Since Last Mile Health’s founding in 2007, our Board of Directors has guided our work and deepened our impact. Our board members’ commitment, passion, and perspectives are integral to our work in driving investment in community health workers and the systems that support them, all in service of bringing quality primary care within reach for patients living at the last mile and driving progress toward universal health coverage.
As we mark the end of one board chair’s tenure and the beginning of the next, we honor the contributions of two exemplary leaders: Brad Mak and Olusoji (Soji) Adeyi.
Recognizing Brad Mak’s leadership
Brad Mak.
“Brad is an exceptionally high integrity leader who was always just a phone call away when guidance or governance was needed,” said Last Mile Health CEO Lisha McCormick. “One of the biggest roles of any board is to manage moments of executive transition. Brad worked with care and a mission-first orientation to lead the board in managing Last Mile Health’s first CEO transition in 2021. Through this process and thereafter, he always put in the time and critical thinking to guide the board in complex moments. Last Mile Health is what it is today because of Brad and the world is better for it.”
At this moment of transition, Brad shared, “As I reflect on my nine years of board service and the last several years as board chair, I am very proud of Last Mile Health’s ability to scale impact from a single country—Liberia—to four countries, while partnering with Lisha McCormick as she successfully transitioned to CEO to boldly lead Last Mile Health on its mission to save lives in the world’s most remote communities.”
Last Mile Health is grateful for Brad’s thoughtful and effective leadership, and excited for the work ahead with Soji’s insight and guidance. “I could not be more delighted to welcome Soji as a partner in this next chapter of Last Mile Health’s work,” said Lisha. “His experience and wisdom in thinking across complex systems—including the role Last Mile Health can play in ensuring durable, constituent led-impact—is the exact leadership we need today.”
Welcoming Soji Adeyi as Board Chair
Soji Adeyi.
Soji, who serves as President of Resilient Health Systems and as Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, joined the Last Mile Health board in November 2020. As he begins his term as chair, he shared what energizes him in his new role: “The purpose of Last Mile Health inspires me: ensuring that everyone has essential health services where they live—the intersection of health, equity, and dignity. I am excited by the challenge of leading the Last Mile Health Board as we support management and staff to deliver on that lofty promise,” he said. “The quest is vital, and while success is not guaranteed, making a serious effort, as Last Mile Health does, is the right thing to do.”
Looking ahead, he is driven by the conviction that investing in community health workers and systems is the way toward achieving universal health coverage—and that this is the critical moment to do so. “Weaknesses at the frontline and the last mile continue to hinder efforts to achieve universal health coverage. The current situation of many health systems without professionalized community health workers is like a big car with shiny technologies but no wheels; it will not go far,” he said. “More countries are recognizing this challenge and I am optimistic about the future. Investments by countries, starting with governments using their own domestic resources, will help to close the gap between promise and reality.”
To learn more about Last Mile Health’s Board of Directors, visit https://lastmilehealth.org/about-us/our-leadership/.
