Oregon PSR is thrilled to welcome five new Board of Directors members this year, each of them bringing a health background along with a wealth of connections to communities most impacted by the issues we work on and impressive skills and perspectives that will help guide our organization into its 40th year of advocacy and education. Continue reading for a short profile on each of our new Board members, along with quotes from them on why they joined our Board.
Alejandrina “Alé” Felipe, RN, BSN
Alejandrina is a native indigenous woman from Oaxaca, Mexico, and has lived in Oregon since she was eight. She currently works as a nurse in Obstetrics at Legacy Health in Gresham. She graduated from Linfield College in 2009 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing.
“I believe that we can all build a better future by addressing racism, climate change, and all forms of injustice. I come from and have lived in underserved communities that need organizations like Oregon PSR to work closely with community partners to advocate for policy changes. I’m a mother of a 2 year-old boy and a 6 month-old girl. My children are the joy of my life. My biggest motivations to stay focused and active.”
Candice Jimenez, MPH
Candice is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Concordia University and a Master’s in Public Health from OHSU. In her work as a public health professional, she supports tribal community-driven efforts that amplify child passenger and motor vehicle safety as well as maternal child health that includes breastfeeding promotion and support.
“I joined Oregon PSR because the organization shares my commitment to moving from acknowledgement into collective action for community-wide health equity; a place where collaboration takes place across land, language, and culture.”
Elis Madrigal, MD
Elis is a solo family physician and telehealth provider in Portland. They graduated from OHSU School of Medicine and trained in Family and Community Medicine at UC Davis. During residency, they started a student-run transgender clinic in Sacramento. Post-residency, they worked in primary and urgent care at Kaiser Permanente NW for six years, where they also provided transgender health care through their Gender Pathways clinic, before deciding to open their own solo practice to be more available to their patients.
“I’ve been interested in getting involved in Oregon PSR ever since I heard about the group in medical school, but never found the time. When the opportunity came up, I knew I had to take part. Environmental health and public health go hand in hand and overlap in many areas. Unfortunately, there are many special interest groups that are willing to do irreparable harm to both for capital gain. It’s important that we use our voices in the healthcare field to stand against these tactics and do our best to protect the public’s well-being.”
Anita Randolph, PhD
Dr. Anita Randolph has extensive community service experience, including serving on organizational boards focused on human rights (Don’t Shoot PDX), recovery, and reentry (Bybee Lakes Hope Center), underrepresented youth (Youth Engaged in Science!), and African women and children (Harambee Centre). She co-founded the Safer Space program, a peer-to-peer mental health support group for the BIPOC community and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. She is also the founder of Building Everyday Alliances by Delivering Support (BEADS), which aims to make STEM more accessible to underrepresented minorities in villages, hospitals, and orphanages around the world. Her greatest mission in life is to be a link in the chain, a bond of connection between people. She is committed to using her link in the chain to strengthen the bridge between the community through work with Oregon PSR.
“I’m thrilled to contribute to Oregon PSR’s work because it allows me to use my strengths as an academic scientist to fight social justice issues that plague America, and it brings me great joy to find like-minded individuals that use their skills to fight systemic oppression in order to enact policy and community change.”
Akash Singh
Akash is an attorney-in-training and an advocate for environmental, migration, and public health justice. They are receiving their law degree from Vermont Law School and completing their legal externship at OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon. They are working on a series of novels about colonization, essays, and some stand-up comedy bits. They identify as openly gay, genderqueer, and use they/them pronouns.
“I joined the Board of Oregon PSR because I’m interested in writing a new chapter in the history of science. The history of environmentalism and public health is fraught with racism, classism, misogyny, and queer and transphobia. It is a history that’s been shrouded by a misplaced commitment to objectivity and the erasure of our most marginalized communities upon whose backs scientific progress has been made. Oregon PSR seeks to correct these historical injustices, and I am honored to do this work with them.”