Board & Staff
Staff:
Debra Rodgers
Executive Director debra.rodgers@crosshealth.com
Debra Rodgers leads the Center for Cross-Cultural Health as its Executive Director, providing experienced, innovative leadership to this growing organization. Debra has over fifteen years management experience in a variety of non-profit settings including economic development and cross-cultural community building. Her expertise in building authentic multi-cultural collaborations and organizations provides the foundation for the new direction of the Center as an organization committed to health equity.
Prior to joining the Center for Cross-Cultural Health, Debra provided organization development, strategic planning and fund development consultation to non-profit organizations across the state. In this capacity Debra worked with organizations of all sizes and through start-up, survival, turn-around and growth modes.
Debra is a founding member of the Somali Action Alliance and Aishah Center for Women, both cultural, community-based groups focused on empowerment and social change. A seasoned community organizer, Debra has worked on voter participation campaigns, campaigns for quality education in immigrant and refugee communities, efforts to raise the minimum wage and to ensure community benefits agreements in commercial development.
Putting her broad non-profit background to use, Debra has developed curriculum and trained hundreds of youth and adults in board development, community engagement, community organizing, social change, and racial justice.
Debra holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work and is a graduate of the University of St Thomas’ Mini-MBA program. She was trained in community organizing by the Gamaliel Leadership Foundation.
Sandra Eliason, MD
Director, Medical Programs sandra.eliason@crosshealth.com
Zahra Niccu Tafarrodi (Niccu), PhD
Director, IHEA Programs office@ihea.info
Zahra Niccu Tafarrodi (Niccu), PhD. joined the Center for Cross-Cultural Health as the Director of the International Health Education Program in July 2008.
A women’s college professor in Tehran, Iran for 15 years, Niccu developed several groundbreaking business education textbooks and was considered the founder of business education for women in Iran. Following her immigration to the U.S. in 1984, Niccu received a B.S. degree in Public Health, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Family Health Education from the University of Minnesota. Her award-winning doctoral dissertation, AIDS Education for Immigrant Teenagers, was the result of eight years of work with ethnic groups in Minnesota and around the U.S.
In 1996, Niccu established and became the chair of the Multicultural Committee at the American Cancer Society, Minnesota Division. Over a five-year period, the group produced more than 200 educational booklets in 54 languages. The World Health Organization wholly endorsed this unprecedented project.
In 2002, Niccu formed The International Health Education Alliance to continue the work begun at the American Cancer Society. Between 2002 and 2008, Niccu produced nine culturally sensitive publications in up to 60 different languages.
In July 2008, IHEA merged with the Center for Cross-Cultural Health creating an organization dedicated to addressing health disparities through education, partnerships and community engagement.
Niccu continues her involvement with the American Cancer Society as a member of the Regional Volunteer Leadership Group and a member of the Minnesota Department of Health Immigrant Task Force.
Board of Directors:
Richard Mann, Board Chair
Richard Mann is the president of Richard Mann & Associates, Ltd. His consulting firm provides planning, writing, training, and marketing services for medical device, health care, and industrial organizations. He was elected to the Vice-Chair position of the Center for Cross-Cultural Health in 2006. He is a native Minnesotan and currently serves on two other nonprofit boards. Richard holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's of education degree in technical training and development from the University of Minnesota.
Kenneth Bence
Ken Bence, M.H.A., M.B.A. is Director, Community Health Initiatives for the State Public Programs division of Medica Health Plans, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Mr. Bence currently holds appointed positions on the Minnesota Department of Health’s Health Care Disparities Task Force and Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force.
Mr. Bence earned his Masters in Healthcare Administration from the School of Public Health and his Masters in Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management, both at the University of Minnesota. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
Boris Kalanj
As Director of Health Care Equity at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Boris Kalanj leads organizational efforts to deliver equitable and culturally competent care. His responsibilities at Children's have included oversight of language access services, workforce education toward cultural competence, and development of data collection, evaluation and research capacities to identify, understand and reduce healthcare disparities. Prior to his appointment at Children’s, Boris was a clinical team leader at the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis and a coordinator of international programs at the University of Minnesota. He has consulted and given numerous workshops for providers in health, human services, and education fields on communication skills, working with interpreters and other areas of cultural and linguistic competence. Boris has a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. in social work from the University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Andrew Kiragu
Dr. Andrew Waititu Kiragu is currently the Medical Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Hennepin County Medical Center. He joined the Department of Pediatrics at Hennepin over six years ago. He is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
He completed his undergraduate studies at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada and subsequently graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC with an MD degree in 1994.
He served his residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, 1994-1998, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care, 1998-2001. He was one of the Walter Ramsey Endowment Fellows at the university. During his fellowship he was awarded the Mark Snelling Outstanding Teaching Fellow for three consecutive years, in recognition of his commitment to resident education.
He has also been the recipient of the George R. Noren Award from the Department of Pediatrics at HCMC and the Outstanding Faculty Educator Award from the University of Minnesota in recognition of his commitment to resident and student education.
During his critical care fellowship, he was awarded a Vikings Foundation Grant to study the inflammatory effects of cardiopulmonary bypass. He was a co-Primary Investigator in for a 4-year project funded by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation to establish an Injury Free Coalition for Kids site in Minneapolis at HCMC with a goal of studying and promoting injury prevention here in the Twin Cities. He is board-certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Critical Care and Internal Medicine.
In addition to his service with the Center for Cross Cultural Health, Dr. Kiragu also serves on the boards of the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota and the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is also currently the President of the Minnesota Association of Black Physicians.
Dr. Gary N. McLean
Dr. Gary N. McLean is senior professor and executive director of international human resource development programs at Texas A&M University, and former professor and coordinator of human resource development and adult education at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. He has served as President of the Academy of Human Resource Development and the International Management Development Association. As an OD practitioner in McLean Global Consulting, Inc., he works extensively globally. His research interests are broad and diverse, focusing primarily on organization development and international HRD. He was the acting board chair of the former International Health Education Alliance (IHEA).
Sharon Oswald
Sharon Oswald has 13 years experience in organizational and program development in the Twin Cities region. Her professional experience includes non-profit consulting in the areas of fund-raising, board development and strategic planning, and program management in small business development, early childhood, and health. In her current position at Greater Twin Cities United Way United Way she manages preventive health strategies including community investments and partnerships for instigating social change. In addition to serving as board member of the Center for Cross-Cultural Health she serves as board chair of the Early Childhood Resource and Training Center.
Michael Scandrett
Michael Scandrett is Health Policy Director for Halleland Health Consulting, Special Counsel with the law firm, and co-chair of the firm's health law practice. Michael concentrates his practice on health policy, strategic planning, regulatory compliance, and consulting support for innovative projects for health care organizations, nonprofits and governmental entities. He has been a trusted advisor and policy analyst for Minnesota's health care leaders and policy makers for 20 years. He was an influential force in the formation of many of Minnesota's important public policies and reforms in health care, from managed care regulation to the Minnesota Care program for the uninsured, from health care quality measurement to long-term care reimbursement policies.
Donald Whipple Fox
Donald Whipple Fox is an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux (Dakota) Nation. His Dakota name is Hushasha (Red Legs). Donald worked in the 1990s at the East Metro (St. Paul) Unit of the American Cancer Society as Multicultural Director. He assisted in founding the International Health Education Alliance and served on its Board of Directors. Donald currently is the Executive Director of the Indigenous Theological Training Institute of North America, Inc (ITTI). He also serves as the Vice-President of Grants and Programming for Philanthrofund Foundation (PFUND), a foundation serving GLBT organizations and individuals. He speaks German, likes to eat Persian food, is a philatelist, and owns a saucy shih-tzu named Wa'ste (which means "good" in Dakota).