Migrant Clinicians Network Welcomes New Board Members, Sends Gratitude to Board Members Finishing Their Terms

Migrant Clinicians Network is pleased to welcome four new members to its Board of Directors. Last year, the Board of Directors voted to change its bylaws to expand the roster from nine to 16 members and seek new members with a variety of skills and perspectives while continuing to include frontline clinicians who serve migrant populations. 

This year, the Board of Directors voted in four new members, bringing a diverse set of skills including nonprofit management, health equity, philanthropy, and employment and legal expertise. We also would like to send a grateful farewell to the three board members who have completed their board service this year, after many years of working hard toward health justice with us.

"Our nonprofit’s Board members play a vital role in our success,” explained Kim Nolte, MPH, Chief Executive Officer for MCN. “Their efforts in fundraising and advocacy are critical to ensuring we have the resources and relationships to continue making a profound impact in the lives of mobile populations. I am grateful to our three Board members for their work and dedication to MCN and am eager to roll up my sleeves with our current Board and new members. This is an exciting time for MCN as we create a vision for our future with a larger and more diverse Board of Directors.”

Meet Our New Board Members

	Peggy Finster, Esq., SHRM-SCP is an experienced lawyer who has held senior legal and human resources roles in-house at several public companies. Previously, Finster was an Associate in the Labor and Employment Groups at the top-tier law firms of Morgan Lewis and Skadden Arps. Finster graduated from Columbia Law School, focused on employment law and workplace equity. During law school, she was a Human Rights Fellow at the Center for the Administration of Justice in Northern Ireland. Her Master’s in Women’s Studies is from Georgia State University.
	Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN is Dean of Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, which has risen under Dean McCauley’s leadership to No. 1 in US News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Nursing Schools” guide. Dean McCauley’s own research lies at the intersection of nursing and environmental and occupational health sciences. Her research has included efforts on heat stress with Farmworkers Association of Florida, and children’s environmental health with funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science.
	David Ping, MHA is the managing partner of the David Ping Group, a management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, board capacity development, and fundraising. Health equity is critical in the work with all of his clients. Prior to founding DPG, Ping was the Chief Strategy Officer for the largest health system in the Hudson Valley of New York. Ping has a Master's in Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota.
	Melinda Wiggins, MTS is the Director of Strategy and Operations at The LIFT Fund, which catalyzes deeper collaboration and investment between unions, philanthropy, movement-building community organizations, and academia to build worker power. Before joining LIFT, Wiggins served as the Executive Director of Student Action for Farmworkers for 25 years, leading and supporting efforts to create learning communities for young people interested in workers’ rights, facilitating community-labor alliances, and beyond.

You can read the full-length bios of all of our current Board Members on our Board of Directors page. 
 

Gratitude to Our Former Board Members

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our three outgoing board members who have dedicated their time and expertise to MCN through some very challenging years, including through the pandemic.

	Eva Gálvez, MD first joined the MCN board in 2016 and quickly became integrated into our work. When the pandemic hit, Dr. Gálvez stepped up, partnering with MCN to produce numerous Spanish-language resources for agricultural workers like this PSA, and working diligently in her own community to push for emergency worker protections. For over four years, Dr. Gálvez has been updating our constituents on the rapidly changing landscape of COVID via “Póngase al día con la Dra. Gálvez,” our short-form YouTube videos in Spanish on the most recent questions and answers about the virus, prevention techniques like vaccines, and treatments like Paxlovid. Dr. Gálvez contributed widely to MCN, including as a presenter in webinars, in pesticide trainings of clinicians, through advocacy work, and as a contributor and reviewer (like on toxic stress) on the blog.
	Robert Shelly, MD, FAAP joined MCN as a new member of the Board in 2019. Dr. Shelly has worked closely with MCN on a variety of issues, from voicing his experience with agricultural workers on vaccine hesitancy in Streamline to sharing best practice son rapid transitions to telehealth during the early months of the pandemic on our blog. Dr. Shelly was instrumental during our extensive CEO search, spending many hours over many months guiding and advising our process as Board Chair.
	Gayle Thomas, MD joined MCN’s Board in 2015. Dr. Thomas has worked closely with MCN staff to support and strengthen numerous programs and projects across the organization. She was highly engaged in our extensive pesticide training of clinicians. She provided insight, guidance, and on-the-ground perspective during the earliest months of the pandemic and beyond. Her support and expertise were regularly called in for various advocacy efforts. Both Drs. Gálvez and Thomas graciously accepted the request to stay for an additional three-year term in 2021 in order to provide guidance, historical perspective, and continuity during our transition from our Founding Executive Officer, Karen Mountain, MBA, MSN, RN, to our current CEO, Kim Nolte, and through the difficult years of the pandemic.