and limited knowledge of prevention and treatment services) and to improve healthcare access. In 2013, she was promoted to the Minority Health Program Specialist position, where she skillfully coordinated and supervised 39 CHOWs and 17 volunteers from the 13 largest minority communities in Greater Portland to drive success and aid in better serving their communities. In December 2015, Ms. Berke was promoted to her new role as the Portland Public Health Division’s Minority Health Program Coordinator. She constantly advocates for immigrant rights and health equity through enhancing communication and community engagement with underserved populations. She completed her Master Degree in Public Health from the University of Southern Maine. She served on the Board for Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition until August 2020; serves on the Northern Light Mercy Hospital board, Catholic Identity & Ministry Committee and on several advisory committees. She is a regular guest presenter at health care and social services facilities, and universities, promoting improvement in cultural competence and encouraging humility in health care professionals in Maine.
Crystal Cron
Crystal Cron (she/they; ella/elle): Mi mamá y mi abuelita taught me that our riquezas come from the abundance of generosity, millennia of ancestral wisdom, and commitment to collective bienestar that we as indigenous women carry within. As a landless Indigenous person, I carry with me a legacy of colonial pain that has been passed down to me by my mother and her mother before her and her mother before her. Still, despite centuries of violence imprinted on our DNA, I have been honored to learn about collective survival and revolutionary indigenous love from the matriarchs in my family who fought to live and thrive and carry our people forward despite the constant threat of extermination. These warrior women taught me about fearless love, about love as resistance, the ultimate weapon in destroying colonialism. To me, Presente, this community we are creating, is about tapping into and multiplying this revolutionary indigenous love. We are here. We have our ancestors at our backs. We are worthy of this sacred love, of abundance, of beauty and safety. To show it through my heart, mind, hands, feet and soul, is how I live el amor al pueblo.
Matthew Dexter
Matt Dexter (he/him) is Founder & Executive Director of the Christine B. Foundation (CBF), based in Bangor. The Foundation's namesake, Christine, is Matt's mother who passed to stomach cancer. Matt and his family started this organization to build a community of support for those affected by cancer in Eastern Maine. Since its inception in 2014, Matt has been part of the Foundations growth, embracing values of creativity, collaboration, and committing to this community. Outside of CBF, Matt lives in Bangor and fills his time exploring Maine's hidden treasurers, volunteering, and enjoys running along the coast and trails of Maine.
Lori Dwyer, Esq.
Lori Dwyer (she/her) is president and CEO of Penobscot Community Health Care, the largest federally qualified health center in Maine. A lawyer, Dwyer has been devoted to public and community service throughout her career. She holds an M.A. summa cum laude from the University of Alabama and a B.A. cum laude from Duke University. Early in her career she taught English in both Luxembourg and Venezuela before attending the University of Maine School of Law. Dwyer practiced labor and employment law with Bernstein Shur in Portland, Maine for seven years and was recognized by the Maine Bar Foundation for her pro bono service. An avid outdoorswoman and athlete, Dwyer lives in Bangor with her family.
Sharon Jordan
Sharon (she/her) is a citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Senior Director of the Health & Wellness Division at Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness which has been operating since 1996. Her division provides various behavioral health prevention and care programs for tribally enrolled Native Americans. Sharon is a mother, grandmother, and engaged member of the Wabanaki communities. She brings with her over 30 years of expertise as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and longstanding relationships with individuals, organizations, and governments to her work. She has worked in both clinical and outpatient settings where she prioritizes the health and safety of her clients first. Sharon believes strongly in the strength of our people and cultural teachings. She believes that when we celebrate our accomplishments, we are celebrating our ancestors and the generations to come, and that when you belong to a people, you are never alone. Sharon incorporates these beliefs into every level of planning and implementation of programming at Wabanaki Health & Wellness. Sharon holds a B.A. in Human Development from the University of Maine, an M.S.W. from the University of Maine, and an L.C.S.W. from the State of Maine.
Kenneth Lewis
The Reverend Kenneth I. Lewis, Jr. is an Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of America, Inc. Appointed May 18, 2003, Rev. Lewis is honored to serve as the current pastor of the Historic Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Portland, Maine. Additionally, he serves internationally as the Presiding Elder of the Nassau District, Bahamas Conference of the A. M. E. Zion Church. Presiding Elder Lewis has been favored with more than 30 years of effective ministry and community leadership. Rev. Lewis has served historic congregations such as; Rush Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, Cambridge, MA. and Goodwin Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Amherst, MA. Denominationally, he is a current member of the Connectional Council serving on the Board of Communication which oversees the Star of Zion, Quarterly Review, and all social and print media outlets. Since arriving in Portland, Pastor Lewis has served on various organizational boards such as the United Way of Greater Portland, Vice President of the Greater Portland Branch of the NAACP, the City of Portland’s Community Development Block Grant subcommittee, and the Police Citizens Review Subcommittee. Currently, Reverend Lewis serves as a Commissioner on the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations. A native son of Boston (Roxbury), MA; Pastor Lewis has dedicated himself to community empowerment, spiritual development, economic opportunity, and social justice.
Rebecca Matusovich, MPPM
Becca Matusovich (she/her) is the founding Executive Director of the Children's Oral Health Network of Maine. Her 30+-year career in public service includes work in education, substance abuse prevention, chronic disease, public health infrastructure, refugee & immigrant health, child welfare, and community engagement. Becca brings a deep passion for improving the systems that serve Maine children and families, and she has extensive experience in catalyzing complex system change and forging partnerships with a common vision. Her state government posts include Prevention Team Manager for the Office of Substance Abuse, Chronic Disease Division Director at Maine Center for Disease Control and the Maine CDC’s first Cumberland District Public Health Liaison, and she spent several years as a Policy Associate at the Cutler Institute within USM’s Muskie School for Public Service prior to her current position. While crossing sectors and disciplines in many ways over the years, her work has always gravitated around a core interest in health equity and systems thinking.
Kenney Miller
Kenney Miller (he/him) is the Project Director for Maine's Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Block Grant at the Office of Behavioral Health, providing strategic guidance and oversight for this federal award to best address the complex issue of problematic substance use. Prior to this position Kenney served as the Executive Director of the Health Equity Alliance (HEAL). With a Master's of Science in Social Anthropology, Kenney is a consummate student of culture and society and has devoted his career to addressing the ways in which social forces influence, shape, and collide with human health. He has spoken widely on health equity and the impact of stigma and discrimination on health outcomes, and the need to transform health systems to be more culturally and structurally competent. During his tenure at the Health Equity Alliance Kenney oversaw the agency's growth and transformation from a small social service agency into a regional force for health and social justice throughout Maine. He co-founded the Maine Harm Reduction Alliance, and the Maine Coalition for Sensible Drug Policy, through which he propelled the philosophy of 'harm reduction' to center-stage and amplified the need to better integrate principles of compassion, science, and pragmatism into Maine's drug policy. He has co-founded several state-level health-focused conferences and helped jump-start numerous collaborations and projects to benefit Maine's most marginalized communities including people living with HIV, people who use drugs, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with a history of incarceration, and others.
Michael Murnik, MD
Born in Philadelphia, raised in eastern Massachusetts, Mike (he/him) started calling Maine home as soon as he could. After high school, he started calling his family’s camp in Georgetown, ME, home. Mike attended college in New York City, then medical school in Burlington, VT. He did his residency out west, as the expectations for Family Medicine are very different east and west of the Mississippi. Mike didn’t come back for 18 years. After residency in Albuquerque, he worked in rural Montana for almost seven years, practicing true full-spectrum primary care affiliated with a Critical Access Hospital in Deer Lodge, MT. 129-hour weeks do get old eventually, and Mike returned to the University of New Mexico as faculty in the Medical School and the Family and Community Residency Program for eight years before starting to have children and returning to Maine.
As a family physician Mike has been a hospital doc, ER doc, clinic doc, Public Health Officer, Nursing Home Medical Director, Ambulance Service Medical Director, Hospice Medical Director, Chief of Staff, Associate Professor of Medicine, researcher, assisted and operated in ORs and delivered around 1,000 babies. Since coming east, Mike’s scope of practice wings has been clipped significantly. Though he’s lived in Blue Hill for 17 years, Mike worked in Ellsworth at Maine Coast Hospital for the first eight years doing both hospital and outpatient medicine. When forced to choose between inpatient and outpatient medicine, Mike chose the latter and cut out the commute, joining Blue Hill Hospital- a Critical Access Hospital on the water, hoping to see a few more of his girls’ soccer games. For the last nine years he has been the Senior Physician Executive (CMO) for Blue Hill, which is part of Northern Light Health.
Mike is a fan of Critical Access Hospitals and FQHCs and perpetually frustrated by the plight of Primary Care and Public Health in the United States. With a belief in collaboration and community, and bolstered by his experiences in New Mexico, Mike has worked with Healthy Peninsula and Healthy Acadia to obtain grants (several from MeHAF) to fund projects with community partners related to community health, thriving in place, and substance use disorder prevention and treatment. We were always unanimously proud to be awarded a grant from MeHAF because of the rigor and professionalism involved in the process.
Fowsia Musse
Fowsia Musse (she/her) is the Executive Director of Maine Community Integration and a Community Health Outreach Worker at Healthy Androscoggin. She has demonstrated her goal as a leader of the local Healthy Androscoggin where she is educating families about Lead Poisoning Prevention. She effectively leads situations involving conflict while balancing her personal leadership style with the demands of the organization. Fowsia is a member of the Pine Tree Youth Organization board, president of the Neighborhood Housing League, board member of the 21st Century after school program in Lewiston High School Program, and is a coordinator for Maine Community Integrations (MCI), which is an ethnic based organization. In the past she has worked as a medically certified interpreter helping the new Mainer population navigate the very complicated health care system. Fowsia is a cultural broker and "bridger" when it comes to diffusing conflicts, immediate community conflict, and working toward bettering the relationships between neighborhoods so they can have cohesiveness.
Jessica Oakes, LCSW, LADC
Jessica (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker and drug counselor who currently works for RSU #24, in Sullivan, Maine. Her work is primarily with children and adolescents providing mental health counseling in the special education school setting. Jessica’s work with youth stems from her belief in the importance of human relationships and the value of empowerment thru education and compassionate listening. When Jessica is not at work she is usually working in her garden or hiking with her husband.
Sara Squires, MPPM
Sara Squires (she/her) received her undergraduate degree from Wheaton College (MA) and a Master's from USM's Muskie School of Public Service in 2010. She joined Disability Rights Maine (DRM) as an intake coordinator in September 2002 and was later named Public Policy Director. Sara supervises DRM’s information and referral unit, while also coordinating the agency’s policy work and overseeing data management for reporting and quality assurance purposes. She is a past Chair and current member of the MaineCare Advisory Committee and served a term on the mPower Loan Board, which oversees Maine's adaptive equipment loan program. In addition to her collaborations with the Secretary of State’s Office to provide training at its annual conference for municipal clerks and registrars, Sara has also offered training around such topics as Ableism and working with individuals with disabilities.
Joby Thoyalil, MPA
Joby Thoyalil (he/him) has over a decade of experience working in both Maine and New York advocating for economic and racial justice through policy change. He works as a senior policy advocate at Maine Equal Justice where he analyzes and develops legislative and administrative policy proposals and coordinates policy advocacy on a range of issues related to the economic stability of low-income individuals and families in Maine. Joby currently serves as a Commissioner on the newly established Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations, which is an independent, governmental entity with the mission to examine racial disparities across all systems in Maine and to specifically work at improving the status and outcomes for historically disadvantaged racial, indigenous and tribal populations in the State. Prior to moving to Maine, Joby worked as a campaigns organizer at the New Economy Project in New York, where he coordinated multiple campaigns and coalitions, including the statewide New Yorkers for Responsible Lending (NYRL) coalition and the NYC Coalition to Stop Credit Checks in Employment. He earned his Master’s in Public Administration from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service, where he specialized in public policy analysis.
Shirley Weaver, MT(ASCP), MA., Ph.D.
Shirl Weaver (she/her) has a long history of involvement in health professions education, both in military and civilian capacities. Shirl was the founding director of the Maine AHEC System and the Maine Geriatric Education Center at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Associate Director of the Harvard Geriatric Education Center at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Through those organizations she focused on workforce training and education issues at national and state levels to improve health care for rural and underserved communities, such as: improving the distribution of health care providers, especially primary care providers; increasing health career awareness and preparation of rural and underserved youth; preparing providers to care for our increasingly older population; and increasing veterans’ quality of life. Shirl now enjoys retirement in Kennebunk, where her volunteer efforts focus on the quality of life of older adults and military veterans, and mentoring the next generation of osteopathic physicians.