NAMOur WorkProgramsClinician Resilience and Well-BeingCWB Member Change Makers

Health Worker Well-Being Change Makers: Accelerator Cohorts

The Change Maker Accelerators is a yearlong program designed to help selected health organizations implement professional well-being efforts. Participants engage in cohort-based group discussions and receive practical tools. With guidance from experienced coaches, they form a community focused on the shared goal of creating and measuring sustainable, evidence-based well-being interventions. 

2026 Cohort and Representatives

Accelerating Change

The second cohort of Accelerators have committed to tracking implementation of the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being at their institutions. The NAM is working directly with this group to facilitate and measure progress across the National Plan’s priority areas and build a community of practice.

Representative: Mila Felder

Representative: Ken R Coelho

Representative: Stephanie Mitchell

Representative: Rachael Cross

Representative: Kelly Holder

Representative: Taylor Wildauer

Representative: Julia Flax

Representative: Jennifer Ligibel, MD

Representative: Carolyn Hughes

Representative: Laurie Gerdt

Representative: Carlton Abner

Representative: Jeffrey M. Natalie, LCSW

Representative: Shamai Larsen

Representative: Madison Nitzkin (Sabbath), BSN, RN, MM

Representative: Tiffany Vasconcellos

Representative: Jenna Wimberly; Ryan Alcantar

Representative: Christina Lightner

Representative: Dian Ginsberg

Representative: Irina Burd

Representative: Dr. Frankie B. Hale

Representative: Susan Matulevicius

Representative: Craig Stevens

Representative: Ann Kellams, MD

Representative: Dr. Christine Holland

Representative: Shannon Osborne

Change Maker Coaches

These Change Maker Coaches will serve as guidance groups to be available to the above Accelerators. These teams are an opportunity not only to share best practices and personal experience but also to foster interpersonal connections. 

Jennifer Bickel Young, MD | Chief Wellness Officer, Moffit Cancer Center
Chantal Brazeau, MD | Chief Wellness Officer, Rutgers Health
Thomas Campbell, MD | Chief Wellness Officer, Allegany Health Network
Nadia Charguia, MD | Executive Medical Director, Integrated Well-Being Program for UNC Healthcare
Megan Furnari, MD, MS | Chief Wellness Officer, Oregon Health and Science University
Nigel Girgrah, MD, PhD | Chief Wellness Officer, Ochsner Health
Laurie Hommema, MD | OhioHealth Senior Medical Director, Well-Being
Kristi McClure, MSN, RN | Senior Advisor, Ohio Health Well-Being
Laxmi Mehta, MD | Chief Wellbeing Leader , The Ohio State University  Wexner Medical Center
Bern Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP | Vice President for Health Promotion and University Chief Wellness Officer, and Former Dean, College of Nursing, The Ohio State University
Maureen Leffler, DO | Chief Wellness Officer, Christiana Care
Kristine Olson, MD | Chief Wellness Officer, Yale New Haven Hospital
Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH | Chief Wellness Officer, Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai
Crissy Walters, MSOD | Senior Associate, Well-Being and Professional Fulfillment, American College of Physicians

Inaugural Cohort and Representatives

Accelerating Change

Inaugural Change Maker Accelerators committed to tracking implementation of the National Plan at their institutions. The Collaborative intends to spotlight the work of these organizations to inspire others to operationalize the National Plan and accelerate collective efforts toward well-being.

The ACGME is a private, non-profit, professional organization responsible for the accreditation of more than 13,066 residency and fellowship programs and the approximately 886 institutions that sponsor these programs in the United States. Residency and fellowship programs educate approximately 158,079 resident and fellow physicians in 182 specialties and subspecialties. The ACGME’s mission is to improve health care and population health by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education through accreditation.

The American Association of Colleges and Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) is the leading voice for the education of physicians practicing osteopathic medicine across the US. We support colleges of osteopathic medicine in their efforts to train future physicians fueled by a desire to make a difference, to treat the whole person and build a future of health and wellness for all people.

AACP recognizes a special responsibility to provide leadership in advancing and enhancing the quality of education and training in its member institutions while respecting the diversity inherent among them. The association includes institutional members – the 142 schools of pharmacy accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education – and individual members, including administrators, faculty and staff. We represent more than 6,400 faculty, 62,500 students enrolled in professional programs and 5,100 individuals pursuing graduate study.

As you work towards transforming your clinical environments to nurture well-being, ACP is committed to supporting you every step of the way. Connect with a wealth of resources and programs to help you, your teams, and your organizations flourish and achieve your goals.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is the collective voice of pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in hospitals, health systems, ambulatory clinics, and other health care settings spanning the full spectrum of medication use. The organization’s members include pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. ASHP works to improve medication use and enhance patient safety.

Cedars-Sinai physician wellness is a core organizational strategy that enhances the culture of wellness and finds systematic solutions to help physicians thrive. Key to this is the executive steering committee which establishes strategy, assesses progress, allocates resources, and creates a culture of wellness for physicians at the health system.

Foundational to CommonSpirit Health® is our belief that compassion, kindness, and empathy are critical to the healing of body, mind, and spirit. That notion is at the heart of our care and our culture. Through programs, culture and leadership our goal is to support employees throughout their well-being journey and reinforces a simple message: be kind to yourself.

The Medical College of Wisconsin is a Health Science University focused on 4 missions of health education, research, community engagement and clinical care.

KEDREN, acute psychiatric hospital / FQHC / out-pt mental health services / Historically Black Institution / teaching hospital for Charles Drew University CDU a Historically Black Medical School HBMS (Photo Caption: KEDREN Mobile Street Medicine Team at work vaccinating in the community of South Los Angeles.)

The Office of Professional Well-Being (OPW) at Ochsner Health was created in 2019 to address the well-being of Ochsner’s workforce. Our goal is to develop evidence-based solutions aimed at improving the well-being and engagement of clinical and corporate teams across the state. OPW is determined to help our workforce and employees find the resources they need to avoid disengagement, reclaim joy and find harmony.

OhioHealth is a not-for-profit, charitable, outreach of the United Methodist Church, recognized 6 times as one of the top five large health systems in America by IBM Watson Health™. OhioHealth serves over half of Ohio’s counties with 35,000 associates, physicians and volunteers, 14 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites including hospice.

The Ohio State University is a large Mid-west public land grant university with one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and 7 health sciences colleges. Our vision is to be a model university and health system that prioritizes well-being and promotes professional and personal fulfillment for all faculty, employees and learners. (Photo Caption: The Gabbe Health & Well-Being Wellness Cart makes the rounds to offer brief activities, snacks and resources to help employees take short breaks focused on well-being.)

The Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) is part of Canada’s largest academic hospital, University Health Network, providing state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary, digitally enabled personalized care for patients with heart and vascular disease in Canada and around the world. The PMCC is committed to fostering a positive, fulfilling, and mutually respectful workplace. We promote joy in work by focusing on the well-being of our staff and patients, leading to better patient outcomes.

The work of SCPMG’s Physician Wellness and Peer Support teams are to acknowledge, embrace, understand, and act to engage our organization to operationalize evidence-based strategies to optimize systems and mitigate work-related drivers of burnout and, by advocating for the physician experience, enable our physicians to enhance the patient experience.

UC San Diego Health (UCSDH) is a two-hospital academic medical center in San Diego, California. In 2022, UCSDH funded and formally established a Physician Wellness Office. UCSDH was ranked as the #1 hospital in San Diego and placed within the top 22 nationwide “Best Hospitals Honor Roll” by US News & World Report in 2023.

The University of Kansas Medical Center includes schools of medicine, nursing and health professions along with an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, an NIH-designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and a national Clinical and Translational Science Award consortium. We partner with the University of Kansas Health system, a separate entity, to advance the well-being of our campus community. (Photo Caption: Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Simari, MD, delivered opening remarks at the inaugural, campus-wide Well-being conference at the University of Kansas Medical Center, March 2023.)

The Wellness office at UNMC provides consultation to individuals and groups on a wide variety of issues, including recognition and management of clinician burnout, common mental health issues, and personal resilience strategies.

University of New Mexico’s Office of Professional Wellbeing team provides well-being programming, advocacy, and direct clinical services to our students, residents/fellows and faculty.

UNC Health and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine is an integrated health care system owned by the state of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. Known as “North Carolina’s Health Care System,” UNC Health provides care to patients in all of the state’s 100 counties through its 11 hospitals, 13 hospital campuses, and hundreds of clinical practices.

The Osher Center for Integrative Health and the Resiliency Center of the University of Utah is made up of a group of experts in human flourishing, individual and organizational change. We guide the University in optimizing personal and professional well-being of our populations, including our employees, patients and communities. As an organization we focus on the culture of medicine and building systems for thriving.

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