HHC Leadership

Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Lilliam Barrios-Paoli oversees the city agencies that Mayor Bill de Blasio has charged with cutting red tape in social services and moving New Yorkers from homelessness to stable housing, as well as expanding community health clinics.

Deputy Mayor Barrios-Paoli is an experienced leader known for innovation. She has managed five city agencies under three mayors, and has spearheaded major reforms, such as the opening of 10 senior centers, including those servicing the visually impaired and LGBT populations. She brings a deep background in working with New York’s nonprofit community.

In 2008, following a long career in both city government and the nonprofit sector, Ms. Barrios-Paoli was appointed commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA). Prior to this appointment, Ms. Barrios-Paoli’s public service included appointments as commissioner of several agencies during the Giuliani and Koch Administrations, including the New York City Human Resources Administration, the nation’s largest public welfare agency with a budget of $6 billion. Before that, she headed the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Department of Personnel. From 1987 to 1989, Ms. Paoli also was commissioner of the city Department of Employment, where she oversaw employment services to more than 85,000 city residents annually.

Ms. Barrios-Paoli also has been a leader in the nonprofit sector. Prior to joining DFTA, she was president and CEO of Safe Space NYC, Inc., a nonprofit organization serving more than 25,000 at-risk children and families in nearly 40 different program sites throughout Queens and Manhattan. With an annual budget of over $18 million, Safe Space provides counseling to thousands of at-risk children and families facing poverty, child abuse, domestic violence and medical problems. As senior vice president and chief executive for community investment of the United Way of New York City (UWNYC), a nonprofit fundraising organization that distributes over $88 million annually to New York City nonprofits, Ms. Barrios-Paoli was instrumental in creating and implementing standards and goals of the September 11th Fund, among other achievements. The fund received contributions/donations of well over $500 million.

Ms. Barrios-Paoli also served as vice president for education with the New York City Partnership from 1990 to 1992, and as executive director of the Literacy Volunteers of NYC from 1992 to 1994.

Ms. Barrios-Paoli has a Baccalaureate degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the New School for Social Research. She has taught at the Bank Street College of Education in New York City; Rutgers University and Montclair State College in New Jersey; and at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Gordon J. Campbell is Professor of Practice and Director of the Executive MPA program at the N.Y.U. Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Recently he was appointed by Mayor de Blasio to the Health and Hospitals Board of Directors. He currently serves as the Acting Chair. Previously he served as Chair of the City's Board of Correction.

Gordon Campbell has over 30 years of experience in public and nonprofit leadership and management. He most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of New York City. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Safe Horizon, the nation’s leading and largest victim assistance organization. Prior to leading Safe Horizon, Mr. Campbell served in senior positions in the Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani Administrations. He was the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Homeless Services and Chief of Staff to the First Deputy Mayor. In addition, he was Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations and a Mayoral appointee to the City’s Procurement Policy Board. While at the City’s Human Resources Administration, he headed the Office of Medicaid Transportation and created and organized the Division of AIDS Services. Before arriving in New York City, Mr. Campbell served as a prosecutor, labor attorney, as well as the Chief Administrator for the Seattle City Attorney’s Office.

Campbell received his Juris Doctor from the University of Washington Law School, his Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and his Bachelor of Arts from Pacific Lutheran University.

Ramanathan (Ram) Raju, MD, MBA, FACS, FACHE, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest municipal healthcare system in the nation. Dr. Raju was appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in January 2014 to lead the 37,000 employees of this $6.7 billion corporation, which includes 11 acute care hospitals, five nursing homes, six large diagnostic and treatment centers, more than 70 community-based health centers, a large home care agency, and one of the New York area's largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance, MetroPlus Health Plan, the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers. Last year, HHC facilities served 1.4 million New Yorkers – including more than 475,000 uninsured.

Prior to accepting the role of President and CEO at HHC, Dr. Raju was the Chief Executive Officer for the Cook County Health & Hospitals System (CCHHS) in Chicago, Illinois, the third largest public health system in the country. During his tenure there, Dr. Raju turned the financial status of the system around, improving the cash flow by over 100 million dollars. His proposed healthcare delivery model fetched the much coveted 1115 Waiver to the Social Security Act, enabling the creation of CountyCare, an Illinois Medicaid program to provide coverage for low-income adults in Cook County, and leading to health coverage for more than 82,000 Cook County residents.

Under his leadership, CCHHS received meaningful use designation for advancement in information technology, specifically the electronic medical record; and improvements in the supply chain management which is expected to yield millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers in the years to come.

A positive patient experience, which was a major focus of Dr. Raju’s leadership at CCHHS, was reflected by the improved Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (HCAHPs) scores, and in the reduction of wait times in the Emergency Department to less than two hours. The clinical improvements at CCHHS include The Joint Commission accreditation for both Cook County public hospitals as well as its ambulatory clinic network. Dr. Raju's further recognition that patients are more likely to use care they can access near their home resulted in the development of a network of more than 130 primary care access points through partnerships with FQHCs, safety-net and community hospitals, academic medical centers and private doctors.

Dr. Raju began his medical career at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn and went on to serve as the COO and Medical Director at HHC's Coney Island Hospital. Then in 2006, he became the HHC Chief Medical Officer, Corporate Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. While he served there, HHC continued to climb and reach great heights in quality, patient safety and healthcare data transparency.

Dr. Raju attended Madras Medical College to earn his medical diploma and his Master of Surgery degree. He underwent further training in England and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Dr. Raju is also a physician executive, having obtained an MBA from the University of Tennessee and CPE from the American College of Physician Executives.

He is Vice-Chair of the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), and is a member of the Board of Directors at America's Essential Hospitals and the Asian Health Care Leaders Association (AHCLA). In 2015, he will begin a three-year term on the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association (AHA).

Dr. Raju is also the recipient of numerous national recognitions. In 2014 he was #37 on Modern Healthcare’s list of the nation’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” Modern Healthcare also named him one of the “Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare” and one of the “50 Most Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare” in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, he was named a Business Leader of Color by Chicago United. Also in 2013, Becker's Hospital Review designated him as one of “20 Hospital and Health System Leaders to Follow on Twitter.”

Steven Banks, appointed commissioner of the Human Resource Administration by Mayor Bill De Blasio, was formerly attorney-in-chief of the New York City Legal Aid Society, which has a staff of 1,600, including 1,000 lawyers who provide legal assistance in all five boroughs and in 300,000 legal matters annually through its criminal, juvenile rights and civil practices divisions.

Motivated by a commitment to represent indigent New Yorkers, Mr. Banks began his career at the society in 1981 as a staff attorney at the society. Throughout his career, he has earned the reputation of someone who understands the importance of diversity in the public interest law model. While working with the Legal Aid management team, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, the Attorneys of Color of Legal Aid and 1199 SEIU, he has led efforts to implement several diversity initiatives. These include revamped recruitment initiatives, innovative investigator and law student internship programs, “Awareness Month” events and a new mentoring program.

As Legal Aid’s Attorney-in-Chief he led the organization through a complete financial and managerial restructuring to save it from bankruptcy. Prior to becoming the Attorney-in-Chief, Mr. Banks held the positions of Associate Attorney-in-Chief, Deputy Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Practice, Coordinating Attorney of the Homeless Rights Project, and Director of Government Relations for the Civil Practice.

Mr. Banks received his B.A. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1978 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1981.

With more than 30 years of experience in public health, Dr. Mary Travis Bassett has dedicated her career to advancing health equity.

After Dr. Bassett completed her medical training, she moved to Harare, Zimbabwe, where she served on the medical faculty at the University of Zimbabwe for 17 years. In that role, she developed a range of AIDS prevention interventions to address one of the world’s worst AIDS epidemics. She later served as the associate director of Health Equity at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Southern Africa Office, overseeing its Africa AIDS portfolio.

In 2002, Dr. Bassett was appointed deputy commissioner of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she directed key initiatives, including banning smoking and trans fats in restaurants and requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts. She also established the department’s District Public Health Offices (DPHOs) in East and Central Harlem, the South Bronx and North and Central Brooklyn, to lead targeted health and communication strategies in these communities, which experience an excess burden of disease. Each office advances community health through home visiting programs, free exercise programs, efforts to increase access to healthy food and meetings with area doctors.

Dr. Bassett has served at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation since 2009 as program director for the African Health Initiative, and more recently has led the Child Well-being Program. Both programs focus on strengthening systems to support health improvement.

Dr. Bassett grew up in New York City, received her BA in History and Science from Harvard University, and her MD from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She served her medical residency at Harlem Hospital Center. Dr. Bassett has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Washington. She has served for many years as an associate editor of the American Journal of Public Health.

Gary S Belkin is currently Executive Deputy Commissioner of Health-Mental Hygiene in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He was previously Medical Director Behavioral Health in the Health and Hospitals Corporation of the City of New York, which operates the New York City 11 public hospitals, and was formerly Chief of Psychiatry (Interim) at Bellevue Hospital.

He brings extensive experience in day-to-day clinical operations and policy development in urban health delivery systems, as well as in developing and studying emerging approaches to public mental health and served as Associate Professor and Director, Program in Global Mental Health, New York University School of Medicine. He was founding Director of the NYU Program which was developed to advance innovative implementation and policy approaches to scale and improve population mental health strategies, as well as efforts to extend the impact of behavioral health sciences on other social sectors and outcomes. These efforts ranged from adapting mental health skills to the work of street-level gun violence interrupters in New York City, to designing task-shift based solutions to scaled integrated care for common mental disorders in rural Haiti.

As common mental disorders grow in their contribution to overall disease burden, the challenge of delivery systems and public health policy is not only to innovatively expand access, but to do that in ways that accent complex, community, participatory, and early/preventive strategies that act on the connections between mental health morbidity and multiple social and health outcomes.

Mrs. Bolus began her nursing career in 1971, receiving an AAS degree in Nursing from New York City Community College.  She then served the Kings County Hospital Center patient community as a Staff Nurse in the Pediatric Emergency Room. In 1975, Mrs. Bolus completed the Kings County Hospital/State University of Health Science Center Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program and thereafter served as a certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner until her retirement in 1997.

As a champion for the recognition of the vital role of nurses and their contribution to the delivery of health care, Mrs. Bolus pioneered the establishment of certification guidelines for the nurse practitioner in New York State. She also served as Preceptor for Pediatric Nurse Practitioner students at Columbia University and for Registered Nursing students at Kingsborough Community College.

Her post-retirement activities include: Founder, Retired RN Network; former Second Vice Chairperson of the Community Advisory Board at the Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Nursing and Rehabilitation Center; former Member, New York State Nurses Association; Member, NYS House of Delegates, American Nurses Association; Member, Brooklyn College Alumni Board; President, Brooklyn’s Canarsie Lions; Member, NYPD 69th Precinct Community Council; Usher and past President, Rosary Society of St. Jude’s Church. Mrs. Bolus also serves on all 10 of HHC board committees – namely, Audit, Capital, Executive, Equal Employment Opportunity, Finance, Quality Assurance, Medical & Professional Affairs/Information Technology; as well as Strategic Planning and Community Relations, which she chairs. Mrs. Bolus serves on the HHC Board as the City Council designee for Brooklyn.

In addition to her AAS, Mrs. Bolus also earned a Bachelors of Health Science from Brooklyn College and Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University.

Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, is President of The New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Boufford is Professor of Public Service, Health Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine. She served as Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University from June 1997 to November 2002. Prior to that, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from November 1993 to January 1997, and as Acting Assistant Secretary from January 1997 to May 1997. While at HHS, she served as the U.S. representative on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1994–1997. She served as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest municipal system in the United States, from December 1985 until October 1989.

Dr. Boufford currently serves on the boards of the United Hospital Fund, the Primary Care Development Corporation and Public Health Solutions, formerly MHRA. She was President of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration in 2002–2003 and was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1992 and is a member of its Executive Council, Board on Global Health and Board on African Science Academy Development. She was elected to serve a second four-year term as the Foreign Secretary of the IOM beginning July 1, 2010.

Dr. Boufford also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the State University of New York, Brooklyn, in May 1992 and the New York Medical College in May 2007. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2005 and has been a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine since 1988, and a Trustee since 2004.

Dr. Boufford attended Wellesley College for two years and received her BA (Psychology) magna cum laude from the University of Michigan, and her MD, with distinction, from the University of Michigan Medical School. She is Board Certified in pediatrics.

Dr. Vincent Calamia is a board-certified endocrinologist, internist and geriatric medicine specialist.  Since July 2010, he has been a consultant for Ambulatory Care Development at Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island. He is also Medical Director of the Hamilton Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brooklyn. From November 2006 to May 2010, he was Chief Executive Officer of Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn, where he developed and negotiated budgets, managed hospital safety and quality programs and oversaw hospital regulatory compliance, among other duties. Prior to that, he was Chief Operating Officer of Victory Memorial Hospital, where he worked aggressively to expand successful geriatric and primary care initiatives that significantly increased admissions and reduced a $6 million deficit. Dr. Calamia also was Vice President of Strategic Planning for Victory Memorial from 2003 through 2006.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Calamia was Chief of Geriatrics from 1991 through 2002 at Staten Island University Hospital, where he created the Geriatric Division at the 650-bed teaching facility. Since 1989, he has been President and CEO of the University Physicians Group, one of the largest physician groups in New York City, employing more than 60 physicians in multiple locations with revenues exceeding $30 million.

Dr. Calamia was president of the Richmond County Medical Society from 2009 to 2010 and has been a board member of the Medical Society of the State of New York’s Steering Committee on Legislation and Physician Advocacy since 2005, among other elected and appointed board positions.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his MD from the University of Miami School of Medicine. He also received a Masters of Science degree in Health Care Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Anna Kril has been a community activist for over 25 years. Since 1993, she has focused on women’s healthcare after experiencing first-hand healthcare disparities. In 1994, Ms. Kril founded SHAREing & CAREing, a not-for-profit breast cancer support organization based in Queens. For the past 14 years she has served as Executive Director of the organization. Ms. Kril has made immeasurable contributions to the community she serves by providing access to life saving services for thousands of women and men who are uninsured or underinsured.

Ms. Kril was a member of the community advisory board of Elmhurst Hospital Center from 1994 to 2002, where she served as Chairperson of the Women’s Health Committee. She also was a member of Community Board #1 in Queens for 20 years and served as Chairperson of the Board’s Health Committee.

A first-generation American, Ms. Krill began her special relationship with HHC from the moment of her birth at Bellevue Hospital Center.

In June 2011, Robert F. Nolan was appointed a Member of the Board of Directors for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation as the City Council Designee for the Borough of the Bronx.

Mr. Nolan retired from the Office of the Bronx Borough President after nearly 30 years of service. He served as Budget Director for the Bronx Borough President's Office and was responsible for the oversight of more than 250 capital projects including improvements to schools, libraries, parks and cultural institutions. He also recommended and monitored more than 100 youth and senior programs throughout the County.

Prior to serving as Budget Director, Mr. Nolan served in several positions in the Bronx Borough President's office, including Deputy for Intergovernmental Affairs and Director of Operations.

From the late 1970s into the 1980s, Mr. Nolan was the Director of Economic Development and is justly proud to have written the proposal that resulted in the creation of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, a program through which many small businesses received affordable loans from the federal government which, in turn, helped revitalize the Bronx.

Mr. Nolan is a lifelong resident of Bronx County and a graduate of Fordham University. He is married to the former Susan Gannascoli and is the father of two children, Christopher and Vivian.

Mark Page is director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he assists the mayor in developing and implementing the city's budget and advises on policies affecting the city's fiscal stability and the effectiveness of its services.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Page most recently served as deputy director and general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget. A true public servant, he has worked in city government for 24 years, and has become an expert in municipal finance.

Mr. Page joined the OMB in 1978 as deputy counsel. He was named general counsel in 1980 and deputy director and general counsel in 1982. He served as director of OMB from 2002. His responsibilities included developing and implementing the city’s budget, monitoring and forecasting revenues and expenses of the city, analyzing the economy, evaluating agency management improvement initiatives, and issuing bonds in the public capital markets in conjunction with the New York City comptroller.

While with the OMB, he has held a number of other positions related to New York City financing in the public capital markets. From 1984 to 2002, he was executive director of the New York City Municipal Water Authority, which issues bonds for the capital plan of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. He served as executive director of the New York City Transitional Finance Authority from 1997 to 2006 and since 1999 as president of TSASC, Inc., a local development corporation whose debt is secured by tobacco settlement revenues. Both issue bonds to finance the city’s capital plan.

Mr. Page also served as president of the Jay Street Development Corp., which issued bonds to finance a courthouse in Brooklyn, from 2002 to 2006. He has served on the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority since 2003, and on HHC’s board since 2013. Mr. Page earned a B.A. from Harvard College and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed Bernard Rosen in March 1998. He sits on a number of subcommittees of the HHC Board, including the Finance Committee. In addition, Mr. Rosen is the Chairperson of the MetroPlus Health Plan Board of Directors, an HHC subsidiary corporation.

Mr. Rosen retired from New York City Government after 35 years of service. For 27 of those years, Mr. Rosen was employed by the New York City Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a Senior Analyst, and rose through the ranks to First Deputy Director.

During his years of service in OMB, Mr. Rosen was responsible for various assignments: He was the OMB liaison to the task force that implemented the original Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) which became operative in 1977 and was until recently, the major accounting and budgeting system for the city. As a result of the financial emergency in 1975, he played a key role in developing the city's first multi-year financial plan, as well as restructuring the monthly and quarterly financial reporting systems. As a senior member of the OMB, he worked closely with the Director in formulating options for the Mayor, which led to final proposals that were included in the city's Operating Budget and Financial Plan. He also worked closely with representatives of the New York City Comptroller's Office and the independent auditors in the preparation of the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. In addition, Mr. Rosen represented the Budget Director on the New York City Audit Committee.

In addition to his role as a member of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation Board of Directors, Mr. Rosen remains very active in various public sector activities since his retirement from OMB. Mr. Rosen has been a part-time consultant at the Metropolitan Transit Authority since May 1996.

Mr. Rosen earned a Masters in Business Administration in Accounting and a BBA in Statistics From the Baruch College of the City University of New York.

Emily A. Youssouf is a veteran in the fields of finance and housing, with more than 30 years of leadership and strong results in the private and public sectors. Her background encompasses a breadth of experience with complex financial instruments, as well as turnarounds of troubled organizations. Ms. Youssouf chairs the Audit Committee and is a member of the Capital and Finance Committee of the board of the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation.

Ms. Youssouf is a Clinical Professor at NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, a master’s program where she teaches courses in Real Estate Capital Markets and Affordable Housing Finance. She is also a consultant whose clients have included the Rockefeller Foundation and the New York City Partnership. Previously, Ms. Youssouf was a Managing Director at JP Morgan Securities, where she was head of the Housing Finance Department.

In 2003, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Ms. Youssouf President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC). Under her direction, HDC became the number-one issuer of multifamily affordable housing bonds in the country from 2004 through 2007. During Ms. Youssouf’s tenure, HDC issued $7 billion in bonds, financed 37,000 units of affordable housing in NYC and increased total assets to $9 billion from $2.3 billion.

Ms. Youssouf belongs to several civic and charitable boards in addition to HHC, including the Citizens Budget Commission, the Citizens Housing and Planning Council; the New York City Housing Authority; the New York City School Construction Authority and the New York State Job Development Authority.

Ms. Youssouf is a graduate of Wagner College with Honors, and holds an MA in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.