As WCAAP members may have seen in the email which sent on January 8, 2025, I’m sharing news of transitions for two of key WCAAP leaders, along with the Executive Board’s plan for filling these critical roles. (If you didn’t receive the email, please contact WCAAP to update your address!)
On Friday, January 3, Sarah Rafton let me know she will be leaving her position as Executive Director. Each of you know how much heart and soul Sarah has poured into WCAAP for the past 9 years. She wants to refocus on her top priorities. Please join me in offering our thanks to Sarah for her vision, hard work, and leadership which has truly transformed who we are all while building a remarkable team who will see us through this change. Sarah’s last day as ED will be January 25; however she has kindly agreed to provide additional support for our interim Executive Director and our team in order to ensure a strong transition, through February 6. Some of the areas which Sarah has led include:
- Advancing primary care’s ability to better serve children, teens, and families – including Medicaid:Medicare parity, behavioral health integration, and Community Health Workers now a Medicaid benefit.
- Strengthening WCAAP’s relationships and impact with the Health Care Authority, Department of Health, and the legislature.
- The role WCAAP played supporting pediatricians during lock-down and in the State’s emergency declaration to bring kids back to school.
With this bittersweet news, I’m delighted to have some joyful news: Dr. Lelach Rave has agreed to join WCAAP as interim Executive Director for the next three-six months, starting on January 26 during which time we will conduct a formal search process for the ED position. Lelach has worked with the chapter for over 19 years, has been a WCAAP Board member, and has been one of the key architects of our outstanding legislative committee as the former and current co-chair. Lelach was my mentor and brought me into the legislative committee, and I have appreciated her wisdom and effective leadership style for many years. Dr. Rave is a strategic thinker with deep commitment to policies for kids and to the team building and communication which will build upon the strengths of our chapter. Sarah and Lelach are working together for a smooth transition; we have discussed this change with the amazing WCAAP staff and asked for their input and ideas about about how to build upon our strengths in this next era. Please join me in heartfelt welcome and thanks to Dr. Rave for her willingness to lead our chapter forward. I’m delighted to work with Lelach in this critical role. Thanks to the incredible Executive Board team of Dr. Polo, Dr. White, Dr. Tarango, and Dr. Barsotti for their counsel, support and hard work on all these matters.
Kailani Amine, Director of WCAAP, has relocated to Hawaii to be closer to family and has accepted a health care position there. Her last day will be January 24. Kailani has been a great leader as Director of WCAAP. She will be joining HMSA, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association working on their strategy and execution team. She will also be working closely with their government relations team on a new federal funding opportunity that will support the state in health care delivery transformation efforts to improve access and equity, with work to stabilize the costs of health care for the people of Hawaii. Kailani writes:
I am so proud of the work that WCAAP has done to support the new Pediatric Community Health Worker workforce especially around clinic team integration.I am especially proud of our ability to build stronger relationships with our agency partners such as DOH and the HCA in supporting the littlest of kiddos prenatal to age 5. I am grateful for the relationships I’ve made with our wonderful Pediatricians, parent partners, and staff.
Please join me in thanking Kailani for her innovative work and relationship building for CHW and early childhood relationships as well as grant management. Lelach, Sarah, and I are working on plans to ensure continuity and deliverables as this work moves forward, building on the shared expertise we have been developing in our staff.
Lastly, many of you know that we were awarded the prestigious Murdock grant, which will provide three years of support for grant management and grant writing, with funds for this new position. This full-time position has been already posted, and we are already getting an outstanding group of applicants. We hope to have a new person hired for this position by early February and are excited at the caliber of applicants we are receiving. This new position will help each of us focus on our contributions to the chapter with more definition and structure and will take on grant management tasks which were being shared by multiple team members. Michelle Tolman will be increasing her hours to support our team during this transition as well.
Please join our Board and Committee chairs in thanking Sarah and Kailani for their care, teamwork, and dedication to the work of WCAAP, the children and families who have benefitted from your contributions, and all the people who get it done at WCAAP. Please also join me to extend our thanks to Dr. Rave and our WCAAP team for this opportunity to build on our successes in new directions.
With gratitude for all you do,
Beth Ebel, MD, MSc, MPH, FAAP
President, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics