Health Commissioner Shah Announces Administrative Appointments

Sue Kelly Named Executive Deputy Commissioner and Karen

Westervelt Named Special Policy Advisor for Primary Care
Development

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 3, 2011) – State Health Commissioner Nirav R.

Shah, M.D., M.P.H., today announced the appointment of Sue E. Kelly as
Executive Deputy Commissioner and Karen S. Westervelt as Special Policy
Advisor for Primary Care Development for the New York State Department of
Health (DOH).

“Sue Kelly and Karen Westervelt bring valuable skills and experience to
the Department, and will further enhance our ability to provide the highest
standards of health care and public health in the nation,” said Commissioner
Shah. “We are pleased to welcome them back to DOH as we work to protect
and advance the health of all New Yorkers.”

Sue Kelly has more than 25 years of senior management experience in

public and private health systems, public policy development and program
implementation. Most recently, she served as the Associate Regional
Administrator for the New York office of the federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS). In this position, she directed the Division of
Medicaid and Children’s Health and provided oversight and guidance for
Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Programs in New York, New Jersey, and
the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Before joining CMS, Ms. Kelly was the Regional Director for Adirondack
Medicine Inc., an independent practice association of more than 350 primary
care practitioners and medical specialists.

Ms. Kelly also has extensive DOH experience, including serving as

Deputy Commissioner and Medicaid Director, Executive Deputy Director in
the Office of Public Health, Assistant Director of the Health Surveillance
Group in the Office of Health Systems Management, Associate Director of the
Division of Family Health, and Administrator for the Kidney Disease Institute
in the Wadsworth Centers for Laboratories and Research. She also has been
a Clinical Associate Professor at the University at Albany School of Public
Health.

A graduate of Le Moyne College, she earned her Master’s degree in

Health Systems Management from Union Graduate College, and her Master’s
degree in Bioethics jointly granted by Union Graduate College and Albany
Medical College.

Karen Westervelt returns to DOH from the Ryan/Chelsea-Clinton

Community Health Center in New York City, where she served as Executive
Director from 2004 to 2011. She was responsible for managing and directing
the delivery of quality, comprehensive primary and specialty health services,
including fiscal and administrative duties, planning, and policy development
and implementation.

Ms. Westervelt has held numerous positions at DOH, including Director

of the Office of Executive and Advisory Council Operations, Executive
Secretary for the New York State Public Health Council, Government
Relations Coordinator, and Health Program Administrator at the AIDS
Institute.

A graduate of Russell Sage College, Ms. Westervelt has also served as

the Chair of the Community Health Center Association of New York State
Statewide Reimbursement Task Force since 2009.

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Contact: Claudia Hutton

Csh04@health.state.ny.us
518 474 7354, ext. 1