Dear SPH Community,

I am excited to let you know about two more staffing updates at the School, effective next week.

First, I could not be more delighted to announce that Raquel Robertson starts July 1 as my Executive Assistant. She will succeed Victoria Kabakian, who did a fantastic job serving on an interim basis and who will resume her regular role of Administrative Coordinator.

Raquel has over 20 years of executive-level experience in managerial and analytical settings in a variety of fields, along with experience as an entrepreneur and small business owner. She has an MBA and a Certificate of Advanced Management from Babson College; a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, with a minor in Chemistry from California State University, Northridge; and a Leadership and Advocacy Certificate from the University of New Hampshire. During her time at Babson, Raquel was the Assistant to the Dean of the Undergraduate School for five years and was in Advancement and Events Management for two years. She was very involved with the Babson community in several other roles, including as a Lecturer for first-year students, a Project Leader in the Management Field Experience course, and a Coach in the Leadership & Mentoring Program, just to name a few. Prior to Babson, Raquel held positions as an Environmental Project Chemist, an Executive Assistant/Project Manager for a high-tech company and a Recruiting Manager for corporate law firms. Raquel and her husband currently live in Medfield, MA and have two sons.

I am also thrilled to announce that Jai-Me Potter-Rutledge has taken on a new role; after an extensive search, we have named her as the inaugural Director of the Health Equity Scholars (HES) Program. Many of you know Jai-Me as the Manager of Diversity & Inclusion here at SPH, a role she took on in 2018. She also holds a faculty appointment at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. She was the 2020 and 2021 recipient of the prestigious Dean’s Excellence Teaching Award. Prior to coming to Brown, Jai-Me worked primarily in healthcare, starting at the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry as the Manager of the Provider’s Clinical Support System-Buprenorphine and then as the Manager of Simulation Services for Care New England Health system. Jai-Me is currently a doctoral candidate at Salve Regina University, where she is focusing on the role of racial trauma, how healthcare is accessed, health equity, and more broadly, racism in America. Jai-Me’s vision for the HES program reflects her academic and teaching experience and her own deep commitment to achieving equity in health care and health outcomes. We look forward to having Jai-Me in this new role.

She and her husband, Jason, live in West Warwick with their daughter, Jahnise, their son Jaimeson, and their beloved four-legged son, Bruin. She will begin as HES Director as of July 1, and we are currently seeking a temp to fill Jai-Me’s previous role.

Please join me in welcoming Raquel, thanking Victoria, and congratulating Jai-Me!

All the best,

Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH
Dean, School of Public Health
Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice