Health Care for All Colorado Board of Directors and Staff
Vince Markovchick, M.D.
Golden, Colorado
President HCAC Foundation
Dr. Vincent Markovchick has more than 40 years experience in Emergency Medicine, holding numerous positions including Director of Emergency Medical Services, Director of Medical Education, Medical Director of the Paramedic Division, Denver Fire Department, Associate Program Director of Denver Affiliated Residency in Emergency Medicine, and staff physician at Denver Health Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. He currently serves as Professor Emeritus, Department of Emergency Medicine at University of Colorado’s School of Medicine where he also served as Associated Dean for Health Affairs. He received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in 1970. He has received multiple awards and recognitions including the Lifetime Achievement Award from Denver Health Residency in Emergency Medicine, Heroes of Emergency Medicine from American College of Emergency Physicians, the Legacy Award from the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and 2002 Best Doctors in America List. He was newly elected Vice President to the HCAC foundation’s Board of Directors in 2013.
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Thomas Gottlieb, M.D.
Arvada, Colorado
Vice President/Treasurer of HCAC Foundation and Board member of HCAC
Dr. Tom Gottlieb has 48 years experience in health care and was trained as a biochemist at the University of Colorado Boulder and as a physician at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) in Denver. He worked in the Public Health Service (Indian Health Service), University of Colorado Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Denver Neighborhood Health Center (medical director), and private practice (Internal Medicine) in West Denver. His experiences include directorship of the Lutheran Medical Center Joint Venture (an Accountable Care Organization), a founder and medical director of a primary care group, New West Physicians, and founder and president of Denver Oncology Consortium. He practiced evidence-based practice principles with an emphasis on patient values and patient centered decision making. He is now retired and is devoting his time to introduce and implement universal health care financed by a public single-payer system. He has served as a board member for Health Care for All Colorado Foundation since November 2011 and was newly elected president in 2013.
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Rochelle Dworet, M.D. (Shelley Cohen)
Denver, Colorado
Board member and past president of Health Care for All Colorado
Shelley Dworet Cohen has been a staunch advocate and champion for a single payer health care system both in Colorado and nationally. A Pediatrician with almost 40 years of experience in Colorado, both in the private and public sector, Dr. Dworet has worked with Health Care for All Colorado since 2007, as President for 2 years, and with the Foundation Board since 2014.
Shelley has been recognized as a Diplomat by the American Board of Pediatrics, as a Fellow by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and received the John D. Benjamin Award from the Denver Psychoanalytic Society for her attunement to the mental health needs and quality treatment of children (1999).
Prior to attending the University of Chicago in 1968, Dr. Dworet had the unique opportunity to serve as an exchange student with the American Field Service in France. Multiple visits to her medical colleagues and friends provided first-hand experience of the benefits and efficiency of a single payer health care system and sealed her commitment to single payer. She continues to pursue Pediatrics by volunteering with medical students at the Warren Village Clinic and working locums at Academy Park Pediatrics
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Elinor Christiansen, M.D.
Aurora, Colorado
Board member and past president HCAC Foundation, Board member HCAC, and co-founder HCAC
Dr. Christiansen is the past President of the American Medical Women’s Association. In 1955 she earned her MD from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (now known as MCP-HU). Her diverse medical career has involved a private practice in general practice in Ohio, maternal and child health in the inner city clinics of Denver, CO and School Health for Denver Public Schools, college health at Colorado Women’s College for 2 years followed by 18 years at University of Denver Student Health Service where she was a staff physician and also medical director the last 9 years. She was also part of the clinical faculty in Family Medicine at University of Colorado School of Medicine and Medical Director and staff physician at Columbine Family Health Center.
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Sue Cornelius
Denver, Colorado
Secretary and Board member HCAC Foundation
My name is Sue Cornelius. I was born in the UK, and have had the opportunity to work within the National Health Service there for 15 years, as a physical therapist, prior to a move to the US with my husband's job in 2000.I was introduced to HCAC in 2009, and got involved with the Denver chapter. I joined the board in 2010, with a special interest in encouraging younger people to become members of the organization. I feel passionately that the only truly fair healthcare system in Colorado would be a single payer model. I have seen how well it can work in the UK's NHS. I am currently living in Trinidad and Tobago, but remain committed to the grass roots work being done by HCAC in Colorado.
Donna Smith
Denver, Colorado
Board member HCAC Foundation and executive director HCAC and HCAC Foundation
Donna Smith is perhaps best known for her appearance in Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary, “SiCKO,” in which Moore told her story of struggle within the broken U.S. healthcare system. She has been honored by the Associated Press Managing Editors with 15 regional awards from 2004-2006 and recognized by the Inland Press Association's with top honors in 2006 for community-based journalism. Donna has so far spoken in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Australia, and Canada about single-payer, Medicare for all for life healthcare reform and about the dysfunctional U.S. health care system. In July 2007, she testified before the U.S. House of Representatives House Judiciary Committee at the request of Chairman John Conyers, Jr., about medical debt and bankruptcy. In 2009, she was named the national “Woman of Action” by the National Organization for Women (NOW). For five years, Donna lived near Washington, D.C., and worked as a national single-payer health care advocate and community organizer for National Nurses United/California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. She has been the executive director of the Health Care for All Colorado Foundation since January 2013. Donna and her husband Larry now live in Denver, and they have six children and 15 grandchildren. Donna is a three time cancer survivor.
She also appeared on the “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS in May 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX0iKuKbv4c
Writing numerous blog and Op/Ed pieces – author of her own blog: http://donnasicko.blogspot.com/ and featured blogger on MichaelMoore.com; and Common Dreams.org. Author of more than 300 essays on health reform, September 2007 – present
For more information on any of our Board Members, please contact Donna Smith.