Primary Care Forward: Driving New York’s Health Care Transformation

Dr. Nathan Graber is currently the Chief Medical Officer and former Pediatric Medical Director with the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Health Insurance Programs (a.k.a. The NYS Medicaid Program) and directs the Division of Medical and Dental Directors. He is an experienced pediatrician having cared for patients in a variety of settings including the Pediatric Emergency Department at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, a pediatric primary care practice in Saratoga County, NY and as a hospitalist at Albany Medical Center where he is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics. He started out his career in government overseeing environmental public health programs for the City of New York and then New York State, switching to Medicaid a few years ago to focus on the intersection of public and population health. He received his MD from the Gray Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University and completed his residency in Pediatrics at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. He earned an MPH from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he also completed a fellowship in Pediatric Environmental Health. Dr. Graber has served as a member of the United States Lead Exposure Advisory Committee and is currently a member of the New York State Advisory Council on Lead Poisoning Prevention and the Chair of the New York State Evidence Based Benefits Review Advisory Committee.

Isaac Kastenbaum is the Vice President of the Consulting & Training team and a member of the organization’s senior executive team. Isaac joined PCDC in 2020 to deepen its expertise in primary care transformation and value-based payment, and to expand the breadth of partners, stakeholders, and communities where PCDC could have an impact. Prior to PCDC, Isaac served in a variety of roles at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Partners In Health, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. While at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, he oversaw the hospital’s DSRIP and health home networks, the hospital’s post-acute care strategy, and the integration of social determinants, behavioral health, and primary care screening across the emergency department and ambulatory practices. Isaac has been responsible for driving performance in systems serving 80,000+ lives, establishing standards for post-discharge care for 100,000 discharges per year, and managing the deployment of mobile technology to support a myriad of community health worker programs. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Boston University and a Master of Public Administration degree in health policy from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.

Dr. Alister Martin is the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. An emergency physician and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Martin served as a senior advisor in the office of Vice President Kamala Harris as a White House Fellow, and previously as a health policy advisor to Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Congressman Raul Ruiz of California.

As CEO of A Healthier Democracy, he built public health programs that mobilized tens of thousands of health care providers and reached millions of patients. From running vaccination campaigns, to helping patients in health care settings register to vote, to connecting families with cash assistance benefits, to shaping public health policy at the highest levels of federal and state government, his career has been defined by operating at the intersection of clinical care and public health.

He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School as a Presidential Scholar and his Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. Born in New York City, he spent his early childhood in Jackson Heights, Queens, and now returns home to serve as Health Commissioner.

Robert Martiniano, DrPH, MPA, is the Senior Program Manager at the Center for Health Workforce Studies. Dr. Martiniano holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the University at Albany. He has an extensive background in health workforce research, survey and evaluation design, and project management. Dr. Martiniano is the lead staff on developing recruitment and retention surveys, on assessing RN production, and on conducting evaluations on a number of health workforce training initiatives. Dr. Martiniano is a current board member of the Hudson Mohawk AHEC and of the Health Workforce Collaborative and is involved on a number of community boards, including the Justice Center of Rensselaer County. He is an adjunct professor at the Russell Sage Colleges School of Management, teaching courses of strategic planning, program evaluation, and legal aspects of health care.

Aparna Mekala is the Chief Executive Officer of the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), a not-for-profit community development financial institution dedicated to strengthening the primary care safety net in the United States. PCDC provides capital, technical assistance, and advocacy to expand access to high-quality primary care, advance health equity, and reduce overall health care system costs. Prior to assuming leadership of PCDC, Aparna worked nationally with community health centers and other safety-net providers, supporting organizations at critical moments of growth, complexity, and change. Most recently, she served as a Partner in the Community Health practice at CohnReznick, where she led strategic, financial, and operational advisory engagements for mission-driven health care organizations. Her background spans strategy, policy, and financial due diligence, giving her a deep and practical understanding of reimbursement, regulatory, and operational realities across primary care and behavioral health. Aparna is known for her thoughtful leadership and her commitment to strengthening organizations so they can better serve their communities. She is a graduate of Coro Leadership New York (2016), a civic leadership program focused on advancing cross-sector leadership and public impact. Aparna holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Master of Public Health degree in health services and management from Boston University School of Public Health.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin has served the 88th New York State Assembly District (Scarsdale, Edgemont, Eastchester, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Pelham, Pelham Manor, and parts of New Rochelle and White Plains) since 2001.

A full-time legislator, Assemblywoman Paulin annually ranks among the state’s most productive lawmakers. Over 385 of her bills have been signed into law to date. Her diverse legislative agenda includes health care, education, reproductive rights, child welfare, domestic violence prevention, sex trafficking elimination, sustainability, animal welfare, and gun control. She currently chairs the Assembly Committee on Health.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera represents the 33rd District in the Northwest Bronx. Throughout his legislative career, he has passed 110 bills into law, protecting civil rights and addressing health inequities in our communities.

In 2018, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins appointed Senator Rivera as the Chair of the Senate Health Committee. He has since passed several measures to eradicate medical debt from our state, expand health coverage for older, undocumented New Yorkers, and extend coverage for new mothers for a full year after giving birth.

Senator Rivera is the main sponsor of the “New York Health Act," which would establish a universal, single payer health care system in New York. He also sponsors the bill to establish and regulate Overdose Prevention Centers to help New Yorkers struggling with substance abuse.

Ursula Rozum is Co-Director of Organizing and Policy at Citizen Action of New York, where she has managed campaigns focused on ending medical debt, challenging health insurance denials, and advancing equitable, affordable healthcare.

Ursula brings extensive experience in grassroots organizing, healthcare policy advocacy, and coalition building. She previously served as Co-Director of the Campaign for New York Health, advocating for universal, healthcare in New York.

Her work focuses on addressing systemic barriers to care, holding insurance companies accountable, and building people-powered movements to transform the healthcare system and put people first.

David Sandman, Ph.D., is President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Health Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially people of color and others who have been historically marginalized. Since 2006, NYHealth has invested more than $200 million in initiatives to improve health care and the public health system in New York State. Equally important, the Foundation is committed to sharing the results and lessons of its grantmaking; informing policy and practice through timely, credible analysis and commentary; and serving as a convener of health care leaders and stakeholders throughout New York State.

Dr. Sandman was named President and CEO in 2016, after serving as NYHealth’s Senior Vice President. Previously, Dr. Sandman was appointed by the Governor of New York as Executive Director of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, also known as the “Berger Commission.” The Commission was a nonpartisan, broad-based panel charged with evaluating and reforming the State’s health care delivery and financing systems. It developed recommendations to reconfigure the supply of hospitals and nursing homes to best respond to community needs for high-quality, affordable, and accessible care.
After serving as Executive Director of the Berger Commission, Dr. Sandman became a Managing Director of Manatt Health Solutions, where he advised health care providers, foundations, payers, associations, government, and companies regarding development of new health care programs, services, and restructuring plans. He also served as a policy analyst with the City of New York Department of Health; at a number of community-based HIV/AIDS organizations; and as a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Phara Souffrant Forrest represents the 57th Assembly District in Brooklyn, which consists of the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill as well as parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. She was first elected in 2020.

Phara is the daughter of Haitian immigrants and a lifelong resident of the 57th District. She is a proud product of Brooklyn’s public school system, attending Philippa Schuyler Middle School and Benjamin Banneker Academy for Community Development. She then went on to attend SUNY Geneseo, where she majored in international relations, before obtaining an associate’s nursing degree at CUNY City Tech and a BSN at CUNY School of Professional Studies.

She has held a variety of jobs that help her connect with her constituents, working in New York City public schools, as an Uber driver, and doing youth advocacy work at Global Kids. Before being elected to the Assembly, Phara worked as a maternal child field nurse, caring for new mothers after they gave birth.

In addition to her work as a nurse, Phara was president of her building’s tenant association before running for office. Tenant organizing, in particular the fight to pass the Housing Stability & Tenant Protection Act of 2019, was a major motivating force in her decision to run for office and stand up for tenants like her across the state.

Since being elected, she has continued to champion the rights of tenants, as well as expanding access to healthcare and reforms to the carceral system. In her first term, she passed the Less Is More Act, which made the state’s supervision system more just and equitable. She believes that working-class New Yorkers deserve stable housing, affordable healthcare, and the resources to pursue a good life.

Phara lives in Crown Heights with her husband and son.

Dr. Ramón Tallaj is the founder and chairman of SOMOS Community Care, a nonprofit physician-led network of more than 2,500 providers serving over one million Medicaid/Medicare beneficiaries New York City’s underserved communities.

He helped establish New York’s pay-for-performance model and built SOMOS into the only physician-led organization among state’s 25 Performing Provider Systems.

Under his leadership, SOMOS has improved quality and reduced costs, lowering hospital readmissions by 22% and emergency room visits by 35%, generating $336 million in annual savings. He also chairs Balance Accountable Care Organization, a top-performing ACO.

During COVID-19, he mobilized 125 multilingual sites, delivered millions of vaccines, and coordinated over two million meals.

He founded SOMOS Innovation, New York’s only Level 3 Value-Based Payment Innovator, and launched Social Care Network in the Bronx under 1115 Waiver, integrating housing, nutrition, and behavioral health services. Dr. Tallaj is recognized as a Modern Healthcare Top 20 Innovator.