AHA’s Committee on Behavioral Health names 2024 chair, chair-elect and new members

Jill Howard, R.N., senior consultant, Sheppard Pratt Solutions, is the 2024 chair of AHA’s Committee on Behavioral Health. Zelia Baugh, executive vice president, behavioral health, JPS Health Network (Texas), will serve as the 2024 chair-elect; and Arpan Waghray, M.D., CEO, Well-Being Trust | Providence (Washington) will serve as the 2024 past-chair.  

Joining the committee as members are Leslie Simmons, R.N., executive vice president and chief operating officer, LifeBridge Health (Maryland); Kelly Barton, president, Spring Harbor Hospital (Maine); Archana Kumar, M.D., medical director, Cone Health Behavioral Health Hospital (North Carolina); Susan Parisi, M.D., chief wellness officer, Geisinger Health System (Pennsylvania); Thomas Saggio, R.N., director of behavioral health operations, St. Louis Children’s Hospital (Missouri); Mary Sparks Thompson, R.N., president, Trilliam Place, a Carle Health affiliate (Illinois); and Jennifer Wahkinney, R.N., chief nurse executive, Lawton Service Unit, Indian Health Service (Oklahoma).  

The committee advises AHA on policy and advocacy and provides a forum for strategic discussion of issues important to behavioral health providers and the field. For more information on AHA’s work on behavioral health, click here.