National Rural Health Resource Center Announces New Board Members

The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining and improving health care in rural communities.

“The Center sought board candidates that would provide new perspectives, experiences, and partnerships in rural health,” shared Sally T. Buck, CEO of The Center. “We are excited to have Qiana and Shao-Chee joining the board to support our strategies for supporting, building, and promoting equity and ensuring organizational stability.”

Qiana Thomason will begin her board service in March 2022. She is president/CEO of Health Forward Foundation. Health Forward is a for-purpose public foundation serving the bi-state region of Missouri and Kansas, including urban, suburban, and rural communities. Qiana has dedicated her career to the health and well-being of powerful and resilient communities experiencing health injustices due to structural racism and/or socioeconomic conditions which hinder health. She joined Health Forward in January 2020. She previously served as vice president of community health and health equity at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC). Prior to her tenure at Blue KC, Thomason spent eight years at Swope Health as the director of clinical operations for behavioral health and program manager of the multi-municipality Mental Health Court. She also served as deputy director and health and human services liaison for United States Senator Jean Carnahan. Qiana is a Master’s level social worker. Civically, she serves on national and local boards spanning social and business sectors, including Grantmakers in Health, the KC Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas City Health Commission, Urban Neighborhood Initiative, and William Jewel College.

“Qiana brings a unique blend of clinical and program perspectives in behavioral health as well as federal policy prior to her leadership of the Health Forward Foundation,” said Sally.

Shao-Chee Sim began his board service in September 2021. He is the Episcopal Health Foundation’s Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Evaluation. He leads the Foundation’s work in health policy analysis; pilot projects, learning collaboratives, research, and evaluation portfolio. Current priorities include Medicaid-managed care organizations, social determinants of health (SDOH) strategies, multi-sectoral community health collaboratives, innovative SDOH financing strategies, community health center payment reform, rural healthcare service delivery, and public opinion survey research. Dr. Sim currently serves on the Board of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum. He also serves on the advisory committee of the HEALTH Center at the University of Houston, Kinder Institute of Urban Research at Rice University, and the Asian American Policy Review. He earned his Master’s degree in public administration from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University and a doctorate in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

“Shao-Chee presents years of health policy analysis, research, and philanthropic strategy with communities, payors, and rural health care providers with an innovative lens,” shares Sally.