Members

Members of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services

• Steve Bullock
• Amanda Aguirre
• April Anzaldua
• Alva Ferdinand
• Isabel Garcia-Vargas
• Craig Glover
• Clifford Hunter
• Cara James
• Ruby M. Kirby
• Michelle Mills
• Kellie Phillips-Asay
• Matthew Probst

Member Biographies

Governor Steve Bullock, J.D.

Former Governor of Montana
Helena, MT

Born in Missoula, Montana, and raised in Helena blocks away from the State Capitol, Committee Chair Steve Bullock is a product of public schools, graduating from Helena High. He received his undergraduate degree from Claremont McKenna College and law degree from Columbia University School of Law.

Bullock served as Montana’s attorney general from 2009 7ndash; 2013. As attorney general, Bullock defended Montana’s hundred-year ban on corporate campaign spending, gaining national prominence for leading the challenge to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Bullock was elected Montana’s 24th Governor, serving from 2013 7ndas; 2021. He worked with a Republican-majority legislature to improve access to health care, kick dark money out of state elections, make record investments in education, protect access to public lands, invest in infrastructure, and strengthen Montana’s economy. Bullock brought diverse interests together to address challenging issues, from sage grouse and forest management to the Main Street Montana Project. Nationally, Bullock was elected Chair of the National Governors Association, Western Governors Association and Democratic Governors Association.

Since leaving public office, Bullock is involved with several corporate and nonprofit boards and organizations, as well as serving as the court-appointed Independent Monitor over Purdue Pharma, and as one of the panel of arbitrators over many of the national opioid settlements.

Bullock enjoys all things outdoors—hiking, fishing, hunting, and running. His most important position is always husband to Lisa and father to Caroline (22), Alexandria (20), and Cameron (17).

Amanda Aguirre, M.A., RD

President and CEO, Regional Center for Border Health, Inc.
Somerton, AZ

Former Arizona State Senator Amanda Aguirre presently serves in the capacity of President & CEO of the Regional Center for Border Health, Inc. (a non-profit since 1991) and its subsidiary San Luis Walk-In Clinic, Inc., a primary care rural health medical center with 21 clinical sites throughout Western Arizona. Ms. Aguirre has been involved for more than 35 years in health care and business administration.

Ms. Aguirre was appointed Member of the US-Mexico Border Health Commission in December 1999 by President William J. Clinton, and in 2002, Ms. Aguirre became the first female and first Hispanic to represent District 24 (new legislative district 4) in the Arizona House of Representatives and in the Arizona State Senate (in 2006). She served in the Arizona State Senate until 2010.

In 2007, she established a licensed post –secondary vocational training center in the area, the RCBH’s “College of Health Careers”, which has generated job opportunities for over 3,500 individuals. Ms. Aguirre has built these corporations that have become multi-million dollars corporations providing employment for 470 employees in a very challenging recovery economy in rural areas.

In 2016, she became an ASU Morrison Institute’s Distinguished Fellow. This title was created in 2012 by the institute to utilize the institutional knowledge and innovated thinking of Arizona leaders.

April Anzaldua

Director of Community Services and Development
Community Action Corporation of South Texas
Alice, TX

April Anzaldua serves as the Director of Community Services and Development for Community Action Corporation of South Texas, a large nonprofit corporation in rural South Texas which serves over 20,000 individuals annually through an array of health and social service programs. Since 2006, Ms. Anzaldua has dedicated her career to improving the quality of life for vulnerable children, adolescents, adults and seniors throughout a 16-county service area. As the Director of Community Services and Development, she provides administrative leadership and operational oversight for federal, state and foundation funded programs.

Alva Ferdinand, Dr.P.H., J.D.

Department Head, Health Policy & Management at Texas A&M University
Director, Southwest Rural Health Research Center
College Station, TX

Dr. Alva O. Ferdinand is an associate professor and head of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. She is also the Director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center. Dr. Ferdinand has been a leader of the American Public Health Association’s law section since 2016 and was an integral part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement in 2020. She is a member of the Rural Health Panel of the Rural Population Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) at the University of Iowa. Since beginning her academic career, her research activities have been funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Episcopal Health Foundation, among others.

Her research interests include rural population health, public health law, health policy, and patient-centered outcomes research. She has provided legislative testimony and briefings to policymakers at state and federal levels and continues to inform policy strategies, particularly as they relate to rural populations. In 2014, Dr. Ferdinand received the AcademyHealth Outstanding Dissertation Award for her examination of the effect of state texting-while-driving bans. A native of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago and a naturalized citizen of the U.S., Dr. Ferdinand holds a law degree from the Michigan State University College of Law and a Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Isabel Garcia-Vargas

Executive Director
Redlands Christian Migrant Association
Immokalee, FL

Isabel Garcia-Vargas is the Executive Director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA). RCMA provides childcare and K-8th grade Dual Language education to over 6,500 migrant and low income students and their families throughout the state of Florida.

She is an accomplished early childhood educator and a leader within the world of Head Start.

Ms. Garcia-Vargas has worked in early childhood education for over 30 years. Her career began as an after-school teacher at RCMA in 1988. Prior to being named Executive Director, she held a variety of positions including Center Director, Area Coordinator, Director of Program Quality, and Associate Executive Director.

Craig Glover, M.B.A., M.A., FACHE

President and Chief Executive Officer
FamilyCare
Charleston, WV

Craig Glover serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of FamilyCare Health Centers. FamilyCare is a community health center that provides medical, dental, and behavioral health to over 33,000 unique patients via fifteen health centers, three mobile units, and several school-based locations. Mr. Glover has more than 15 years of community health center experience. Previously, Mr. Glover served as CEO of community health centers in Connecticut and Illinois and vice president of a Missouri community health center.

Clifford Hunter

Fatherhood Liaison and Fatherhood Coordinator
Fathers Among Men and Heart of Georgia Healthy Start
Dublin, GA

Clifford Hunter serves as the Fatherhood Liaison of Heart of Georgia Healthy Start and Fatherhood Coordinator of Fathers Among Men, both of central Georgia. These nonprofit organizations provide grants to communities that offer fatherhood training, peer support, and higher education opportunities. These programs maintain on-going support to men in a ten-county service area. Since 2013, Hunter has been dedicated to improving the relationships of fathers with their children. Mr. Hunter is a community leader serving on a variety of boards and hosting weekly radio events. He has also served as a respiratory therapist for over twenty years, and more recently, Chief Operating Officer of Brighter Heath Medical Services, physician offices that provide primary care and pain management treatment.

Cara James, Ph.D.

President and CEO
Grantmakers In Health
Washington, DC

Cara V. James is President and CEO at Grantmakers In Health (GIH). Prior to joining GIH in 2020, she served as Director of the Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) where she provided leadership, vision, and direction to advance health equity. Under her guidance, CMS developed its first CMS Equity Plan to Improve Quality in Medicare, its first Rural Health Strategy, created an ongoing initiative to help individuals understand their coverage and connect to care, increased the collection and reporting of demographic data, and developed numerous resources to help stakeholders reduce disparities. Before joining CMS, Dr. James served as Director of the Disparities Policy Project and Director of the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Dr. James holds her doctorate in health policy and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University.

Ruby M. Kirby, M.B.A., RN

CEO of Critical Access Hospitals, West Tennessee Healthcare
Bolivar and Camden, TN

Ruby Kirby is the Chief Executive Officer for West Tennessee Healthcare’s Critical Access Hospitals in Bolivar and Camden Tennessee. She has served as the CEO since 2004. Previously she was the Nursing Director of the Surgical Intensive Care and the General Medical/Surgical Unit at Jackson Madison General Hospital in Jackson Tennessee, and the Chief Nursing officer at Bolivar Hospital.

Kirby has been an advocate for rural issues for many years as a voice for Rural on boards at the local, state, and national level. Kirby works with community partners to improve access to care for our underserved population. In 2018, she received the Tennessee Rural Health Professional of the year award, 2022 AHA Rural Hospital Leadership Team Award, and 2023 AHA Grassroots Champion award.

Michelle Mills

Chief Executive Officer, Colorado Rural Health Center
Parker, CO
Term Expires: August 2025

Michelle Mills is the Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Rural Health Center, a nonprofit organization that acts as the State Office of Rural Health and Rural Health Association. She has worked closely with rural communities and providers to make a positive impact on rural health delivery. Ms. Mills is responsible for building relationships that the Center has established with other organizations, funders, and rural health care leaders and is dedicated to collaboration. She has served as the President of the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, Secretary for the National Rural Health Association and is Chair for Colorado’s E Health Commission. Ms. Mills earned her B.A. in Communications from Regis University.

Ms. Mills worked at the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, which is Colorado’s health care quality improvement organization, from 1991 through 2009. She was Director of Programs at Colorado Rural Health Center before becoming the CEO in 2012.

Kellie Phillips-Asay, M.S.N., RN

Montana State University, College of Nursing
Hysham, MT
Term Expires: August 2025

Kellie Phillips-Asay is currently a practicing nurse at the Billings Clinic in Billings, Montana. She is a proud Lakota, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Her work includes providing comprehensive family centered, developmentally sound care for Level IIIb Neonatal Intensive Care Unit infants. In addition to providing direct clinical care, she is an educator at the Montana State University, College of Nursing, where she is the course coordinator and lecture lead for Research in Health Care and Nursing Care for Child and Family nursing courses.

Ms. Phillips-Asay has previously worked at Crow/Northern Cheyenne Hospital, where she was responsible for comprehensive professional nursing care for various levels of medical/surgical care acuities. She has also worked at the Indian Health Board of Billings where she was responsible for acute care clinic duties including assisting with direct patient care assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of patient care.

Matthew Probst

Physician Assistant and Primary Care Provider
Sunrise Medical Clinic
Las Vegas, NM

Matthew Probst is a Physician Assistant and Primary Care Provider at Sunrise Medical Clinic in Las Vegas, New Mexico. He is also Director of Rural Engagement for the University of New Mexico Office for Community Health. In 2019 he was the American Academy of Physician Assistants PA of the Year and recipient of the Primary Care Community Leadership Award and the National Association of Rural Mental Health Schumacher Award for Excellence in Clinical Service. In 2020, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich named him a Hometown Hero, and New Mexico Magazine recognized him as a True Hero for COVID-19 response. In 2021, Mr. Probst was the New Mexico Alliance of School-Based Health Center Champion and the National Organization of State Rural Health Offices Community Star. In addition to the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, Matt currently serves New Mexico on the Health Care Workforce Committee, the Primary Care Council, and the Aging and Long-Term Services Division Policy Advisory Committee.