Speaker Biographies

Marcie H. Zakheim specializes in health care, particularly in the areas of federal grants, grant-related requirements and grants management related to the federal health center program. Health centers turn to Ms. Zakheim as a resource for knowing not only the letter of the law, but also the likely interpretation of requirements by federal policymakers, including the Health Resources and Services Administration.

At the same time, Ms. Zakheim utilizes her experience to advocate at the federal level for greater legal and policy flexibility to support the health center program and promote innovation in service delivery. Ms. Zakheim counsels the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and provides technical assistance services and advice to various health care providers (including health centers) and provider-based consortia, national and state associations, and public agencies across the country.

April Lewis is a dedicated advocate for enhancing the employee experience, fostering leadership development, and serving as the President and CEO of the A. Lewis Academy, Inc. April leverages her extensive training and leadership background to facilitate transformative change within individuals and organizations. Her mantra, “Human first, Employee second,” underscores her commitment to prioritizing people’s well-being in all aspects of her work.

With a rich professional history spanning roles in human resources, operations, and training, April brings a unique blend of expertise to her endeavors. A combat Army veteran serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Bright Star in Egypt, she exemplifies resilience and adaptability.

April holds esteemed certifications as a Certified Executive Coach (International Coaching Federation Accredited), Certified D.I.S.C Facilitator (Personality Insights), Certified Health Coach (Institute of Integrated Health), and Certified Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner (The Center for NLP), further validating her proficiency in driving personal and organizational growth.

Currently, April consults as the Director of the National Center for Workforce Development and Training in partnership with the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, where she leads initiatives to empower healthcare professionals serving marginalized communities. She serves on the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America Florida. She is also an Advisory Board Member for Holistic Homes, joining the mission for housing first and personalized holistic healing for adults recovering from mental health conditions.

Mandi Gingras is the Director of Education for the 3RNET, the National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network, a non-profit organization and trusted resource for connecting safety net facilities with health professionals seeking careers in rural and underserved communities. Mandi provides healthcare recruitment and retention educational support to safety net facilities across the nation. With 18 years of experience in healthcare recruitment and workforce consulting, she remains passionate in developing and sharing strategies to attract and retain healthcare professionals who will thrive in rural and underserved communities.

Steve Elgan has worked in IT for the last 25 years. Steve’s focus is on End User Computing, IT Operations, and Leadership. He as been the IT Director at OneWorld Community Health Centers for the last 14 years and jointly at Heartland Community Health Network for the last 11 years. Steve has co-lead the Nebraska Nutanix User Group since 2019, co-lead the Omaha Citrix User Group from 2015-2023, and served on the Citrix User Group Community’s Steering Committee from 2018-2023. Additionally Steve served as VP of the Citrix User Group’s Steering Committee from 2019-2020, and as President from 2020-2022.

Dr. Dethlefs has been a family practice physician at OneWorld Community Health Centers since September 2000. In that role, he provides patients with outstanding health care and has a devoted patient following. He has led numerous quality improvement initiatives within the health center to improve patient outcomes.

He is a participant and faculty member for the cardiovascular branch of the BPHC Health Disparities Collaboratives (2001 to present), a member of the Clinical Advisory Group for development of Patient Electronic Care System 2004/2005 and a member of the HRSA sponsored Integration and Alignment Group and primary editor of the group’s white paper, “Building the Bridges to Cross the Quality Chasm” (10-06 to 03-07). As a gifted primary care physician, with talent and expertise in technology, Dr. Dethlefs started serving as Heartland Community Health Network’s Medical Director in 2005. Dr. Dethlefs’ work in templating and programming to match work flow and clinical practice resulted in 100% adoption and buy-in of all OneWorld CHC clinical staff for EHR adoption.

Prior to his experience at OneWorld, Dr. Dethlefs was a Family Practice Physician at the Alegent Health Center – Vinton Clinic, August 1995 – August 1997 and a volunteer physician at the Casa de Maria clinic in Nueva Ocotepeque, Honduras, September 1997 – June 2000. His education includes post-graduate work at St. Francis Family Practice Program in Wichita; graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE in 1992; High Distinction Undergraduate in mathematics from Creighton University, Omaha, NE in 1987, B.S. Mathematics, Summa cum Laude. Dr. Dethlefs has won numerous awards including: 2010 nominated by OneWorld and received Nebraska Medical Association physician of the year. Resident of the Year Award, 1993; Resident Teacher of the Year Award, 1993 and 1995; Mead Johnson Award, 1994; Award for Clinical Excellence, 1995; Graduate: Awards for Academic Excellence in Gross Anatomy, Neuroanatomy, Embryology, Living Anatomy, Pharmacology, Clinical Pathology, Pathology, and Microbiology, 1989-1990; The Michael S. Combs Award, Regent’s Scholarship, 1989-1992; Alpha Omega Alpha, 1991; Creighton University Presidential Scholarship, 1984-1987; Carl Reinhart Scholarship (Academic), 1984-1987; Dean’s List, 1984-1987; Award for Academic Excellence in Chemistry, 1985; Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honorary Society, 1987.

Kyle Väth is the CEO and co-founder of RegLantern, a company that provides tools and services to health centers that help them move toward continuous HRSA compliance and operational excellence. These services include mock site surveys and web-based tools that allow health centers to organize their compliance documentation. Kyle has served in a wide range of healthcare settings including serving as the Director of Operations for Social Ministries for a large health system, Provider Relations for a health system-owned payer, the Clinical Quality Director and then Director of Operations for a Federally-Qualified Health Center, long-term care (as a nursing manager, director of nursing, and licensed nursing home administrator), in acute care (as a critical care nurse), and in Tanzania, East Africa as a hospital administrator of a rural mission hospital. 

Kyle is an independent contractor providing HRSA Operational Site Surveys since 2017 as well as FTCA application reviews for FQHCs around the United States since 2021. He has also served as a subject matter expert for a healthcare company that has a mission of training healthcare workers to find and eliminate racial, ethnic, or linguistic disparities in healthcare outcomes. 

Amy Merritt Campbell, M.Ed., is the CEO and Co-Founder of Elevate Consulting, a Nashville-based organization dedicated to fostering vibrant communities through strategy, evaluation, and learning support for nonprofits, government, and philanthropic clients. As CEO, Amy shapes Elevate’s strategic direction and operational growth while forging strong partnerships with mission-driven leaders. She excels at navigating complexity—designing strategy, facilitating high-stakes conversations, and helping teams align around shared goals and action—both for Elevate and community partners alike. Through her experiences as a first-generation college student from Appalachian Tennessee and more than a decade of working in the nonprofit sector, Amy brings lived experience, commitment, and deep expertise to her work. Amy was honored with the Nashville Emerging Leaders Award in Community and Nonprofits in 2020 and holds degrees from the University of Tennessee (B.A. in Psychology) and Vanderbilt University (M.Ed. in Community Development). She lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter, where she’s usually juggling several books at once and losing arguments with her pre-schooler. 

Tracy Irwin, MD, MPH joined Erie Family Health Center in 2018 as the Hospira Endowed Medical Director of Reproductive Health. Her undergraduate degree is from Emory University and she obtained her medical degree and Masters of Public Health at Northwestern University.  Dr. Irwin completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at the University of Pittsburgh, Magee-Womens Hospital.

At Erie, Dr. Irwin oversees a reproductive health service line and workforce that spans 40 miles and provides obstetrics and gynecologic services at 13 outpatient sites and three partner hospitals. Delivering 3000 babies per year, Erie is the largest FQHC prenatal care provider in Illinois and in the top 5 community health centers across the nation.

Since her arrival at Erie, she has worked to improve quality of reproductive health services through implementing evidenced based utilization of support services, improved peer audits and data collection as well as expanded programming in breastfeeding and behavioral health integration programs.

Her clinical practice includes the entire scope of women’s health with a special focus on vulnerable populations. She has received multiple clinical and teaching awards.

A respected leader known for advancing culturally responsive care and championing women’s health initiatives, Dr. Robbie Harriford bridges medical providers and executive teams, overseeing clinical staff, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration, and driving strategic initiatives. A bilingual women’s health specialist with a master’s degree in Global Health and over five years of experience at the health center, she has expertise in maternal health, contraception, and health equity, and a background in urban and rural community health.  

Lori Dumke is the Chief Operations Officer for Horizon Health, a federally qualified health center in 19 cities across South Dakota. Horizon provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services at 27 clinics statewide. She holds both undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees from Nebraska Methodist College, with her Master of Science in Nursing specializing in the Chief Nurse Executive role.

Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Dumke now lives in Valley Springs, South Dakota, with her husband, Jordan, and their young son. She enjoys family road trips exploring rural South Dakota, golfing, mowing the lawn, shopping, and reading.

Amy is an accomplished finance professional with over 15 years of progressive financial leadership experience, including 11 years in the FQHCs industry. She graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2008 with a degree in Accounting and spent over five years working as an Accounting Manager in the HOA Management Industry in Las Vegas, NV before finding her passion for FQHCs.

In 2014, Amy relocated to Vancouver, WA, and joined her first FQHC in Portland, OR, as the Director of Finance. She quickly climbed the ranks and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) within a year. In early 2018, Amy relocated to the suburbs of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where she joined CLC as a remote consultant. As a consultant, she offered her expertise as a Fractional CFO in accounting, budgeting, and operations to FQHCs to further their mission of providing care to those in need.

In 2019, Amy opened CLC’s Minnesota office, and in 2020, she became one of CLC’s shareholders. Amy served as the COO/Integrator, leveraging her extensive knowledge in financial and operational management, accounting, communication, leadership, human resources, recruiting, C-Suite level coaching, FQHC compliance, and project management to help CLC and its clients succeed.

Now as Chief Strategy Officer, Amy focuses on growing the business and driving forward strategic initiatives that support CLC and our clients. She combines her deep financial and operational expertise with strategic vision to identify new opportunities, enhance service offerings, and strengthen partnerships in the FQHC industry.

Colleen Meiman is the National Policy Advisor for state and regional associations of Community Health Centers (CHCs), often called Primary Care Associations (PCAs.) Previously, she spent six years with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) as the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Senior Policy Advisor. She also spent over two decades in the Federal government, including in the HHS Secretary’s Office, CMS, HRSA, and the US Senate. Colleen’s focus is on Federal policy issues impacting Community Health Centers and medically-underserved patients.