Health Equity Committee Members
Group Hospitalization & Medical Services (GHMSI) Appointed Members
Dr. Bryan O. Buckley, DrPH, MPH, MBA, ACC
Bryan O. Buckley, DrPH, MPH, MBA, ACC, is a leader focused on health equity and system-oriented approaches. As the Head of Public Health at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Dr. Buckley spearheads the strategy for advancing and achieving better health outcomes for the people and communities in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Virginia regions. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, mentoring graduate students in community partnerships and change management. With over 15 years of experience, Dr. Buckley is a dedicated public health practitioner who blends frontline experience with educational insights, leading transformational initiatives in organizational development, process improvement, health delivery system redesign, performance improvement, and change management.
Dr. Buckley's academic credentials include a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, focusing on management, strategy, and organizational change. Additionally, he earned an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology, a BS in Microbiology, and an MPH with a concentration in Infectious Diseases and Administration from Michigan State University. As a certified ICF coach, Dr. Buckley is deeply involved in public health leadership, serving as an Executive Board Member at the American Public Health Association and on the National Board of Creating Healthier Communities. Locally, he contributes as a Board Member of the American Heart Association’s Greater Washington Region and Food & Friends, showcasing his commitment to community health and well-being.
Juan M. Jara
Juan Jara currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Market Manager of the City National Bank. He brings more than 20 years of banking experience and was most recently with EagleBank, where he was responsible for 21 retail branches in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland. Jara is committed to giving back to the community, and he serves as the treasurer of the board of directors of the United Planning Organization. He is also the chairman of the board of directors of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of directors of GALA Hispanic Theatre. Jara was a member of Washington, D.C., Councilmember Brandon Todd’s Ward 4 Economic Development Advisory Council. The Washington Business Journal recognized Jara as a Minority Business Leader in 2016.
Wendell L. Johns
Currently, Mr. Johns serves on the board of Cinnaire Corporation as Chair, and for the Howard University (Public Charter) Middle School for Mathematics and Science as Chair.
From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Johns served as Executive Vice President and CFO of the NHP Foundation, a nonprofit owner and operator of affordable rental housing in 11 states. During a leadership transition and headquarters relocation, he was asked to serve as acting COO/CEO. He retired in 2005 as Vice President for Multifamily Housing at Fannie Mae, where he helped direct its development of an industry-leading portfolio of community development and affordable rental assets starting in 1988. There, he played a critical role in creating tools for the industry including: structuring the first single investor equity fund, capitalizing some of the premier state and local equity funds and designing the “recapture exclusion” which was proposed to Congress to advance affordable rental housing preservation. He also pioneered housing finance models that later became Fannie Mae’s American Communities Fund.
From 1978 to 1988, Mr. Johns was Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for a number of divisions of Oxford Development Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana and later in Bethesda, Maryland. Prior to that, he was an audit supervisor with Coopers & Lybrand (CPAs) in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Mr. Johns has served on the boards of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield – Vice Chair (Baltimore, MD and Washington, D.C.); the Graduate Theological Union – Treasurer (Berkeley, CA); the American Red Cross of the National Capital Region – Chair; Girls Inc of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area - Treasurer; and, the American Lung Association of the District of Columbia.
Mr. Johns holds a BS from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Johns is married to the Honorable Marie C. Johns and lives in Washington, D.C.
DC Mayor Appointed Members
Lori Kaplan
Lori Kaplan led the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) to its national prominence as an award-winning network of youth programs in Washington, DC, from 1987 – 2019. Under Kaplan's direction, LAYC guided thousands of low-income youth to better opportunity, while creating pioneering organizations and charter schools in the District of Columbia.
Kaplan’s leadership roles include selection as a board member of Leadership Washington, The Nonprofit Roundtable, Asian American LEAD, and she was the founding co-chair of the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. She was a founding board of Youth Radio and Youth Media International, an award winning youth media organization training diverse voices in the field of journalism. She served as an advisor and panelist on the Reconnecting Youth work group of the Clinton Global Initiative America conferences in 2013 and 2014, as well as Georgetown University's Center on Poverty, The National Youth Employment Coalition, and The National Youth Policy Forum.
Under Kaplan’s leadership at the LAYC she was a co-founder of three DC public charter schools—Next Step, YouthBuild, and LAYC Career Academy. She also expanded LAYC’s award winning model into Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.
Her numerous recognitions include receiving the Community Champion Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Lewis Hine Award for her work on child labor issues, and being named one of “Washington's 50 Influencers” by the Washington Informer Charities. In 1997 she was named Washingtonian of the Year by the Washingtonian Magazine.
Currently Kaplan serves as a consultant, volunteer and advisor to the nonprofit sector. She is the founding member of the Coalition for Nonprofit Equity and serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the LAYC Career Academy Public Charter School. She is a member of the LEAP Ambassadors, a private community of experts and leaders who embrace the importance of high performance in the nonprofit sector and a member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Association – National Capital Area. She serves on the advisory committee for George Mason University MA Degree in Public Administration.
Kaplan earned her bachelor's degree in anthropology at Antioch College and her master's in education at the George Washington University.
Dr. Tollie B. Elliott, Sr.
Dr. Elliott is the former Chief Executive Officer of Mary’s Center.
Since 2016, Dr. Elliott served as the Chief Medical Officer for Mary’s Center. In this capacity, he was instrumental in strengthening the sustainability of the organization by designing, developing, and implementing the first telemedicine program in the District of Columbia at a Federally Qualified Health Center. Leading his team to develop new and innovative strategies has contributed to Mary’s Center being nationally recognized for the quality of healthcare delivered to their patients.
In addition to his role at Mary’s Center, Dr. Elliott counsels and serves on the medical advisory boards and credentialing committees for Amerigroup MD, Amerigroup DC, AmeriHealth Caritas DC, and Emerson Clinical Research Institute.
Dr. Elliott is a graduate of Howard University and Howard University College of Medicine. He completed his residency in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University, where he was named outstanding Senior Resident in Gynecologic Surgery and Obstetrics. Prior to joining Mary’s Center, Dr. Elliott served as the Director of the Ob/Gyn Peer Review, a member of the Surgical Case Review Committee, At-Large Member of the Medical Staff Executive Committee, and Co-Chair of the Department of Ob/Gyn at Providence Hospital in Washington, DC. Dr. Elliott was recognized as a Washingtonian Top Doctor in 2016.
Dr. Elliott is committed to community development, having taught in the Prince George’s County Public Schools and served as director of a mentoring program for at-risk youth early in his career. He enjoys family life as a father of five, as well as music and travel.
Courtney R. Snowden
Courtney R. Snowden is the Founder and President of The Blueprint Strategy Group, a boutique government and public affairs shop in Washington, DC.
She served her hometown as the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity in Washington, DC, appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser in April 2015. A sixth-generation Washingtonian, Courtney was charged with rebuilding and revitalizing the District’s overlooked and underserved communities, with a focus on workforce and economic development and small businesses.
Formerly a Principal at The Raben Group, Courtney relied upon a wealth of grassroots organizing, electoral, and policy experience to work for her clients. An accomplished political strategist, Courtney lobbied for the firm’s corporate and nonprofit clients, including Google, Mastercard, Airbnb, the National Urban League, the National Education Association, and Time Warner Cable.
Prior to joining The Raben Group, Courtney served as the Senior Lobbyist for the National PTA, directing its advocacy efforts on a variety of legislative issues, including budget and appropriations, vouchers, and No Child Left Behind. In addition, she led the effort to mobilize the National PTA’s 6 million members and effectively prepare them to serve as competent citizen activists on behalf of “Every Child, With One Voice.” During her tenure at the National PTA, Courtney chaired the National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE), a coalition comprised of more than 50 education, civic, civil rights, and religious organizations devoted to defeating state and federal efforts to create publicly funded private school vouchers.
Ms. Snowden served as the Federal and National Policy Manager for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where she strongly advocated for policies to prevent discrimination and bullying of LGBTQ students in our nation’s schools. Courtney’s hallmark achievement was expanding the Safe Drug-Free Schools programs that focused on anti-bullying efforts across the country.
Jointly Appointed Member
Dr. Nnemdi Kamanu Elias, MD, MPH
Nnemdi Kamanu Elias is a physician who has worked domestically and internationally in diverse settings in both direct service delivery and public health programming in under-resourced populations. She obtained her medical degree from Yale University; completed residency in Internal Medicine/Primary Care at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); and obtained a Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She is double Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine and was a specialist in HIV Medicine.
Dr. Elias is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and served as Senior Medical Director of the HIV/AIDS clinic and founder of the Office for Community Health and Engagement at United Medical Center (UMC). She joined UMC after serving as Chief Medical Officer at the Washington DC Department of Health's HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration (HAHSTA).
Prior to joining the DC government, she was a senior staff member at the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership in the Netherlands, an organization created by the European Commission to support the development of clinical interventions for poverty-related diseases in Africa and to build the capacity of developing country scientists. Under PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) as Chief of the HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment section of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Global AIDS Program in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
Dr. Elias oversaw the implementation of United States Government supported HIV care and treatment services. Before that, she was at PEPFAR headquarters, within the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator in the Department of State as a Technical Advisor. Dr. Elias’ most recent efforts have focused on changing "the Zip Code Paradigm" — where one's zip code affects one's health more than their genetic code.
Dr. Elias sits on various committees and nonprofit boards and is a founder and advisor for different mental health entities.