Dr. Wendy J. Wolf Health Leadership Award

Carol Zechman LCSW, has been the Senior Director of MaineHealth’s Access to Care programs since 2004. Prior to coming to MaineHealth, Carol was the Director of Community Support Services for a Portland-based Social Services Program and an inpatient social worker at Maine Medical Center.  Her experiences provide her with an understanding of the challenges of working with disenfranchised and vulnerable populations.  She has served on the following committees- State Public Health Coordinating Council, Greater Portland Refugee and Immigrant Health Care Collaborative, Cumberland County Health Disparities Work Group, Portland Mayor's Healthcare Task Force, and the Cumberland County District Public Health Coordinating Council.  Carol also serves on the board of Communities Joined in Action, a national non-profit with a mission to connect and equip communities with tools to improve health equity and well-being.  Carol has presented at American Public Association conferences and the Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI) on topics related to the impact of medication access on health outcomes, connecting vulnerable populations to healthcare and addressing the social drivers of health, connecting asylum seekers to dialysis treatment and kidney transplant and improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations.  Carol was the 2019 recipient of the Maine Public Health Association’s Phebe Conrey King Access to Healthcare award.

Lori earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Maine School of Law in In those days she had not pictured her career landing in healthcare as she practiced labor and employment law for Bernstein Shur. She came to Penobscot Community Health Center as General Counsel, Compliance and Risk Officer in 2012. This work gave her insight into patient safety, provider burnout, reclaiming joy in medicine, and the financial and operational challenges in healthcare and the way in which the system creates inequity. Her application to become the CEO was inspired by a lifelong desire to level the playing field and bring health to everyone, especially those who have been historically marginalized. Lori was selected to serve as President & CEO in August 2017.​

Mufalo arrived in the United States in 2000 and has worked in a variety of capacities to support people throughout Maine to live fulfilling and dignified lives. She has worked at the University of Southern Maine, the United Way of Greater Portland, and the American Red Cross, to name a few. She is the founder and organizer of the annual Empower the Immigrant Woman Conference, Empower Maine Women Network Group, and The Beauty in Colors Hair Show benefiting WISE Zambia. She is also the former event consultant for Black History Month Maine’s Hidden Figures and former owner of Etukis, LLC. Mufalo has also served as board member of Prosperity Maine, the Maine Women’s Policy Center, and Creative Portland.

A community leader at heart, she builds rich connections and advocates to improve the lives of Maine’s immigrant community. She was most recently recognized as a 2022 Maine Biz Women to Watch honoree for her work as an immigrant advocacy leader at Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.

Lisa Sockabasin has led Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness for nearly five years and previously served as the Director of the State of Maine Office of Health Equity for a decade. She has used her knowledge and skills to help realize many dreams that Wabanaki leaders have had for their communities for generations. Lisa builds momentum for new initiatives through long term, trusting relationships with members of her community, which drive all of her work. Lisa has also built strong connections with colleagues in sectors across the state that help achieve WPHW’s ambitious goals. She measures success in more formal ways, but also through people’s interest in participating in whatever innovation is being created - be they community members, people in need of support, or people with support to share, knowing many people are all of these things.

Jess Maurer, a Maine Council on Aging founder (2012) and now Executive Director (2018), has framed the vision of a Maine where we can all live healthy, engaged, and secure lives with choices and opportunities as we age in our homes and communities, a vision embraced by the MCOA Board of Directors, members and partners. So much so that the MCOA has grown from 27 foundational members to over 120 members today. Through her work on the Municipal Data Across Sectors for Healthy Aging Initiative, the Equity and Healthy Aging Initiative, and the Power in Aging Project, she puts her commitment to creating healthier communities and building an age-positive culture in Maine free of ageism into action. The MCOA network became critical in responding to emerging and on-going needs of older people and service providers during the COVID-19 crisis.  Throughout the pandemic, Jess curated and shared needed information, engaged in multi-sector problem solving, and coordinated advocacy efforts on emerging issues, with special focus on Maine’s care workforce.

Kenney Miller served as the Executive Director of the Health Equity Alliance (HEAL) from June 2011 to March 2021. With a Masters 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 the impact of stigma and discrimination on health outcomes, the need to transform health systems to be more culturally and structurally competent, and the value of cultivating these principles into a key pillar of HEAL’s work.

George Hill became President & CEO of Maine Family Planning in 1991 and has worked over 40 years in service of people in need of care. He demonstrates creative innovation in developing and implementing programs and has worked to diversify the organization’s services to include not only statewide grants management, but also to become a provider of direct services, education, and training. George’s integrity and outstanding leadership is recognized widely, here in Maine and nationally. Throughout his tenure, he has advocated and served as a spokesperson for family planning, choice, health education, and preventive health services in Maine.

Chris Hastedt is one of the founders of Maine Equal Justice Partners (1996) after working for at Pine Tree Legal Assistance. Since she began her career, Chris has worked to preserve and expand public programs such as MaineCare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), general assistance and food supplements to help improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Maine people over four decades.