The Future of
The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates
(Updated March 25, 2022)
From Trisha Torrey, Founder of APHA
Dear Members,
I am thrilled to bring you news about the next era in the evolution of The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates.
As you may know, I’ve been working over the past year to transition out of my day-to-day role leading this organization that is so near and dear to my heart. My biggest requirement for my successor(s) has been that they should be as dedicated as I am to growing member capabilities and advocacy as a profession, in order to help the patients who need us.
Today I am delighted to tell you that I have found them! (Or, perhaps, that they have found us? 🙂 ) I am handing over the reins of APHA to two seasoned healthcare professionals: Dena Feingold, BCPA (an APHA member) and Deb Gordon, MBA. We have signed a deal for them to acquire APHA, AdvoConnection, and PracticeUP! Online through their company Consumer Health Advocacy, Inc.
I am confident that Dena and Deb will be great stewards of APHA’s assets and that they will be the strongest possible champions for you moving forward.
I have included more information about each of them below.
You’re invited! –> We hope you’ll join us at one of two upcoming forums to get to know them a little better.
And don’t worry. I may be stepping back from my formal responsibilities at APHA but I will still be here, helping Dena and Deb ensure a smooth transition and supporting our collective efforts in any way I can. Going forward, I plan to stay involved in advocacy and its promotion to grow the profession and our roles in assisting those patients who cannot get what they need from the system without us.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. I will be keeping my APHA email address for awhile. You’ll be able to find me as you need me.
Please join me in welcoming Deb and Dena to the leadership of APHA! This is an exciting time!
Find our more formal press release here. It will be issued the week of March 28.
Dena Feingold is a Board-Certified Patient Advocate who focuses on care coordination, care navigation, and communication among multiple providers. She serves all types of patients but has a special focus on the pediatric rare disease patient population, supporting children, their caregivers, and families who are in need of care coordination and navigation.
Dena holds a Certificate in Patient Advocacy from UCLA Extension, awarded with distinction. She has a background in communications,
Deb Gordon is a seasoned health care executive dedicated to helping consumers make sense of the health care system. Deb previously served as the CEO of a technology firm serving community-based health care providers and as chief marketing officer for a top-ranked Massachusetts health plan. Under her leadership, the company significantly expanded its membership and won more than 200 marketing awards.
Deb is the author of The Health Care Consumer’s Manifesto: How to Get the Most for Your Money (Praeger 2020),
and a professional work history in the field of advocacy and engagement. Her focus as a professional patient advocate is to provide effective, knowledgeable, compassionate health advocacy with a patient-centered approach by supporting autonomy and patients’ rights and responsibilities. She also holds a BA from the Cronkite School of Journalism from Arizona State University.
Dena volunteers with the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) and the Rare Action Network of California, the Gaucher Community Alliance, and the Patient Advocate Certification Board. She lives in Southern California with her husband and three children, and her dog Hershey. She loves to hike the local trails and spend time outdoors and she recently took up beekeeping.
Learn more about Dena at LinkedIn, or through her AdvoConnection Directory Listing.
based on research she conducted as a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
She is a contributor at Forbes.com, where she writes about health care consumer issues. Her work has also appeared in the Harvard Business Review blog, USA Today, JAMA Network Open, and the Journal of Participatory Medicine, among others.
Deb has been recognized as an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow, an Eisenhower Fellow (traveling to Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore to explore the role of consumers in high-performing health systems), and a Boston Business Journal 40-under-40 honoree.
Deb volunteers with the MIT Legatum Center for Entrepreneurship and Development and MIT’s start-up accelerator. Deb earned a BA in bioethics from Brown University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Deb lives in the Boston area with her husband, two teenagers, and her dog Tiny. She loves to explore new cities and binge watch TV series with her kids.
Learn more about Deb at LinkedIn, or find her at Forbes.com.
