The Partners for Health Foundation Board of Trustees elected three new members who joined the Board on January 1, 2021.
Diana Candelejo, MPA is the Corporate Director of Anchor Strategy for the Social Impact and Community Investment (SICI) practice at RWJBarnabas Health. With an emphasis on ensuring health equity, the SICI practice is rooted in strategic policy change, combined with evidence based and innovative programs that address the social, economic, and environmental conditions that have a significant impact on health outcomes.
Diana leads the system’s anchor mission to Hire, Buy, Invest Local. She has spearheaded the formalization of anchor initiatives at RWJBH’s pilot facility, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, and the South Ward community in Newark. She oversees the Corporate Anchor Roundtable, which is the system’s internal accountability mechanism for asset leaders to promote anchor initiatives across departments. Diana has also been working with the City of Newark to promote local hiring of qualified and educated young professionals as part of the city’s Newark 2020 initiative.
She previously worked with the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation to research and create data visualizations for their local procurement strategies that supported local, minority, and women-owned businesses. She is also the former Curator of the Newark Global Shapers Community Hub, and has provided pro-bono consulting in the education sector.
Diana is a native Newarker and local Newark artist who splits her time between painting and promoting economic development in her community. She received a Master’s of Public Administration Degree from the London School of Economics, focusing her studies on Economic Development, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Studio Art from Drew University.
Felicia Fdyfil-Horne, LCSW is a Clinical Social Work/Therapist who is dedicated to creating a safe space for healing. In 2015, she founded HOPE Therapeutic Services, LLC., and in 2017 she founded its non-profit branch, HOPE Lives Here Inc. She serves as Executive Director of both organizations which are located in West Orange.
HOPE is based on the passion and commitment to helping individuals and families find hope through the power of building their own internal and external resources. Felicia and her team of 65 clinicians help clients work toward achieving goals through the collaborative effort of utilizing therapeutic interventions. Her treatment specialties include trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, family work, abuse/neglect, peer issues, self-esteem, and self-care routine building.
Felicia was previously an Outreach Clinician for Family Connections, Inc. She has also worked as an independent contractor providing therapeutic services, and as a Social Worker for the Department of Veterans Affairs – HUD VASH Program.
Felicia is currently the Chair of the NASW – NJ Essex County Unit, and a Trustee of Family Connections, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Arts-History and American Studies Degree from the College of St. Elizabeth, and an MS in Social Work Degree from Columbia University.
Paula A. Gutierrez, MHA is the Director of Diversity & Inclusion and the Babs Siperstein PROUD Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, part of the RWJBarnabas Health System.
Paula has over 10 years of experience in healthcare administration as well as knowledge in developing and managing internal and external diversity relations, managing employee network groups and diversity councils. She has designed and implemented programs and strategies that foster diversity, equity and inclusion such as addressing health inequities and social determinants of health in marginalized communities as well as mitigating unconscious bias in hiring and promotion, mentoring, employee resource groups, diversity target setting and other inclusion practices.
Paula also currently serves as a Civil Rights Commissioner for Bloomfield Township; an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Health and Medical Sciences; and sits on NJ Governor Phil Murphy’s LGBTQ+ Taskforce. In 2017, she received the Early Careerist Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives of NJ (ACHENJ).
Paula has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from Seton Hall University.