OUR TEAM

Mark was the biggest champion for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. He strongly believed in finding meaningful solutions to improve healthy equity by supporting the work of community health workers. His research at Akron Children’s Hospital Risk Reduction Research Initiative focused on ways to highlight how effective CHWs were. Risk identification and risk reduction became the basis of the Pathways Community HUB Institute℠ Model. This work also included the development of strategies to tie financing to confirmed reductions in risk. It was his early insight that led to the development of the PCHI℠ Model Certification program that is in place today.

Mark received his medical degree from Wright State University School of Medicine and completed his Pediatrics residency at the University of Maryland. Mark was a well-loved primary care pediatrician at Akron Children’s Hospital in Mansfield, Ohio.

Mark’s passion for improving health and social outcomes continues to motivate our team today. PCHI is striving to fulfill his mission.

Sarah is the Founder and CEO of the Pathways Community HUB Institute, a nonprofit organization established in 2015. PCHI supports the PCHI℠ Model through national certification and technical assistance to communities to assure Model fidelity. Sarah, and her late husband Mark Redding, MD, co-founded the Pathways Community HUB Institute℠ Model.

For the past three decades, Sarah has been involved with developing new strategies to provide sustainable community-based care coordination, train community health workers, and build outcome-based funding strategies. Her focus has always been on improving health equity.

Sarah received her medical degree from the Wright State University School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. She completed her residency in General Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

Jan Ruma currently serves as the Senior Advisor of the Pathways Community HUB Institute (PCHI), a national nonprofit organization founded to advance health equity by partnering with communities to implement the PCHI Model of community health worker driven care coordination. 

Jan has more than 38 years’ experience in institutional advancement in healthcare and higher education. She served as PCHI's President and CEO from 2021 until her retirement in October 2024. Prior to joining PCHI, she was the Vice President of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio for 24 years, where she focused on facilitating and resourcing outcome-oriented community partnerships to address health inequities, including directing the first nationally certified Pathways Community HUB in Ohio.

Jan holds a certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, a master’s degree in training and development, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, both from Bowling Green State University.

She has been recognized for her leadership with several awards: YWCA Milestones Award, a University of Toledo Champion for Human Rights & Social Justice Award, the Area Office on Aging President’s Award, the ProMedica Health Advocate of the Year Award, the St. Vincent Mercy Children’s Hospital Child Advocacy Award, and the Toledo 20 UNDER 40 Leadership Award.

Brenda A. Leath, DPS, MHSA, PMP, is the Director of Certification at the Pathways Community HUB Institute.  Dr. Leath brings a historical context to this role, drawing from more than a decade of experience working in various leadership capacities with the founders of the PCHI® Model - Dr. Sarah Redding and the late Dr. Mark Redding. In her former positions as senior study director and director of the Center on Health Disparities & Health Equity Research at Westat, Dr. Leath was instrumental in leading various sponsored projects that supported the promotion of the PCHI® Model as a healthcare innovation, pilot testing certification, developing performance measures, and implementing a learning network. She is a seasoned health professional with more than 35 years of experience in the health services industry and is recognized as a thought leader, author, advocate, and health policy strategist. Dr. Leath is founder & CEO of Leath & Associates, a minority woman-owned company in the District of Columbia. Dr. Leath earned her Doctorate of Professional Studies in Biomedical Ethics and Health Policy from the Albany Medical College, Alden March Bioethics Institute. She is a graduate of The George Washington University (Master of Health Services Administration) and Georgetown University (Bachelor in Psychology). She has maintained continuous certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute since 2006.

Rick Wilk, MPH, MBA, is director of community engagement and development for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. He has more than 30 years of experience in assisting communities in identify resources to enhance and/or redesign their health care delivery systems through multi-sector partnerships. Specializing in comprehensive, community care coordination, delivery system development, and public health interventions to ensure quality services to underserved populations, Rick has advised communities, provider groups, government entities and associations in ways to enhance their health care and human service offerings. Previously serving as the regional administrator of the HRSA Chicago Regional Office, Rick provided leadership in operations enhancement, national campaign development, program planning and oversight, support for FQHCs, non-profit organizations, hospitals, and governments to leverage resources to expand service offerings and access to services. Additional experience includes large meeting pacing event design and facilitation, and job coaching.

Amy Vreeland is the Chief Quality Officer at the Pathways Community HUB Institute, responsible for the PCHI® Model Continuous Quality Improvement Process, Quality Benchmark Report, Technology Vendor Certification, and special projects. Amy works collaboratively across the PCHI Network to foster innovation and performance to advance health equity.

Previously, Amy was the technology and analytics advisor to PCHI in the development of the updated PCHI® Model and the PCHI® Technology Vendor Certification Program. Amy has more than 30 years of experience in health technology and consulting, including as the CCO of an early-to-market company focused on community-based care, and as a co-founder of lifeIMAGE, a cloud-based enterprise image exchange platform. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Connecticut.

Mary Martell is the Director of Education and Training for the Pathways Community HUB Institute. Mary has more than 15 years of experience in program development and post-secondary education including leading the development and implementation of a Pathways Community HUB in northeastern Ohio, and serving as an assistant lecturer at the University of Akron. Currently enrolled as a doctoral candidate at Youngstown State University, Mary holds a master’s degree in health and human services from The University of Akron.

Ellie Kaufman, MPH, is the Manager of Operations & Certification of Pathways Community HUB Institute. Her bachelor and master degrees are from the University of Toledo and the Northwest Ohio Consortium of Public Health. She has more than six years of public health experience focused on maternal & child health, community health assessments and company health education.

Isaac Baez joined the Pathways Community HUB Institute® (PCHI®) as the Assistant Director of Education and Training in July 2024. He supports PCHI's mission to address health disparities and advance health equity by developing and implementing training programs for Community Health Workers (CHWs) in both English and Spanish. In his new role, Isaac will foster collaboration among staff, consultants, and partners, teach the PCHI® curriculum in live and virtual settings, oversee and administer training, and manage the translation of program materials.

Prior to joining PCHI, Isaac served as Director of the Summa Health Equity Center. In this role, he led strategic initiatives to address the social, economic, and structural determinants of health in collaboration with internal departments, community partners, and external constituents.

Isaac holds a Master of Public Health from NEOMED and is a Certified Diversity Executive (CDE) through the Institute of Diversity Certification. He has conducted training sessions on Cultural and Linguistic Competency, Cultural Humility, Language Access, and LGBTQ+ 101 throughout Stark and Summit Counties in Ohio. His dedication to underserved populations is reflected in his involvement with groups such as the March for Akron (Ohio) Pride Festival's Steering Committee, Akron-Canton (Ohio) Latino Committee, Refugee Task Force, Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV), and the Board of Plexus LGBT + Allied Chamber of Commerce.