Maryland Department of Health Secretary Schrader announces senior leadership team appointments for the Maryland Department of Health

April 29, 2021

Media Contact:

Deidre McCabe, Director, Office of Communications, 410-767-3536

Charlie Gischlar, Deputy Director, Media Relations, 443-463-7234

Secretary Schrader announces senior leadership team appointments for the Maryland Department of Health

Baltimore, MD – Maryland Department of Health (MDH) Secretary Dennis R. Schrader today announced several senior leadership team appointments.

“I am pleased to add additional members to our senior leadership team to further strengthen our already talented Department of Health,” said Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader. “They will prove invaluable in our fight against COVID-19 and the numerous other areas where we remain focused to keep Marylander’s healthy and safe.”

Dr. Jinlene Chan has been appointed Deputy Secretary for Health Services. In this role, Dr. Chan will continue to oversee the Department’s public health programs, including infectious and chronic disease prevention and control within the Prevention and Health Promotion Administration, the State Public Health Laboratories Administration, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Office of Provider Engagement and Regulation, the Vital Statistics Administration, Office of Population Health Improvement, Local Health Departments, and the State Anatomy Board. Dr. Chan, who has been serving as Acting Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services for the past nine months, is leading the state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts and oversaw the establishment and expansion of the state’s COVID-19 Testing Task Force. She also previously served as the Health Officer at the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. Dr. Chan completed her medical training at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC and residencies in pediatrics and general preventive medicine at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. She also holds a Masters of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Mr. Steve Schuh has been appointed Deputy Secretary for Health Care Financing and Medicaid. In this role, Mr. Schuh will focus on delivering Maryland’s commitment to the federal Total Cost of Care (TCOC) Model and other health care financing initiatives for the Department. He previously served as Executive Director of Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center, where he was the state’s principal coordinator in the fight against the opioid crisis. Mr. Schuh also served as Maryland’s COVID-19 Task Force Section Chief, Operations Intelligence and Analysis. Mr. Schuh served as Anne Arundel County Executive from 2014-2018, and as a Maryland State Delegate, representing District 31, from 2006-2014. Prior to his state service, Mr. Schuh was a managing director of two international financial-services firms, Alex. Brown & Sons and Credit Suisse, and was a specialist in healthcare corporate finance. In that capacity, he provided strategic-advisory, capital-raising, and merger and acquisition advisory services to a broad range of healthcare companies, including providers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical technology companies, distributors, and payors.

Mr. Steve Kolbe has been permanently appointed Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Mr. Kolbe will oversee all MDH information technology planning, programs, and initiatives. He has been serving as the Department’s CTO since January 2021. He also leads the MDH IT Steering Committee. Mr. Kolbe has a long career as an IT strategist and entrepreneur, including founding a technology firm specializing in delivering managed services to non-profit and government organizations. He also served in IT leadership positions at the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Department of Information Technology (DoIT). While with DoIT, Mr. Schuu established the Office of Enterprise Architecture as part of the Strategic Planning Group to provide IT architecture services within DoIT and other State agencies.

Ms. Tricia C. Roddy has been appointed Deputy Medicaid Director. In this role, Ms. Roddy, who has been the Department’s Assistant Medicaid Director since March 2020, will focus on ensuring that the more than 1.4 million Marylanders who are Medicaid beneficiaries receive critical acute and behavioral healthcare services. Ms. Roddy has vast experience in Medicaid operations and innovation and health service transformation. During the past 19 years, she has served in numerous MDH Medicaid roles, including Director, Innovation, Research and Development, Deputy Director, Provider Management, and Chief of Staff. She is also a member of CRISP’s (Maryland’s Health Information Exchange) Executive Board. Ms. Roddy has a Master of Health Services Administration degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Woolford has been appointed Assistant Secretary and Chief Medical Officer. In this role, Dr. Woolford will oversee the state’s GoVax Mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic operations, public health initiatives associated with the TCOC Model, and provide strategic and policy direction. He previously served as the Director of Community and Facility Initiatives at MDH, where he led all non-regulatory COVID-19 matters involving nursing homes, assisted living facilities, group homes, and other congregate living settings. He also served as Chief of Staff at the Maryland Department of Human Services. Dr. Woolford has more than 30 years of leadership experience. He received his MD from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is Board Certified in preventive and aerospace medicine. He currently serves as Commander of the 175th Medical Group of the Maryland Air National Guard.

Mr. Joel Frushone has been appointed Director of External Affairs. In this role, Mr. Frushone will lead the Department’s external affairs efforts. Mr. Frushone has more than 25 years of U.S. and global communications, media, external affairs, and government relations experience. He previously served as Director for External Affairs and Communications at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, where he led the agency’s White House Opportunity Zone initiative work in Washington, DC, and nationally, and its $1.5 billion CARES Act Recovery Assistance outreach to help the U.S. respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

###

The Maryland Department of Health is dedicated to protecting and improving the health and safety of all Marylanders through disease prevention, access to care, quality management and community engagement.