FRANKFORT, Ky. — Dr. Brent Wright, a Glasgow family medicine physician, is the incoming board chair at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. He began his term as chair on Jan. 1, 2020.
A lifelong Kentuckian, Dr. Wright is the associate dean for rural health innovation at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, where he collaborates with numerous parties both in and outside the university. Dr. Wright also serves as president of the Kentucky Medical Association. He previously served as residency director at the UofL L/Glasgow Family Medicine Residency. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and earned his MD from the University of Louisville.
The Foundation also named three new board members, whose terms began Jan. 1, 2020:
Jane Chiles, of Lexington, is a passionate advocate for health care. She is immediate past chair of the KentuckyOne Health Board of Directors and also serves on the board of St. Joseph Health. She was a co-founder of the Friedell Committee for Health Systems Trans-formation, which joined with the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky in December 2018. Chiles was executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky from 1994 to 2002. She received her BA from Loyola University.
Dr. Pat Withrow is Director of Outreach and Physician Advisor at Baptist Health Paducah. A retired cardiologist, he previously served as a Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the hospital, as well as director of the Heart Center. Dr. Withrow’s recent advocacy work to promote a cigarette tax increase and a tobacco-free schools law follows a long history of health promotion efforts in the Commonwealth. His “Wizard of Health” presentations for elementary students focus on healthy eating, exercise and refraining from smoking. He has toured more than 10 counties in Western Kentucky presenting the program “The Adolescent Brain and Substance Abuse” to middle and high school students. He has produced the “Annual Addiction and Compulsive Behavior Symposium” at Baptist Health Paducah for the last 13 years. He is a graduate of UofL School of Medicine and UAB Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship. Dr. Withrow was a member of the Foundation’s Community Advisory Council from 2018 to 2019.
Dr. Alissa Young was named the 6th president and CEO of Hopkinsville Community College (HCC) in August 2017. Since 1991, Dr. Young has worked in various capacities at HCC, beginning as a faculty member teaching communication, and moving up through the ranks to chair her academic division, then serving as Associate Dean for Academic Extensions before progressing to serve a stint as Chief Academic Affairs Officer and Dean of Academic Affairs. She is a trustee for for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and serves on the boards of the Christian County Chamber of Commerce and Jennie Stuart Medical Center. She earned her doctorate from the University of Kentucky.
In addition to Dr. Wright as chair, additional Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky 2020 board officers are:
Vice Chair Vivian Lasley-Bibbs, of Lexington, is an epidemiologist and serves as acting director of the Office for Health Equity at the Kentucky Department of Public Health. She is based at the University of Kentucky, and has served on the Foundation’s Board since 2015. Lasley-Bibbs also is founder and president of Navigating Obstacles in African American Health (NOAHH). She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and earned her MPH at the University of Michigan.
Treasurer Clifford T. Maesaka Jr. retired as president and CEO of Delta Dental of Kentucky in 2017. He served for many years on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Kentucky School of Dentistry, and endowed and funded a charitable foundation at Delta Dental. Dr. Maesaka holds a DDS degree from the Indiana University School of Dentistry, an M.B.A. degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota.
Secretary Dr. Larry Prybil, of Lexington, is a community professor in the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, where he formerly served as associate dean. Dr. Prybil has held senior executive positions at two of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems, including 10 years as CEO for a six-state division of the Daughters of Charity National Health System (now Ascension Health). He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine.
Mark Carter is immediate past chair of the Foundation’s board. An accountant by training, Carter formerly was CEO of Passport, a Medicaid health plan serving 200,000 members. Prior to that, he was with Ernst & Young for 20 years – five as a partner, a founding partner of accounting firm BKD’s Louisville office, and a director with Dean Dorton. He also served as senior vice president of Jewish and St. Mary’s Healthcare for four years.
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