Our team

Chief executive Officer 

Ann Mendelsohn, LCSW

Ann has been in the field of behavioral health for over 20 years. She served as the Chief Operating Officer, Site Administrator, Clinical Supervisor and an intake coordinator, as well as provided group, family and individual therapy at CCHP for the past 20 years. Ann was asked to step in as CCHP’s Interim CEO in the spring of 2021, and was officially named CEO in December 2021. Prior to joining CCHP, she was a forensic interviewer for victims of childhood sexual abuse. She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill and specializes in substance abuse, mood disorders, PTSD, and trauma.

Chief Medical Officer 

Mariely Fernandez, MD

Dr. Mariely Fernandez is a board-certified pediatrician and addiction medicine physician who has practiced community medicine for over 15 years. She graduated from the Ross University School of Medicine in 2003 and completed her residency at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center, becoming chief resident in her final year. She has worked with multiple disciplines to provide high-quality, integrated, family-focused care to patients since 2007. Last year, Dr. Fernandez was the recipient of the 2022 AMWA (American Medical Women's Association) INSPIRE Award, which recognizes accomplished women physicians who inspire others because of their dedication to health care, compassion for patients, leadership, advocacy efforts, or community service. Dr. Fernandez is dedicated to providing accessible, integrated care to the children and families of the East Harlem and greater New York area for many years to come.

Chief Financial Officer

Tonia Elvin, MS

Tonia has worked in the financial industry for over 20 years, gaining experience in conversions, cost reductions, and general management skills through the implementation of rigid internal controls and adherence of GAAP accounting policies and procedures. As the CFO, her goals include upgrading the entire fiscal department by strengthening financial controls, requiring daily efficient financial transaction processing on financial platforms, and ensuring quick turn-around on accounts receivable, to continue to foster sound financial operations for CCHP. She earned her Master's Degree in financial accounting from Lehman College.

Chief Operating Officer

Michelle Gadot, MS

Michelle came to CCHP after receiving her Master's in Urban Policy Analysis and Management, from the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at the New School. She has over ten years of experience in development, communications and program management working in the nonprofit health sector. Prior to joining CCHP, Michelle obtained experience in community health while working at the William F. Ryan Community Health Network in New York as a Planning Associate and Program/Community Relations Coordinator.

Director of Human Resources

Drew Marsenison

Drew Marsenison is currently the Human Resources Director at CCHP. Drew has just shy of two decades of HR management experience and is a long-standing active member with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) on the national and local levels. Drew has extensive expertise in recruitment/talent management, employee labor relations, ATS, HR systems administration, workers compensation, benefits administration, training and development, records management, HR policy/procedure and compliance, auditing, contract management and negotiation, HRIS, payroll, public speaking and much more.

DIRECTOR OF NURSING

Geni Adams

Before joining the CCHP team, Geni served in the Active Duty Army and honed her skills in emergency medicine. For over seven years, she worked as a travel nurse and gained valuable experience that led her to the Bronx in 2019. She is the recipient of the Daisy Award for nursing, and her extensive background in emergency medicine allowed her to bring essential relief to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Geni has experience with patients of all ages, from birth to death, and is committed to selfless service. She values care, compassion, diversity, integrity, and well-being. She brings exceptional leadership skills, a passion for nursing, and a wealth of knowledge to the CCHP community. 

Director of ECDC

Thea Obstler

Thea first came to the Early Childhood Education Center at CCHP, shortly after having her first child in 1997. She then trained to become a parent educator and has been teaching ECDC classes since 2005. Thea went on to become the ECDC director in 2017. She has a BA from Colorado College and a graduate degree in business from the Thunderbird School of International Management. Prior to working at CCHP, Thea worked in international advertising including stints in Frankfurt, Germany and London, England.

Healthcare Facilities Manager

Miguel Mejia

Miguel joined CCHP in April 2022 as the Facility Office Manager. Most recently, he was the Operations Manager at New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center (NYPCC). During his tenure at NYPCC, he helped the agency expand the Client Services Department and increased the number of clients that they were able to see daily. Before working at NYPCC, he served as the Operations Manager at the Jewish Board, where he managed two clinics. He has been working in the public sector for almost 30 years and finds great joy in helping the community. When he is not keeping busy with work, you can find him on a beach somewhere.

Director of Behavioral Health and Addiction Services

Jaimie Taxier, MS.ED, CRC

Jaimie joined CCHP in 2014 as the Employment and Education Counselor. She has since been a Lead Counselor, a Program Supervisor, and is now the Program Manager of the Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program and the Behavioral Health Program. Jaimie specializes in addiction services, mood disorders, and disabilities. She received her undergraduate degree at CUNY Queens and her Master’s at CUNY Hunter in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling.

Program manager

Robin Mitchell, CASAC, MS

Robin has worked in methadone maintenance for over 10 years, with experience in counseling and program management. She worked at Lafayette Medical Approach before coming to CCHP. Robin has her CASAC, along with a Master’s in Education from CUNY, Staten Island and Master’s of International and Intercultural Management from the School for International Training in Vermont.

Program Manager

Nicholas Prieto, LCSW

Nicholas graduated from Fordham University with a Master of Social Work in 2017, and joined CCHP in 2018 as a Counselor. Nicholas is currently the LCSW Program Supervisor for our Methadone Maintenance Program and our Outpatient Substance Abuse Program. He specializes in addiction services, as well as working with individuals managing various mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and trauma. Nicholas is trained in TF-CBT, harm reduction, and utilizes a variety of treatment modalities. 

HIV Prevention and Support Service Manager

Kathy Figueroa, CHES

Kathy is a Certified Health Education Specialist with a degree in Health Education and Promotion.  She brings over twelve years of extensive experience in health education, program implementation, program evaluation, and management of health prevention programs. In her current role as the HIV Prevention and Support Service Manager at CCHP, Kathy works closely with a multidisciplinary team, overseeing program development, implementation, and evaluation. Kathy's leadership skills and strategic thinking have significantly contributed to the continuous improvement of our HIV prevention efforts.

Board of directors

Chair

Barbara Paxton

Barbara Paxton is the Director of BoardStrong. BoardStrong provides nonprofits access to diverse trained board candidates with a passion to serve, while helping boards make best use of the talent around the table and preparing new board members to serve as effectively as possible. She has over 20 years of experience working with nonprofits, including as Director of Development of The Child Center and Executive Director of Children of Bellevue. She also serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Henry J. Carter Center.

treasurer

Max Thompson, Managing Director & Group Head, Healthcare Investment Banking, Synovus

Max is an investment banker focused on emerging growth, middle market, and large healthcare services companies across the US. He is the founder and currently the Group Head of the Healthcare Services Investment Banking team at Synovus, an American financial services company with over $55 billion in assets. Previously, he worked at Bank of America's Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group in New York and London and J.P. Morgan in New York. Max is an alum of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Undergrad), the Stanford Graduate School of Business (Executive Education), and the Horace Mann School in New York.

Secretary

Sara Stone, Freelance Retail Design Projects

Sara Stone is an artist and designer. She has been a long standing community volunteer and leader, with experience in communications, program development and fundraising. Her dedication includes working with The New York Junior League (NYJL), MOMA, The Museum of Art & Design, Lacoste School of the Arts in France, St. Luke’s School, Catskill Mountains Junior Golf, and a fire department auxiliary in the Catskills. At the NYJL, where Sara has volunteered for over 20 years, she chaired and co-chaired multiple committees and served on the board as a manager and vice president. It was her involvement with NYJL that led Sara to CCHP, when she was asked to chair a committee to work with our Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC). Several years later, Sara herself joined ECDC with her son. She is also a director of The Stone Family Foundation.

director

Ben Kusmin

Ben is an attorney, practicing commercial litigation at Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP in New York City. Earlier in his legal career, Ben gained substantial experience representing homeless families and criminal defendants in pro bono matters. Prior to becoming an attorney, Ben worked as a mechanical engineer and lived in Istanbul, Turkey for a number of years. Ben graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Boston University School of Law.

director

Donna Lazarus, Esq, Special Counsel, Associate Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

Donna Lazarus is an attorney practicing in the areas of employment law and education law.  She is a Special Counsel at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP where she has worked for over a decade.  She handles employment discrimination , harassment, and employment-related policies for corporate and other clients.  She also works with a broad range of educational institutions, specializing in independent schools, advising them on a variety of legal matters including board liability, student discipline, learning and other disabilities, admissions, contract, and litigation issues.  Donna is a graduate of Binghamton University and New York University School of Law.

director

Will George, Senior Director, Strategy NYU Langone Health

Will is a senior director at NYU Langone Health focusing on enterprise strategic planning and growth, leveraging prior experience as a management consultant advising healthcare clients across the country. Will holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

director

Ruth Colp-Haber, Founder / Wharton Property Advisors

Over the last 30 years, Ruth Colp-Haber has completed roughly 500 NYC office leases for businesses, schools, and nonprofits. Her company Wharton Property Advisors (WPA) is a real estate consultancy that represents tenants leasing office space in New York. Ruth is a Counselor of Real Estate and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.  WPA is also a partner in an exclusive global network of real estate agents representing tenants in approximately 75 cities in the United States and worldwide.

In a real estate market where landlords charged eye-popping rents until the pandemic hit, Ruth has a long history of obtaining favorable leases for her clients. Ruth has been a member of the Real Estate Board of New York since 1989 and currently serves on its Economic Policy, Plaza District, Grand Central, and Lower Manhattan Committees.  She is a Board Member of the Center for Comprehensive Health Practice and St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children.

Before starting her own woman-owned business as a real estate entrepreneur, Ruth was a Mortgage Trader at Merrill Lynch.

Ruth earned her MBA at The Wharton School. She also received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating Magna cum Laude. Ruth is a fourth-generation native New Yorker and attended the Fieldston School.

director

Angela Tu

Angela Tu is an internal medicine physician with a focus on immigrant and community health. She trained at NYU/Bellevue and worked at Gouverneur Hospital from which she retired to raise her three boys. Angela, with her boys, has been a part of ECDC for 18 years. 

Angela graduated from State University of New York / Health Science Center at Stony Brook in 2001. She has been a Director on the Board of CCHP since 2012.

director

Chirag Choksey

Chirag Choksey is currently Head of Trading and Data Analytics at Forest Avenue Capital. Prior to joining Forest Avenue Capital, Chirag was a Senior Quantitative Analyst at Zimmer Partners.  From 2014 to 2019, Chirag served as a Vice President at Blackstone, where he was responsible for trading, investment evaluation, portfolio analytics, and risk management for BAAM's Special Situations Investing Group. Chirag started his career as a defense contractor at Artistech, working with Army Research Labs in robotics and visualization. Chirag holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from Cornell University, and a Master of Business Administration from NYU Stern.

director

Leslie Stone, Family Medicine Physician Neighborhood Clinic on Capitol Mall

Dr. Stone is a graduate of the UAMS College of Medicine. In the summer of 2000, he worked as a research assistant for a field study of child malnutrition in Honduras. In 2004, he worked with Cuban physicians in Havana and Santa Clara, Cuba.  Dr. Stone worked as a physician in Arkansas for several years before moving to work in a community health center serving East Harlem, New York in 2014.  While there, he participated in team-based care for his patients.

Graduate School State University of New York at Buffalo

Medical School University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Undergraduate Education University of Central Arkansas

DIRECTOR

Andre Nelson, MPA

Andre Nelson, MPA is a self-proclaimed ‘Analytical Advocate.’ With an extensive background in analytics, Andre has worked in both financial services and the healthcare/hospital sectors. Currently Andre works as a manager at a healthcare-analytics tech company based in Santa Rosa, California. Although analytics and data are Andre’s profession, his true passion is in understanding and addressing healthcare disparities: specifically reducing maternal mortality rates in BIPOC women and birthing people.

Andre is the Founder and CEO of Obsidian Perinatal Wellness (OPWell), which is a company centered around educating and supporting BIPOC non-birthing partners. The mission of his company is to ensure non-birthing partners are informed and knowledgeable around the potential risks that BIPOC birthing people face throughout their pregnancy. The ultimate goals are to empower these non-birthing partners to advocate and escalate potential issues should they arise, and to also ensure active participation and focused attention on their partners’ wellness up to one year post partum.

Andre holds a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University in International Business and Marketing, and also has a master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus on Healthcare Administration from Pace University. He is a father of two to Kayden (3 years old) and Amani (10 months old), and recently celebrated his 10-year wedding anniversary with his wife Jacqueline. In his spare time, he enjoys practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and spending time with family and friends.

director emeritus

Miki Kapoor, MBA, MPH, President & CEO, Verana Health

Miki Kapoor is an operational executive with twenty years of exclusively healthcare experience. He has a fifteen-year history of scaling businesses through building high-performing management teams, knowing the realities of healthcare intimately, and creating a culture of results. He is currently President & CEO of Verana Health, the developer of a cutting-edge platform for life science innovation that utilizes regulatory-grade specialty data sets. Mr. Kapoor has also previously served as the Global Head of both Strategy and the Global Payer / Provider Division at IMS Health, Senior Expert for McKinsey & Company, the Global Head of Health Systems at the Clinton Foundation, and a senior investment banker in the healthcare industry.  He has an MBA and MPH from Yale University, is a Fulbright Fellow, and serves on the boards of several healthcare organizations.

Providers

The following information will help you select your preferred healthcare provider at CCHP. We practice together to provide a wide range of health care services for children and adults. Please see call the Front Desk at (212) 360-7700 if you have any questions or would like to switch providers.

Mariely Fernandez, MD, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Fernandez has been at CCHP since 2007. Dr. Fernandez graduated from the Ross University School of Medicine in 2003 and completed her residency at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Addiction Medicine. She has a special interest in childhood obesity and community pediatrics. Dr. Fernandez is bilingual in English/Spanish.

Sharon Chu, MD, MPH, AAHIVS, Family Practitioner

Sharon came to CCHP in 2018. She graduated from SUNY Downstate Medical Center with her medical degree and masters in public health. She completed her residency training at Lancaster General Health in Lancaster, PA. She is board certified in Family Medicine. She is also certified as a HIV specialist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. She has a special interest in HIV care and prevention, family and maternal health, preventive medicine, and addressing health disparity. She is multilingual in Urdu, Hindi, Spanish, and English.

Anna Renkiewicz, MD Internist

Anna came to CCHP in 2012. She graduated from the Medical University of Gdansk in Poland in 2003 and completed her residency at Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Renkiewicz is board certified in Internal Medicine and has a special interest in Hepatitis C, Addiction Medicine, neurophysiology of addiction and holistic medicine. Dr. Renkiewicz is bilingual in English/Polish.

Judy M. Holder, MSN, RN, FNP-VC, Nurse Practitioner
Judy is a Nurse Practitioner at CCHP, where our patients appreciate her compassionate and steady nature. Prior to CCHP, Judy worked at New York Presbyterian (NYP) coordinating their annual influenza campaign, then transferred to NYC Health + Hospitals at the beginning of the pandemic, working on the COVID-19 testing team doing critical testing and vaccination work. Judy has been a Registered Nurse since 2010. She started her RN career in outpatient case management then went to internal medicine at Lincoln Hospital before working on the vaccination drive at NYP. Judy has practiced around various boroughs of New York, and has a Master of Science from Lehman College.  Her last NP assignment was on the COVID frontlines.

Delcarmise Napoleon, Nurse Practitioner

Delcarmise is a successful nursing professional with decades of experience in diagnosing, evaluating, and treating acute and chronic medical conditions. She has a history of providing compassionate care, assisting physicians, and managing plans of care. She brings exceptional critical thinking and decision-making skills to the CCHP family. Delcarmise has practiced in New York and Haiti. She has a Master in Science of Nursing Family Medicine & Bachelor of Science from Dominican University.

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