Farewell and thank you
As the new year began, we bid farewell and thank you to our retiring board members Terri Rambosek and Chris Douglas, who just completed their second terms of service. We deeply appreciate their leadership, wisdom and hard work supporting our mission.
Congratulations to our newest officers
At its November 2022 meeting, the board elected the following new officers:
President Robin Larmer: When not volunteering with Project Access Northwest, Robin serves as vice president of legal affairs and chief compliance officer for Northwest Kidney Centers. She has been on the board since early 2021.
Vice President Prathiba Pinnamaneni: Prathiba serves as senior community health program manager for Kaiser Permanente of Washington. She joined the board in 2022.
Welcome to our new volunteer board members
Project Access Northwest is governed by a volunteer board of directors. Our members bring a wide range of skills, including legal, financial, medical and fundraising experience, and represent various segments of our community. Board members serve three-year terms and are eligible to serve two consecutive terms.
Jennifer Richards, MBA, SHRM-SCP
Jennifer Richards serves as chief human resource officer of Virginia Mason Medical Center, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.
Jennifer is an experienced human resource professional with the last 20+ years leading at Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle. She has held various senior leadership positions in both human resources and Lean Process Improvement, positioning her well to lead organizational people strategies and operations into the future. Jennifer is a highly respected, collaborative and relationship-driven leader and often sought for her expertise and partnership. She has contributed significantly to the many organizational successes as VMMC has evolved how they work with the Virginia Mason Production System (adapted after the Toyota Production System) and how their team members, patients and community experience Virginia Mason.
Jennifer has also actively participated in various community and professional organizations. She believes it is important to share her talents/expertise/interests with her community and help connect people and efforts.
Mounir Ghattas, MHA
Mounir Ghattas is the chief operating officer for Pacific Medical Centers. He brings extensive health care experience and a broad world vision to this role.
Since joining PacMed in 2002, Mounir has served in many leadership roles. In 2019, he became executive director of Ambulatory Services, overseeing clinical operations across the nine clinics of PacMed. In 2020, he was tapped to bring his in-depth knowledge of system redesign, leadership development and health care operations to the role of COO.
Before joining PacMed, Mounir was a practicing ophthalmologist in his home country of Tunisia. He earned his medical degree from the University of Tunis and later pursued a master’s degree in health administration from Louisiana State University Shreveport. Mounir is also an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
He enjoys traveling around the world with his family, hiking, diving and spending time with friends.
Ronak Chokhani
Ronak Chokhani works as a health care transactional and regulatory attorney with Stoel Rives LLP in Seattle.
In this role, Ronak represents provider and payor organizations, including physician groups, hospital systems, health plans, managed care entities, clinics and individual licensees. His expertise includes a wide range of health care transactional and regulatory matters, such as affiliations and joint ventures, corporate governance and compliance, Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement matters, fraud and abuse compliance, privacy/security matters, medical staffing, licensing and credentialing, and more.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Ronak pursued his law degree from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, where he distinguished himself as a top-performing student. He serves as first vice-chair of the Washington State Bar Association, Health Law Section’s Executive Committee and has been recognized in Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch in America (Corporate Law), 2023.
In addition to his work with Project Access Northwest, Ronak has volunteered with American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army, among others.
Board member in the spotlight
Our board member Kevin Wang, MD, medical director of Providence Swedish’s LGBTQI+ program, was featured in the “I am the we in Providence Swedish” campaign. Check out the video below to learn more about what drives his commitment to Providence Swedish and how his “multiple identities” help him connect with patients.