Mark Masselli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Masselli | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1951 (age 73–74) |
| Occupation | American public health leader |
| Spouse | Jennifer Alexander |
| Children | 4 |
| Parents |
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Mark Masselli (born 1951) is an American public health leader and community organizer.[1] In 1972, Masselli co-founded Community Health Center (CHC), the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in Connecticut. He has served as CHC's president and CEO since the organization's founding.[2] CHC provides primary care services to more than 150,000 patients at 200 sites across Connecticut. CHC was also integral in setting up and running Connecticut's COVID-19 vaccination sites, administering more than half a million vaccines.[3] Masselli's work conceiving and building CHC is detailed in Peace & Health: How a group of small-town activists and college students set out to change healthcare.[4] In 2024, Masselli founded the Moses/Weitzman Health System, the nation's first health system dedicated to primary care for underserved populations. The system was named for Masselli's early mentors and long-time CHC board members, pharmacist Gerard Weitzman, whose family escaped pogroms in Ukraine, and Reba Moses, a descendant of slaves in South Carolina who migrated North and became a leading advocate for health equity and social justice.
Masselli was born in 1951 in Middletown, Connecticut to Nicholas William Masselli and Ida Marie (Rusconi) Masselli.[5] He attended Xavier High School, graduating in 1969.[6] In 2009, Masselli was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Wesleyan University.[7]
Community Health Center, Inc.
In 1972, Masselli founded Community Health Center, Inc. alongside Middletown community activists and students at Wesleyan University, including John Hickenlooper. In his memoir, Senator Hickenlooper describes CHC's beginnings as a free clinic in a walk-up apartment.[8] CHC has evolved into one of the nation's largest and most innovative federally qualified health centers, offering primary medical, dental & behavioral health care and an array of specialty services.
CHC operates with a basic core mission: healthcare is a right, not a privilege. The center makes a special commitment to providing care to the uninsured, underserved, and key populations such as those living with HIV/AIDS.[9]
During the 1990s, supported by federal funding for FQHCs, CHC expanded to midsize cities across Connecticut, including New London, Meriden, and New Britain.[10] The center now operates 16 large community clinics, a national training and technology development arm, and 185 school-based health centers.
In 2021, CHC set up the largest mass vaccination site in Connecticut in East Hartford. CHC set up additional mass vaccination sites in Stamford and Middletown.[11] In 2022, CHC received funding from the American Rescue Plan to expand virtual appointment options.[12]
International work
Masselli has been active on global health issues in India and South Asia. In October 2008, he delivered an address titled Sustainability: A community approach. Being relevant to the community and forging partnerships, at the Aravind Eye Hospital, Global Consultation on Sustainability, Pondicherry, India.
He has traveled throughout India, China, Nepal and Tibet and was increasingly drawn to the works of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, first encountering His Holiness at an event at Harvard in 1979. They later met and Mark traveled with His Holiness during his visit to France in the early 1980s, where Mark had the opportunity to discuss his community work in Middletown with the Dalai Lama personally. Later, he was invited by the Office of Tibet in New York to assist with strategy to engage the US to support Tibet, and has continued his advocacy, including serving as a host family for a Tibetan couple and their children fleeing persecution. In the 1980s, Mark worked directly with Archbishop Tutu to establish the Bishop Tutu Refugee Fund to aid refugees from apartheid in South Africa.