Board of Directors
Michael L. Millman, Board President
Dr. Michael Millman served as a senior program analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Health and Human Services federal agency. As a member of the Office of Science and Data Policy he was involved in a broad range of issues in the areas of public health, access to health care, health information technology, and health care reform. Previously, he served as Director of the Research and Data Policy Group in the Office of Planning and Evaluation, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Dr. Millman represented HRSA on a number of department-wide councils, including the HHS Data Council, the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, the Council on the Application of Health Information Technology, the Research Coordination Council, and the Privacy Coordination Council. During his more than 20 years at HRSA, he conducted evaluation projects on a broad array of HRSA programs. Dr. Millman has been a member of the City of Alexandria Public Health Advisory Committee since the fall 2017.
Dr. Millman joined Neighborhood Health’s Board of Directors in March 2015. He served as Board Vice President from November 2017 to December 2019 and was elected Board President in December 2019, effective January 2020.
Alisa Valudes Whyte, Board Vice President
Alisa Valudes Whyte is a Senior Partner and CEO at Merritt Group, a marketing and public relations firm. Alisa joined Merritt Group in 1997 and helped to build and shape the agency since its founding. She has led award-winning campaigns for clients in technology, healthcare and government that leverage the right mix of modern marketing, communications and PR strategies to move their businesses forward. In addition to launching dozens of technology and healthcare start-ups over the years, she also helped to reshape a number of more established brands. In 2015 and 2016, Alisa was named a finalist for DC Inno’s “50 on Fire” and, in 2016, a finalist in Women In Technology’s (WIT) Annual Leadership Awards. Alisa is a champion of Merritt Group’s culture, recognized as a “Great Place to Work” by both Washingtonian and Washington Business Journal. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Technology Council and, previously, on the Boards of TTEC/DC and the Fairfax Education Foundation. She graduated with a BA from Dickinson College and spent a semester studying Economic Policy at American University.
Alisa and her team at Merritt group provided valuable pro-bono marketing and branding services to Neighborhood Health (then Alexandria Neighborhood Health Services, ANHSI) in 2013-2014 that culminated in our organization’s name change, a new logo and a new brand. In addition, she joined Neighborhood Health’s Strategic Planning Committee to help develop a FY 2018-2020 Strategic Plan.
Alisa joined Neighborhood Health’s Board of Directors in 2017. She became Board Secretary in January 2018, a position she held until December 2019 and Board Vice President in December 2019. Alisa served as Chair of Neighborhood Health’s 20th Anniversary Celebration in 2017 and also chaired our 2018 Neighbors for Health Gala.
Lisa Chimento, Board Secretary and Treasurer
Lisa Chimento is a native of Alexandria and is an experienced health care executive and board member. She is a nationally-recognized expert in government health programs (Medicare, Medicaid, ACA), she advises clients across the U.S. on strategy, growth and expansion, improving performance. Lisa is currently the Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Precise Telehealth, a chronic care management start-up that delivers customized chronic care management and remote patient monitoring for individuals with complex medical needs. Lisa is the former Chief Executive Officer of The Lewin Group, Optum’s government consulting and analytics business, where she led more than 350 professionals in bringing innovative solutions to the most pressing health and health care issues facing government agencies, payers, and providers. She also played multiple roles in Optum, serving as the inaugural Chief Product Officer of Optum Government as well as the lead executive for Optum’s state health exchange (ACA marketplaces) in multiple states.
Appointed by the Attorney General of Virginia, she was a founding Board Member of the Northern Virginia Health Foundation for six years, serving as Chairperson for two years, and chaired the City of Alexandria Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee (BFAAC) for ten years. Lisa also served as a key strategic adviser to the former City Manager of Alexandria as Chair of the City Manager’s Advisory Group. She is a former Board Member of the Yale School of Management Alumni Association. Lisa earned her MBA from Yale University and BA in Economics from the University of Virginia where she was an Echols Scholar.
Lisa joined the Board of Neighborhood Health in 2020 and has been a long-time supporter of the organization since its inception.
Miriam Aguila
Miriam and her husband have 2 children, ages 5 and 2. She came to the US from Bolivia in 1988 and currently resides in Burke in Fairfax County. Miriam works in Washington, DC with a contractor to the federal government as a Proposal/Contracts Coordinator. In this role, she coordinates all logistical aspects of submitting contracts and proposals to the government, including scheduling, organizing meetings of staff responsible for various sections, reviewing and editing the final proposals, and serving as the primary contact person for those contracts. She previously worked in an accounting office as an accounting clerk. She has served in various small nonprofit organizations as a volunteer, serving as Vice President on one of them, and working with other Board members in strategic planning and marketing and providing leadership to the fundraising events sponsored by the organizations.
Miriam has received medical care from Neighborhood Health since 2008 and as such, she brings a unique experience and perspective to our Board. She wants to contribute so that others can also have the same care and experience she has had. Miriam joined our Board of Directors in the summer 2015.
Muhammad Arif
Muhammad came to the US 25 years ago from Pakistan and has been living in Northern Virginia since 2012. He currently lives in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County with his wife and daughter. He is employed as a cashier in a private business.
Muhammad joined our Board of Directors in January 2019. He brings the unique experience and perspective of receiving primary health care from Neighborhood Health since 2012. He is a patient at our Richmond Highway health clinic in south Fairfax County.
Paola Navarro
Paola, originally from Colombia. She and her husband have 2 children, ages 4 and 7, who have been receiving pediatric care at Neighborhood Health since 2009. The family resides in Alexandria. Paola joined our Board of Directors in the summer 2015.
Paola is a bilingual (English and Spanish) Licensed Professional Counselor with more than 16 years of experience as a counselor. She joined Neighborhood Health in November 2009 as a Mental Health Counselor where she provided services to individuals, families and children of diverse backgrounds. Paola has worked with women and families during the prenatal and postnatal phase, with women suffering from depression and with families with newborn children until age three to address risks of developmental delays. She left Neighborhood Health in December 2014 to pursue a career at the Alexandria Community Services Board (CSB).
Paola graduated from the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1998, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. In 2003 she completed a Master’s Degree in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling Psychology at Antioch University, New England.
Paola has a strong commitment to Neighborhood Health’s mission and to the families we serve. As a parent of children receiving care at our health center for many years, she brings that additional perspective to our Board.
Nora Partlow
Nora Partlow joined Neighborhood Health’s Board of Directors in January 2020. Nora has supported and volunteered at Neighborhood Health since 1997 when the organization was founded, playing multiple leadership roles, such as advocating for Neighborhood Health’s mission among community leaders, partners, and the larger community; chairing event planning committees; and helping organize all fundraising events since 2000.
Nora is a fixture in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria. She co-founded and ran the St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub in Del Ray for almost twenty years. Nora began supporting Neighborhood Health (then ANHSI) when she noticed patients waiting in her coffee shop. She generously offered to host board meetings and fundraising committee meetings at St. Elmo’s for several years.
Nora is a realtor at Coldwell Banker Residential in Old Town, Alexandria, and continues to serve as a volunteer in different capacities for several local nonprofit organizations. In 2012, Nora was nominated for the distinguished Alexandria Living Legends Award. In 2019, she was recognized for her volunteerism and most specifically for her 23 years of contributions to Neighborhood Health by the National Association of Realtors as a finalist for the 2019 Good Neighbor Award.
As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, she understands and is deeply committed to addressing the great need for affordable primary healthcare in Northern Virginia.
Elhafedh Talebimijine
Elhafedh is self-employed, operating a limousine business in the Greater Washington area. He came to the US in the year 2000 from Mauritania and in 2011 moved to the Northern Virginia area. He currently lives in Alexandria with his wife and two small children, who receive pediatric care at our Casey Health Center since 2016.
Elhafedh joined our Board of Directors in March 2019. He brings a unique perspective as a father of two children receiving care from Neighborhood Health and as a small business owner.
Lolita H. Youmans
Lolita H. Youmans currently serves as the Church Administrator for the Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) in Alexandria, VA. In this capacity, she leads operations for this 10,000-member organization. Lolita has worked in various fields, having been an elementary school teacher, a corporate manager, a court mediator, and a trial attorney. Lolita worked for BP Oil and Gas for 17 years, and practiced public interest law in Washington, DC for 10 years.
Lolita began her tenure as a church administrator at the Alfred Street Church in 2019. In her volunteer work, she has served in numerous ministries and community groups. She also worked for two years as a crisis worker on the Suicide Hotline and was chosen as Volunteer of the Year for the northern Virginia affiliate in 2019.
Lolita served as the ASBC liaison to Neighborhood Health in the community health initiative to reach out to and vaccinate underserved populations with COVID-19 vaccines. In this collaboration, Alfred Street and Neighborhood Health sponsored onsite clinics at the church to vaccinate members of the local community in 2021. Lolita joined the Board of Neighborhood Health in January 2022.
Ex-Officio Board Members
Gloria Addo-Ayensu, Fairfax County Health Department
Gloria Addo-Ayensu, M.D. M.P.H is the Director of Health for Fairfax County. In this capacity she provides overall leadership, management and direction for public health programs in the county and serves as the official health advisor to Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors, Health Care Advisory Board and the Human Services Council. She has led a number of local and regional public health initiatives in the areas of emergency preparedness, health promotion and health equity. Throughout her public health career, she has promoted community health and resiliency through partnerships and has a long-term record of successfully leveraging community assets to create innovative, practical and sustainable community-based approaches to complex public health challenges. Dr. Addo-Ayensu earned her Doctor of Medicine and Master’s in Public Health from Tulane University and completed her residency training in preventive medicine from the Loma Linda University Medical Center.