Georgians For A Common Sense Health Plan
Board Biographies

Dan Blumenthal

Dan Blumenthal is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Chicago School of Medicine.  He received his master of public health degree from Emory University.  Dr. Blumenthal was an assistant professor of the Department of Community Health at the Emory University School of Medicine and served as medical director of a neighborhood health center.  In 1980, he joined the faculty of Morehouse School of Medicine where he currently serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine.  Dr. Blumenthal has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization, President of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and on the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association.  He has been awarded the Georgia Public Health Association’s Sellers-McCroan Award for outstanding achievement and service to Georgia in public health.

Jeff Graham

Jeff began speaking on AIDS related issues as a college student in 1984.  He has been an advocate on HIV issues in Georgia since 1989.  After serving five years as the media coordinator for the activist group ACT UP/Atlanta, Jeff worked for thirteen years, eleven of those as Executive Director, for AIDS Survival Project.  serves on the Fulton County Commission on Disability Affairs; the Atlanta HIV Health Services Planning Council and facilitates the Georgia ADAP taskforce, a legislative workgroup.  He is a member of Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief, a group that lobbies Congress on HIV related issues.  He has been an active volunteer with numerous organizations addressing issues of homelessness, poverty, disability rights and health care access.  He has received numerous awards from organizations such as Health Students Taking Action Together, Southern Voice Newspaper,  the National Center for Human Rights Education, and the Atlanta City Council.  In 1999 he was the  Grand Marshal of the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in 1999,

Phyllis Johnson

Phyllis Johnson received her Ph.D. in education for Georgia State University in 1977.  She served as graduate program coordinator and taught in the School of Nursing at Georgia State until retiring in June 2000.  Dr. Johnson has conducted research and published book chapters and journal articles on teen pregnancy prevention and health care reform.  She received a grant from the National Institutes for Nursing Research and was awarded a Health Policy Fellowship from the American Nurses Association.  Dr. Johnson served on the Boards of Universal Health Care Action Network and Nurses for a National Health Program as well as numerous professional and local advisory boards focusing on health policy issues and insuring the uninsured.

Henry Kahn

Henry Kahn graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1968 and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.  He has served at the United States Centers of Disease Control, 1972-1974 and the Family Planning Evaluation Division.  Dr. Kahn served as faculty of Emory University School of Medicine and physician at Grady Memorial Hospital.  He is founder of the Dekalb Grady Neighborhood Health Center where he continues a primary care practice.  Since 2001, he has been Professor Emeritus in the Department of Family & Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine.  He has authored/co-authored over 70 papers related to organization of primary and preventive medicine.  He is Chair of the Physicians for a National Health Program Chapter in Georgia and serves as a mentor for medical students involved in health care policy issues.

Arun Mohan

Arun graduated from Swarthmore College in 2000, having served as Co-editor and Chief of The Phoenix, the college’s weekly newspaper.  Following graduation, Arun worked as an intern with the Foundation for Rural Development in Tepeji del Rio, Mexico.  Arun was selected to be a Jane Addams Fellow at Indiana University studying philanthropy and interning with the University’s Center for Urban and Multicultural Education.  He is currently a third year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine.  Arun is a founding member of Health Students Taking Action, a coalition of health professions students interested in educating their colleagues about important health related issues in Georgia and to mobilize them to take action in changing their communities as it relates to improving health status and access health care.

Pat Puckett

Pat serves as the Executive Director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia.  In this capacity, she has contracted with 8 local non-profits, which provide independent living services to over 3,000 persons.  She has also provided extensive training and development work to peer supporters.  Previously, Pat was founder and director of Creative Pathways, Inc., an organization that resolved service delivery problems for many Georgians with severe disabilities.  She worked with the Department of Medical Assistance in the development of the Independent Care waiver.  She is a member of the National Council on Independent Living, on the board of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute and the Disability Law and Policy Center.  Pat received the 2003 Leadership Dekalb Outstanding Member Award and the Region IV (8 Southeastern States) Advocate of the Year in 2002 from the National Council on Independent Living.  Pat is a leading force in disability rights in our State and a volunteer with many disability rights organizations.

Lynn Thogersen

Lynn Thogersen has a Master in Healthcare Policy and Management from Mercer University.  In 1976, she co-founded and was administrator of the Feminist Women’s Health Center, a reproductive health center in Atlanta, Georgia.  In 1993 she started her own consulting company and has provided healthcare policy and management services to women’s clinics, physicians and non-profit corporations across the country.  Lynn has expertise in regulation compliance, women’s health, human resource management and contract management.  Lynn is also a health care policy advocate and has monitored the Georgia State Legislature for Healthcare for a Lifetime, Georgians for a Common Sense Health Plan, Time for Community Coalition and the Georgia Mental Health Consumers Network.  Lynn has worked on the federal level with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.  She received the Let’s Get together Inc. Award for Excellence in Service and Volunteerism and the Margaret Sanger Award for Leadership in Women’s Health.

Rita Valenti

Rita graduated with honors from Clayton State School of Nursing in 1983.  She is employed as a Registered Nurse at the Grady Health System.  Rita has served on the Cabinet of Governmental Affairs and the Executive Committee of the Georgia Nurses Association and the Board of the Georgia Nurses Foundation.  She also served on the Boards for the Oakhurst Community Health Care Center and the Scottdale Child Development Center.  Governor Joe Frank Harris appointed her to the Georgia General Assembly Access to health commission in 1989.  In 1990, she was elected to the Georgia State Legislature from District 52, Dekalb County.  During her term, Rita introduced several pieces of legislation on health policy issues.  She has been awarded the Mamie K. Taylor Award from Georgia Business and Professional Women, the Search for Excellence American Nurses Association Award and is an honorary Rosalyn Carter Fellow in Public Policy and Global Affairs, Emory University Institute for Women’s Studies.