Earlier this summer, Patience White, MD, MA, joined the Mary’s Center Board of Directors as its newest member. As a trained rheumatologist, Dr. White brings over 45 years of expertise in the medical and public health fields to Mary’s Center’s Board, along with passion for the organization’s mission and work in the community.
Dr. White is currently the co-director of Got Transition, a federally funded program through the National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health, and she is a professor of medicine and pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Since originally moving to Washington, DC in 1980 due to her husband’s job at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. White has devoted her career to improving healthcare accessibility for young adults and working to increase her understanding of the social determinants of health.
Dr. White’s work at Got Transition focuses on the difficult transition from pediatric to adult health care. “I’ve been both a pediatric and adult specialist, so from early on in my career I wanted to help young adults navigate this tricky change from one healthcare system to another,” she shared. In her day-to-day responsibilities, Dr. White provides quality improvement support for a variety of healthcare provider networks on how they can support their patients during this transition. Furthermore, in her role at GWU’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr. White enjoys teaching and mentoring medical school students and fellows.
While working as a specialist through GWU’s Division of Rheumatology, Dr. White referred patients to Mary’s Center, and also received Mary’s Center participants as referrals to her practice. “Through sharing patients, I became really familiar with what Mary’s Center is about – holistic and accessible care, especially for DC’s immigrant communities,” she explained. Dr. White used her connection to Mary’s Center as an opportunity to partner with us on a program to help facilitate behavioral health service transitions for DC Public School students as they moved through grade levels and to different schools. This program has now spread to Baltimore County Public Schools and other districts in Maryland and is used as a model for similar initiatives across the country.
Her familiarity with Mary’s Center through her work inspired Dr. White to learn more about the organization and get involved in any way she could. “When a good friend approached me about an opportunity to join the Board, I knew I had to take it. I can’t imagine the District without Mary’s Center and now I have a chance to be directly involved,” she said. During her board term, Dr. White hopes to leverage Mary’s Center’s success stories and outcomes data to spread our influence even further. “I believe that Mary’s Center is able to meet key needs in an area where it is very difficult to be impoverished,” said Dr. White. The focus on health as a multidimensional attribute, especially the connection between education and community, is what is allowing Mary’s Center’s participants to succeed. The key to expanding this is successfully documenting the outcomes and sharing the stories, which is what I hope I can accomplish on the Board.”
We are extremely excited that Dr. White has joined our Board, and we look forward to her medical experience and vast knowledge of the healthcare sector to help Mary’s Center further our mission and impact in the region.