WHITMAN-WALKER CLINIC STAFF BIOS

Donald Blanchon
Chief Executive Officer

Donald Blanchon began his tenure as CEO of Whitman-Walker Clinic on May 1, 2006. Before that, he spent nine years with Schaller Anderson, a national health care management and consulting firm that specializes in public-sector programs. During that time, he held positions of increasing authority, including CFO and CEO of Maryland Physicians Care, a $325 million multi-product health plan owned by four Maryland-based non-profit community health systems. From 2004 to 2006, Blanchon served as vice president for Medicaid and Medicare programs for Schaller Anderson.

Earlier in his career, Blanchon served as vice president for strategic planning for Health Services for Children with Special Needs, a specialty health plan in Washington, DC. He also spent five years as a budget examiner in the executive office of the president at the federal Office of Management and Budget.

Blanchon, a native of Foxborough, MA., holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin College and a master’s in public health and public affairs from Columbia University. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and their two children.

Mary L. Bahr
Director of Administration

Mary L. Bahr, named Director of Administration in 2008, had been Whitman-Walker Clinic’s director of business development and funding since 1992, during which she secured more than $140 million for programs and operations.   

Bahr joined Whitman-Walker in 1989 as a development associate. In 1991, she became grants/contracts program planning manager, and became director of contracts and grants in 1992. Her title was changed to director of business development and funding in 2003. In addition, she served as deputy chief operating officer from 1996 to 2002.

Before joining the Clinic, she spent 12 years with the National Endowment for the Arts as the program administrator in the Arts in Education program and in the challenge and advancement grant programs. She wrote funding guidelines, policy and procedures for new program initiatives and existing programs. She managed the grant-making processes for more than 400 grantees during her time at the endowment and administered research contracts, including obtaining Office of Management and Budget approval of surveys used in research.    

Bahr holds a master’s in general administration with a focus on health care administration from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor’s in business administration from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. She has been a member of DC’s Different Drummers (DC’s lesbian/gay/trans concert, swing and marching bands) since its inception in 1980.

Daniel Bruner
Director of Legal Services

Daniel Bruner is director of Whitman-Walker Clinic’s legal services program, which offers information, counseling, legal representation and referrals people with HIV or other clients of the Clinic. The program’s lawyers, paralegals and volunteers help clients with such legal issues as securing health insurance, immigrating, applying for public benefits and fighting HIV discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations

Before joining Whitman-Walker’s staff in 1995, Bruner was a partner at the Washington, DC, law firm of Spiegel & McDiarmid. While there, he was a Whitman-Walker volunteer attorney for five years and also worked on pro bono projects with the Pennsylvania AIDS Law Project and Lambda Legal. At Whitman-Walker, Bruner’s practice has concentrated on discrimination in employment and health care, insurance and employee benefits and privacy issues.   

Bruner received his law degree magna cum laude and a master’s in public policy from the University of Michigan. He did graduate work in philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also an associate adjunct professor of law at American University’s Washington College of Law, where he teaches public health law.

Bruner is a native of San Antonio, TX.

Barbara A. Chinn
Director of the Max Robinson Center

Barbara A. Chinn is director of the Max Robinson Center, the Clinic’s satellite in Southeast Washington. She serves as the Clinic’s primary liaison with the community east of the Anacostia River for HIV/AIDS education and outreach. She has managed or served as administrator for many of the programs offered by Whitman-Walker including the former Schwartz housing services, the former Sunnye Sherman AIDS education services and the volunteer resources department, which coordinates the hundreds of community volunteers who provide services to individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. As director of the Max Robinson Center, she oversees the full range of client services, including primary medical care and dental services, case management, mental health and addictions counseling, nutritional counseling and day treatment services.

Chinn is a native Washingtonian and a product of DC public schools and Howard University. She is a member of the Positive Words Editorial Advisory Board and former member of the Mayor’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the DC City Council’s Human Services Advisory Committee. She has also served on the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition board of directors and the Glaxo-Wellcome Community Advisory Board

Dwaine Gasser
Director, Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center

Dwaine Gasser has been the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center site director since June 2006. Before that, he served a year as the Clinic’s behavioral health administrator

From 2003 to 2005, he worked at the Hospital for Sick Children, an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, and at Health Services for Children with Special Needs, which manages care and coordination of benefits for special needs children and adolescents, in Washington, DC.  

In the latter two posts, Gasser worked with credentialing of health care providers, presented credentialing files to both institutions’ administrations, assured compliance with Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards, and updated credentialing policies and procedures.

From 1984 to 2003, he worked at Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, where he held several positions, including vice president for professional services and vice president for support services. During his time at Columbia, he was responsible for medical office practices, professional and support services departments and more than 200 employees. His areas of expertise include budgeting, planning, credentialing, development and administration of policies and procedures, contracting, physician relations, business development, JCAHO accreditation and federal and state inspections.

A native of Washington, DC, he holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in health services administration from the George Washington University.

Steve Geishecker
Director of Behavioral Health and Social Services

Steve Geishecker was named director of behavioral health and social services in 2007 after a year as interim director. Before that, he was clinical program manager of mental health services, a post he held since 2004.

Geishecker has served Whitman-Walker in many capacities, beginning as a graduate student intern in case management in 1992. From 1995-1997, he provided home-based psychiatric social work for Visiting Nurse Service of New York. He returned to the clinic in 1997 and worked as a care coordinator in the access center for three years and as clinical program manager from 2001 to 2004. He assumed management of mental health services in 2004 and continued to provide direct client care through individual and group psychotherapy. He was honored by his colleagues with the Larry Medley Staff Award for Excellence in 2003. 

Geishecker is a native of Waldorf, MD, and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Salisbury State University and a master's degree in clinical social work from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Patricia D. Hawkins
Associate Executive Director of External Affairs

Patricia D. Hawkins is associate executive director for policy and external affairs of Whitman-Walker Clinic. She collaborates in the formulation of the Clinic’s policies and positions regarding issues of the day in HIV/AIDS care, services and treatment. She represents Whitman-Walker Clinic on major local, regional and national HIV/AIDS care and service coalitions.

Hawkins has served the Clinic in a variety of capacities since 1984, including as a member of its board of directors. She joined the staff in 1989 as deputy director of programs. She assumed her current position in 1993.

The recipient of numerous professional and community-based service awards for her work in the field of HIV/AIDS, Hawkins also has expertise in the areas of substance abuse, women’s health, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender health and mental health issues, mental and/or physical disability, vocational rehabilitation, and program development for historically underserved populations.

Before joining the Clinic, Hawkins served for seven years as the executive director and founder of Walden-Sierra Psychotherapeutic Services Inc., a non-profit agency providing crisis counseling, psychodiagnostic and residential services for mental health and substance abuse clients. For 11 years before that, she served in a similar capacity as director and founder of the Southern Maryland Community Counseling Agency and Drug Abuse Agency.

Hawkins is a native of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI., and a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in psychology. She also holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a Ph.D. in education from The American University. She is both a licensed clinical psychologist and a licensed clinical social worker, with more than 30 years of experience in the design, development, implementation and administration of comprehensive, community-based medical/psychosocial human service programs. 
 
Hawkins is a member of the American Psychological Association and past chairperson of the association’s Committee on Psychology and AIDS; member of the Metropolitan Washington Regional HIV Health Services Planning Council; past member of the Mayor’s Health Policy Council; secretary of the District of Columbia Comprehensive AIDS Resources and Education Consortium; member of the policy council of AIDS Action; and member of Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief.

Chip Lewis
Deputy Director of Communications

Chip Lewis has been a part of the Whitman-Walker Clinic communications structure since 1999 and serves as spokesman for the Clinic.

Before joining Whitman-Walker Clinic, he spent a year as press secretary for Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-IN., and three years as a program manager in the Energy Policy Division of the Indiana Department of Commerce. There, he developed press materials, oversaw the creation of department publications and administered a federally funded energy efficiency grant program for schools and hospitals.

A native of Indiana, he received a master’s degree in public relations and a bachelor’s degree in history, both from Ball State University.

Raymond C. Martins
Chief Medical Officer

Raymond Martins joined Whitman-Walker Clinic in February 2008 as Chief Medical Officer. Originally from Connecticut, he came to Washington, DC for medical school at The George Washington University where he completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine/Primary Care.  During that time, he had continuity clinics in many of the city’s community health centers including La Clinica Del Pueblo and Bread for the City. After completing a chief residency, Martins practiced HIV and general internal medicine at private practices in Washington, DC, and Arlington, VA, and remained active in teaching Georgetown and GWU medical students and residents.

ReGina Newkirk
Director of Development

ReGina Newkirk was named director of development in 2006. Before that, she served as the director of grants and corporate relations for the YMCA of metropolitan Washington. During her five-year tenure there, she oversaw all grant requests, grants management and corporate sponsorship proposals. She more than doubled the grant dollars raised in her first year and she increased federal funding by 500 percent. 

Earlier in her career, Newkirk worked as a fundraiser for the National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington and for the Carpetbag Theatre in Knoxville, TN. She began her professional career as the assistant vice president of community development at First American National Bank in Nashville, TN, where she created community education programs for low-income neighborhoods and helped non-profits secure government and corporate financing. She also served as assistant vice president of internal communications and was an integral part of developing a centralized employee communications system.

Newkirk was born in Fort Collins, CO, and raised in Nashville. She graduated with highest honors from New York University with a B.F.A. in dramatic writing. She received her master’s degree in communications from the University of Tennessee.

Bruce R. Weiss
Director, Whitman-Walker of Northern Virginia

Bruce Weiss joined Whitman-Walker Clinic as director of the Northern Virginia site in November 2006. Before that, he served more than three years as executive director of the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, or SMYAL. SMYAL is the only Washington metro-area agency serving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth.

Before leading SMYAL, Weiss spent eight years with the DC Comprehensive AIDS Resources and Education Consortium (DCCARE), a non-profit comprising 65 HIV/AIDS service providers and community-based organizations. From 2000-2002, Weiss was deputy executive director.

Weiss has consulted to a variety of organizations providing care and services to people living with HIV/AIDS. He has also served as a member of numerous community organizations, including the DC Public Schools HIV/AIDS Advisory Committee, the DC Crystal Methamphetamine Working Group and the DC Mayor’s LGBT Executive Committee. He was a recipient of a 2006 Capital Pride Hero Award, administered by Whitman-Walker Clinic.

Weiss holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a master of social work from the University of Pennsylvania. He has an executive graduate certificate in non-profit management from Georgetown University.

A native of Phoenixville, PA, he lives in Washington, DC.