Meet the Team

Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick

Founder & CEO

Lisa Fitzpatrick, MD, MPH, MPA, is a board-certified infectious diseases physician and a medical epidemiologist. She began her public health career in 1998 as a member of the CDC’s elite Epidemic Intelligence Service. She has served as a foreign diplomat in the Caribbean, an academic researcher, and the former chief medical officer for the DC Medicaid program. Dr. Fitzpatrick is a member of the Institute of Medicine/ National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Health Literacy and an Aspen Institute Health Innovator Fellow. She is the founder and CEO of Grapevine Health, a digital health media company she established to build trust and improve patient engagement among Medicaid patients through delivering culturally appropriate and relatable health information.

Dr. Neal Sikka

CMO

Neal Sikka is an Associate Professor at The George Washington University, practicing Emergency Physician and the Director of the Innovative Practice and Telehealth Section at the GW Medical Faculty Associates. Dr. Sikka has expertise in HIT topics such as informatics, telemedicine, mobile health, technology adoption and patient engagement. He has conducted research under awards from McKesson and Care First Foundations as well as the CMS Innovation Center related to SMS messaging, telehealth and remote patient monitoring. He is also a founder and CMO of a SonoStik, a medical device start up, an advisor to Life365, providing a digital health as a service platform, and recently served as CMO of 22otters a digital health start up focusing on the use of voice in mobile patient engagement. Dr. Sikka completed his Medical Degree at Washington University in St. Louis and his Emergency Medicine residency at GWU.

Kat Amano

Business Operations

Kat Kiyoko Amano joined the Grapevine Health team in 2021, bringing with her nearly 20 years of experience in project management, system administration, and organizational operations, with a focus on mission-driven work for racial and economic justice. Her efforts have helped organizations obtain and execute on more than $60 million in grants and contracts. Kat’s personal mission is to empower justice-driven teams to achieve and maintain clarity, grow in alignment with their values, and build a more inclusive, equitable world.

William Hoefle

CFO

William Hoefle joined the Grapevine Health team in 2021. He brings with him nearly 30 years of experience in finance, operations and project management from industries as diverse as medical devices, space & intelligence, defense, automotive, banking, aeronautics and law.

He has held associate and adjunct faculty positions in accounting and organizational behavior at Indiana University, is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and APICS, and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance as well as an MBA from Indiana University.

He has also served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Greensboro Opera Company, and serves on several small business advisory boards.

Shamera Robinson

Program Manager

As a program manager with Grapevine Health, Shamera Robinson uses an efficient and empathetic approach to planning, executing, and evaluating inclusive public health programs. Shamera is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) by training, with a background in public health and diabetes education. Her experiences in clinical, community, and public health settings allow her to bring a fresh perspective and an unwavering passion to improving the health and health care of systemically disadvantaged communities.

Samson Binutu / Cruefilms

Videography

Cruefilms is a Crue of innovators that provides clients with distinct visionary work to help tell their stories.

Tea Slater

Program Coordinator

Tea Slater is a Program Coordinator at Grapevine Health and an MPH candidate at George Washington University. Tea brings experience in public health research and design, with particular interest in engaging marginalized communities. Prior to Grapevine Health, they worked at John Snow Inc supporting research and evaluation of public health initiatives and at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland where they recruited marginalized populations into clinical research studies. With their MPH in Public Health Communications and Marketing, Tea hopes to use the skills learned to effectively empower LGBTQ+ and communities of color to improve their mental and physical health and make systemic change.

Simona Wright James

Social Media Assets Director

Josh Chamberlain

Producer

After ten years in Hollywood, Josh returned to his native Maryland roots, with a focus on creating significant and passionate stories that are told in an original and engaging style.

Josh owns and operates Stickman Productions, a multimedia production company that collaborates with studios such as Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony Pictures as well as production companies such as Westbrook Entertainment. Over the years, he has brought his knowledge and expertise to independent as well as blockbuster films including Spiderman: Far From Home, Baby Driver, Jumanji, Passengers, Bad Boys 3, and many more.

Throughout the years, he has developed his proficiency for storytelling and pacing in the editor’s chair, starting in 2004 while working for New Line Cinema. He eventually moved on to work with Will Smith’s company, Overbrook, where he helped to develop feature film and TV projects, while editing original and captivating productions such After Earth as lead Animatic Editor. Simultaneously, over the years he worked on 100+ episodes of reality television shows for Authentic Entertainment. In 2013, he took his affinity for identifying great characters, along with his finesse of music and sound design, to Sony Pictures Entertainment Creative Content department where he produced, edited and generated content for a wide variety of projects for over 45 globally released theatrical films. The combined views for his work well exceed 100 million views.

Lydia Baugh

Marketing & Communications

Lydia Baugh is an award-winning business strategist, an expert at elevating thought leaders, organization brands and stakeholder engagement for industry impact. Named one of Washington DC’s “Top 40 Association and Non-Profit Innovators” – Baugh develops innovative breakthrough branding, digital marketing and communication strategies, to advance an organization’s revenue and strategic goals. She is passionate about advocating for equitable access to healthcare for all.

Aishat Magbade

Community Health

Aishat Magbade is very passionate about community health and has a focus on achieving health equity through a combination of health policy and community health initiatives. Aishat holds a Bachelors in Community and Behavioral Health from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Rachel Harbut

Digital Strategy & Tech Innovation

Rachel holds a BS in Neuroscience and has experience in clinical research, care delivery, and stakeholder education.  She applies her background to structuring effective solutions around behavioral insights.  Her research has focused on health disparities, medical ethics, and policy reform.

Fabian Sandoval

Latinx Strategist

Dr. Sandoval holds the following esteemed positions in the following community areas:

• Emmy Winner; Host of a weekly medical TV show “Tu Salud Tu Familia” (Your Family Your Health)
• Medical Contributor for Telemundo WZDC Washington D.C News, as well as national spots
• Leadership Council member, Society for Clinical Research Sites (SCRS)
• Renowned Invited speaker/presenter to multiple pharmaceutical and clinical trial organizations; on the topic of increasing minorities’ engagement, diversity education and participation, in clinical trials.

He has since started the Emerson Community Clinic, in order to support un-insured patients across the DC metro area, as well as starting the Emerson Diversity Health Foundation, who’s mission is to educate patients and providers in the importance of participating in clinical research and accesses to care.

Tyrone Lofton

Outreach

Tyrone Lofton is an undergraduate student at Towson University, in Towson, Maryland. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry & Bioinformatics (MB3) on the biochemistry concentration track. He is a native of Washington, D.C., and a two time AmeriCorps Alum.

Chinwendu Ngwadom

Behavioral Health Strategy

Chinwendu is a Grapevine health intern and MPH candidate at GW. She graduated with a B.S in Biology and Chemistry in 2017 and has worked in HIV and tuberculosis research. She is pursuing her MPH with interests in improving the mental health of children, especially in minority communities. She believes in the importance of storytelling and using social media as an intervention strategy to spread important health information. Grapevine Health provides the opportunity to understand the barriers in health communication amongst various populations and using social media as a way to get reliable information out from a trusted source.

Nick Elias

Podcast Production

Nicholas is an undergraduate student at the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. He is pursuing a degree in Communications with minors in Journalism and Organizational Science. He is originally from Long Island, New York.

Randy Ray

Health Literacy Content Creation

My name is Randy. I live in East Capitol Hill with my wife, Floramae. I’m a GWU medical student and former humanitarian aid worker. I studied Anthropology and Social Entrepreneurship at NYU. I believe Healthcare and Education are fundamental human rights.

Francis Tatem

Videography & Storytelling

Francis serves as a consultant to the Grapevine team.