The HARP team has experience advancing major policy and practice reforms at the national, state, and local levels. Collectively, our team members bring to the HARP effort insights from working in government, nonprofit, advocacy, and clinical health care settings to improve the lives of people and communities.
Vikki Wachino founded the Health and Reentry Project and is its Executive Director. She has dedicated her career to leading and inspiring organizations that advance policy change to improve the lives of people in need. Prior to founding HARP, Vikki served as Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. There, she oversaw the implementation of major Affordable Care Act coverage expansions and groundbreaking new policies related to mental health, managed care, delivery system reform and substance use disorder. Her early career included stints at the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. She holds a MPP from Harvard University and BA from Mount Holyoke College.
David Ryan is HARP’s Senior Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives. David has over fifteen years of experience working on policy issues at the intersection of health and justice. Prior to joining the Health and Reentry Project, David spent over a decade at the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office leading policy priorities to advance changes to the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP). He also spent five years working for Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Washington, DC. His core responsibilities while on staff included promoting the Senator’s legislative agenda through coordinated outreach to federal, state and local agencies and organizations. David holds a BA in Government from Colby College and JD from Suffolk University Law School.
Margot Cronin-Furman is HARP’s Chief of Staff. Before working in health policy, Margot spent a decade as a clinical social worker working with complex care populations in healthcare settings, including several years in an emergency department. Margot’s areas of focus include strengthening systems of care for people with behavioral health and other complex health and social needs, advancing health policy and practice that is informed by lived expertise, and ensuring that social drivers of health are addressed so that everyone can flourish. Margot received her MPA from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, MSW from Boston University, and BA from Emerson College.
James Pagano is HARP’s Coordinator of Criminal Justice Initiatives. Prior to joining HARP, James served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services where he helped to create a Reentry Office and formalize a Justice Portfolio. James also spent more than four-years working for the Illinois Department of Corrections as Policy Advisor for Reform Initiatives where he helped to develop an agency-wide strategic plan, design a performance monitoring process, and led a variety of key prison reform initiatives. James received his MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and his BA from Dickinson College.
Silicia Lomax is a Director of health policy at Waxman Strategies, where she works with organizations on health equity–based policies. She is also the Executive Director of United Against Inequities in Disease, a nonprofit organization that develops sustainable community projects with university chapters and students from around the nation to reduce health disparities. Silicia is a board member of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice and the Human Rights Forum of the American Public Health Association. In her roles, she works on projects to increase access to mental health services, improve reproductive health in the U.S., and on policies to make healthcare more affordable. In her other advocacy work, she has educated communities and local policymakers on harm-reduction strategies for people with substance use disorders and the elimination of solitary confinement in correctional settings. Silicia received her BA and MPH from the University of Pennsylvania.
John Sawyer is a Senior Advisor at Waxman Strategies. He brings more than twenty years of policy experience at both the federal and local level, having served in a variety of government positions and as a leader in the nonprofit sector. Most recently, John spent nearly ten years as Director of Federal Affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers. John also led the policy efforts of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services through ongoing service integration initiatives and the block-granting of state funding. John served on the legislative staff of two members of Congress – then-Representative (now-Senator) Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT). John holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a certification in Professional Coaching.
Melanie S. Pinkert is HARP’s Operations Manager. Melanie brings more than two decades of experience in nonprofit operations where her focus has been on collaboratively designing, implementing, managing, and documenting core systems and infrastructure. Prior to joining HARP, she worked for organizations that focused on supporting caregivers (Health Projects Center), growing sustainable food systems (UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems), ending poverty and inequality (Oxfam International), increasing job skills training (National Skills Coalition), and building power for a just democracy (Advancement Project). Most recently, she worked for a group of family foundations (Blaustein Philanthropic Group). Melanie has a B.A. in Latin American Latino Studies from UC Santa Cruz where she focused on drug war-related human rights violations in the Americas.
