Advisory Council

The VHWC Advisory Council was established in November 2023 and includes experts, leaders, and stakeholders who are committed to optimizing health and wellness for Veterans and their care partners. The Council’s functions are to prioritize topics for action and advocacy, disseminate VHWC messages and opportunities to their networks, and provide guidance to the Administrative Core Team to carry out VHWC activities and initiatives. The Advisory Council Meeting Notes are available below.

We extend our gratitude to these individuals who contribute their time, expertise, and experience to advance the goals and activities of the VHWC. We are pleased to introduce the members of the Veteran Health and Wellness Collaborative (VHWC) Advisory Council.

Veteran Health and Wellness Collaborative

Advisory Council

Frank Aiello, JD MSU College of Law frank.aiello@law.msu.edu	Gregory Allen Genesee Health System gallen2@genhs.org	Ann Annis, PhD, RN^ MSU College of Nursing annisann@msu.edu
Melanie Baird, LMSW Alzheimer's Association, Michigan Chapter mbaird@alz.org	Andrea Belk, MPH* MVAA, Veterans Engagement Officer, Region #5 belka@michigan.gov	Rachel Bergmans UM Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center rbergs@med.umich.edu
Brad Blanchard Great Lakes Bay Veterans Coalition bpblanchard@outlook.com	Kevin Bohnsack, MD* Trinity Health Michigan, MI Air National Guard Kevin.Bohnsack@trinity-health.org	Melanie Brim Melanie Brim Consulting/MSU COM Impart Alliance Melanie@melaniebrimconsulting.com
*Parker Brisbee^** MSU Institute for Health Policy brisbeep@msu.edu	Arielle Buckley MDHHS Bureau of Aging, Community Living & Supports Buckleya3@michigan.gov	Eduardo Calzada Genesee Health System ecalzada@genhs.org
Lindsay DeCamp, MHA MDHHS, State Suicide Prevention Coordinator decampl@michigan.gov	Paul Dery Lapeer County CMH PDery@lapeercmh.org	Marcia Ditmyer, PhD, MBA, MS SVSU College of Health and Human Services mditmyer@svsu.edu
Craig Donahue Michigan Health Council Craig.Donahue@mhc.org	Mathew J. Edick, PhD Michigan Public Health Institute mjedick@mphi.org	Shawn Edwards Genesee Health System SEdwards@genhs.org
Will Emerson, PhD* Lansing Community College emersow1@star.lcc.edu	Ryan Engle* MDMVA Michigan Veteran Homes EngleR3@michigan.gov	Erica Farr^ MSU College of Human Medicine farreric@msu.edu
Jonathan Ferguson Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton, Ingham Counties Ferguson@ceicmh.org	Kara Fields Region 10: Motor City Veteran Community Action Team fieldsk61@macomb.edu	Patrick Forystek* MSU Student Veterans Resource Center foryste3@msu.edu
Eric B. Fretz, PhD* Veterans Community Action Team, Region 9, UM College of Literature, Science, and the Arts ebfretz@umich.edu	Jonathan Fritz, MBA MDHHS, PRiSMM Program Coordinator fritzj4@michigan.gov	Jonathan Garvey* MDMVA, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency garveyj@michigan.gov
Kai N. Gritter, MSHE MSU Extension grittern@msu.edu	Farah Hanley Health Management Associates fhanley@healthmanagement.com	Autumn Hartpence* Lakeshore Regional PIHP autumnh@lsre.org
Ariel Hawthorne, MPH^ MSU Institute for Health Policy george51@msu.edu	Judge Molly Hennessey Greenwalt, JD, MA 54B District Court mgreenwalt@cityofeastlansing.com	Erika Hoover* MDMVA, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency hoovere2@michigan.gov
Joan Ilardo, PhD, LMSW^ MSU CHM Department of Family Medicine & Institute for Health Policy ilardo@msu.edu	Christy Koons* MDHHS, Regional State Veterans Coordinator christy.a.koons@gmail.com	Michelle Kees, PhD UM College of Literature, Science, and the Arts mkees@med.umich.edu
Alyssa Knoll Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center alyssa.knoll@va.gov	Jeff Kullgren, MD, MPH, MS Ann Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research, University of Michigan jkullgre@med.umich.edu	Adam LaVigne* National Guard Bureau- Michigan adam.p.lavigne.mil@army.mil
Tammy Lemmer MDHHS Bureau of Aging, Community Living & Supports lemmert1@michigan.gov	Kristina Leonardi MDHHS Bureau of Aging, Community Living & Supports Leonardik1@michigan.gov	Frank Lombard, BSW, MSW* Upper Peninsula Commission for Area Progress, Region 1 VCAT lombardf@upcap.org
Erin Maroni Heart to Heart Hospice emaroni@htohh.com	Mollie Marti, PhD, JD Worldmaker Resilience Institute mollie@worldmakerinternational.org	*Steve McCartney^** MDMVA Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency mccartneys2@michigan.gov
Emily Norrix MDHHS Oral Health Program norrixe@michigan.gov	Heather Nystrom, LMSW, MBA* National Guard Bureau- Michigan heather.l.nystrom2.mil@army.mil	Kathleen Oberst, RN, PhD^ MSU Institute for Health Policy oberstka@msu.edu
Charles Ohlsson The War Memorial cohlsson@warmemorial.org	Dawn S. Opel, JD, PhD Food Bank Council of Michigan dopel@fbcmich.org	Dominick Pallone Michigan Association of Health Plans dpallone@mahp.org
Brian Pegouske* VA Battle Creek Medical Center brian.pegouske@va.gov	Jenna Pryor, MSW PsychArmor jpryor@psycharmor.org	Mia Railing UM Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center mrail@med.umich.edu
Shaun Raleigh, MBA Molina Healthcare shaun.raleigh@molinahealthcare.com	Melissa Riba Center for Health Research and Transformation (CHRT), UM ribameli@med.umich.edu	Summer Robertson Barry County Community Mental Health Authority surobertson@bccmha.org
Dave Schneider, MPA MSU Institute for Health Policy schne694@msu.edu	Holli Seabury, EdD Delta Dental Foundation, Michigan Oral Health Coalition hseabury@deltadentalmi.com	Courtney Seaman, OTRL, MS, MBA Lansing Community Based Outpatient Clinic courtney.seaman@va.gov
Jonathan Shiflett, JD* Priority Health Jonathan.shiflett@priorityhealth.com	Beth I. Sieloff, MPH, E-RYT, CMSgt* Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan bsieloff@itcmi.org	*Dean Sienko, MD, MS^** MSU Institute for Health Policy Dean.sienko@affiliate.msu.edu
Kayla Smith MDHHS Bureau of Aging, Community Living & Supports smithk138@michigan.gov	Inetta Smith, MSA NovaCare Rehabilitation, Lansing Area Veterans Coalition (Region 7) lansingareaveteranscoaliton@gmail.com	April Stopczynski Michigan Dental Association astop@michigandental.org
Ellen Sugrue-Hyman The Law Office of Ellen Sugrue Hyman PLLC loellenhymanpllc@gmail.com	Alex Szwarc The War Memorial aszwarc@warmemorial.org	Tina Thompson, LMSW MSU School of Social Work blaschke@msu.edu
Sarah Tomaka, DDS, MPH UM School of Dentistry (Victors for Veterans) satomaka@umich.edu	Michelle Twichell MSU COM Impart Alliance twichell@msu.edu	Emre Umucu, PhD The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) eumucu@utep.edu
Renee Verbeke Strength in Numbers rverbeke5928@charter.net	Cassandra Watson LifeWays CMH cassandra.watson@lifewaysmi.org	Brian Webb, MDIV* MDHHS Bureau of Specialty Behavioral Health Services/Veteran Health Navigator Program webbb3@michigan.gov
Tabitha Welch Lapeer County CMH twelch@lapeercmh.org	Gayle Witham, LMSW, ACM, BCD VA Battle Creek Medical Center Gayle.Witham@va.gov	Brenden Wright, LISW, LICDC* VA Battle Creek Medical Center brenden.wright@va.gov

*Active/Retired Veteran Status

^Administrative Core Team

Advisory Council Meeting Notes

Please subscribe to Veteran Health and Wellness Collaborative updates: