About Us

Dan has been working to advance social prescribing (doctors prescribing community activities such as arts, nature, and volunteering) in the United States. Social prescribing is being scaled nationwide in the UK, and Dan has working closely with its originators to spearhead American adoption. His team of volunteers are coordinating a US grassroots physician movement, creating a network of 400+ experts, exploring a major prospective pilot study and inaugural US social prescribing conference in collaboration with Professors at Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan, reps from hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, Mass General Hospital and more. He was the lead author on the Global Developments in Social Prescribing published by the British Medical Journal. He has transitioned into being a core Strategic Planning Advisor.

Adam is a public and civic engagement expert who authored one of the first academic articles in the U.S. on social prescribing, a call to action to integrate volunteerism prescriptions in the care of older adults. Earlier in his career, Adam worked in public affairs at the Corporation for National and Community Service (now AmeriCorps) promoting volunteerism nationwide, and in business development at two leading education companies.. Since 2007, he has created, organized, led and funded major civic engagement projects and public programs for the Koret Foundation, California Historical Society and the Commonwealth Club of California. He also covers popular television franchises for the popular culture website, Book and Film Globe.

With 20+ of experience, Jen brings an assorted spectrum of skills with her background working in health and wellness, community engagement, education, marketing, and event/program planning for corporations, non-profit organizations, and the public sector. Currently, she is developing arts and health initiatives as a consultant for Californians for the Arts and supports research work for the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine and the Jameel Arts & Health Lab. Jen is a certified yoga instructor, social emotional arts facilitator, and a member of the American Public Health Association, Society of Public Health Education, National Organization for Arts in Health, and the Arts Health Early Career Research Network. 

Michael has held numerous national leadership roles including: – The first Chair of NHS Alliance (1998-2016), President of NHS Clinical Commissioners and as a leader within the GP/clinical commissioning movement. He is currently Chair of the College of Medicine, Chair of The Institute for Social Prescription and Medical Advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales. He is Visiting Professor at University College London and at the University of Westminster, a Senior Fellow in Public Policy (University of Birmingham) and an Honorary Senior Lecturer (Peninsula Medical School Exeter). He is author of “Time to Heal” Unicorn Press Nov. 2020. He is also Head of the Royal Medical Household.

Dr. Ardeshir Z. Hashmi MD, FACP is the Endowed Chair of Geriatric Innovation and Section Chief of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. He is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Dr. Hashmi completed a two year postdoctoral research fellowship at Yale University. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Yale-Saint Mary’s Hospital in Connecticut, where he served as Chief Medical resident. He then trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, as a Clinical and Research Fellow in Geriatrics before becoming Faculty and then Medical Director of MGH Senior Health-Harvard Medicine. Dr. Hashmi subsequently transitioned to the Cleveland Clinic in 2017. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a graduate of the Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program and the Value Based Healthcare Delivery via the Harvard Business School Institute of Strategy& Competitiveness. Dr. Hashmi is also certified as an Advanced Peer Coach through the Cleveland Clinic Center for Excellence in Coaching and Mentoring. He is Co-Chair of the national American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Patient Priorities Care American Geriatrics Society Special Interest Group (SIG) and member of the AGS Health Systems Leadership SIG. Dr. Hashmi is also member of the Association of Chiefs and Leaders in General Internal Medicine and serves on the Cleveland Clinic National Consultation Service. He has also been selected for the prestigious Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging (ELIA) program in conjunction with the American Geriatric Society and the University of California San Francisco. Under Dr. Hashmi’s leadership Cleveland Clinic Geriatrics has garnered the following milestones: Age Friendly Health Systems Committed to Care Excellence designation via the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; highest Geriatrics US News and World report national rankings in Cleveland Clinic history; national accreditation as a top tier Level 1 Geriatrics Emergency Department by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Hashmi’s niche area of interest is the intersection of affordable technology solutions and geriatric population health in the service our most vulnerable populations.

Tracy Parris-Benjamin is a master’s-level licensed Social Worker, integrator, and equity champion, who works to sustain support for advancing diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion . Ms. Parris-Benjamin holds a distinguished record of health care innovation and transformation. With the primary goal of achieving equitable health for all, Ms. Parris-Benjamin works with Horizon’s extensive value-based network to lead the development of innovative health programs targeted toward marginalized populations. Ms. Parris-Benjamin’s experience demonstrates her work as an advocate for community-based programs and other health care initiatives. She leads several workgroups and discussions around increased awareness and stigma reduction of substance use disorders and has championed programs for HIV-positive pregnant teens and their families, survivors of domestic violence, individual and group counseling, parenting workshops to reunite families, and care coordination for underserved and chronically ill persons. She promotes the need for increased cognizance on the impact of health disparities and inequities in health care, for underserved populations and persons of color. In 2019, Ms. Parris-Benjamin received distinguished honors from Diversity MBA as a top leader under 50 and top 100 Women of Influence in 2020. She is a fellow of the New Jersey Health care Executives Leadership Academy. Ms. Parris-Benjamin has appeared in media leading discussions on trauma informed care, community engagement to mobilize health education, COVID-19 and access to resources in high-risk communities.

Marie is a freelance research consultant, past Chair of the British Society for Integrative Oncology, trained as a biomedical scientist and has a PhD in molecular carcinogenesis. Marie led the team to write the first national guidance for social prescribing, the first economic overview of social prescribing on health service usage and recently mapped all outcomes associated with social prescribing to support discussion on inclusive ways of researching and evaluating this growing field. Marie provides advice to senior leaders, Members of Parliament and the House of Lords, key stakeholders, researchers and organisations in this field. For the past 14 years, Marie has researched and taught about approaches to integrating different paradigms of health and wellbeing, in her role as Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences and Research at the University of Westminster. Marie is also Co-Director of Meaningful Measures which licences the person-centred outcome measures MYMOP® and MYCaW® and supports many organisations to capture the full impact of their social prescribing and personalised care schemes. Marie is also a Usui Reiki Master, a voluntary youth worker for her local church, loves getting out in nature and when near the sea will willingly jump on a surfboard and (attempt to) catch some waves.

Sahil Sandhu is pursuing an MD at Harvard Medical School. Sahil graduated from Duke University in 2020 with a self-designed bachelor’s degree in health innovation. He studied the use of evidence-based practice to design, implement, and evaluate new health innovations. He first became interested in healthcare after traveling to Western Kenya to help deliver an HIV prevention intervention. Since then, he has worked on various local and global health innovation research projects, ranging from artificial intelligence tools to new healthcare payment models. His research with the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and the Duke Institute for Health Innovation has resulted in eight peer-reviewed publications. Sahil’s particular passion has been on the social determinants of health. While at Duke, he founded a student volunteer program to help patients connect to community resources for their unmet social needs such food insecurity and housing instability. Prior to HMS, Sahil completed his Master’s in Health Services Research at Newcastle University as a US-UK Fulbright Scholar, where he explored the UK’s innovative models to integrate health and social services. Sahil aspires to become a physician committed to building a stronger and more equitable healthcare system.

Robert is the Founder and President of L.A. Kitchen, which recovers locally sourced, cosmetically imperfect fruits and vegetables to fuel a culinary arts job training program for men and women coming out of foster care and older men and women returning from incarceration. Founded in 2013, L.A. Kitchen is now located in a 20,000-square-foot, two–level processing kitchen, located in NE Los Angeles. L.A. Kitchen operates Strong Food, a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary that hires training program graduates and competes for food service contracts, with an emphasis on opportunities to serve healthy senior meals. L.A. Kitchen’s founding partner is the AARP Foundation, which gave its first million-dollar grant to help establish the model. Robert pioneered this model during his 24-year tenure as the president of the DC Central Kitchen, the country’s first “community kitchen,” where food donated by hospitality businesses and farms is used to fuel its nationally recognized culinary arts job training program. Since opening in 1989, the kitchen (which is a $12-million-a-year, self-sustaining social enterprise) has produced over 35 million meals and helped 1,500 men and women gain full-time employment. The Kitchen operates its own revenue-generating business, Fresh Start Catering, as well as the Campus Kitchens Project, which coordinates similar recycling/meal programs in over 57 colleges or high school kitchens. In addition, Robert founded CForward, an advocacy organization that promoted the economic role that nonprofits play in every community. In Washington DC, Robert was the founding chair of both the Mayor’s Commission on Nutrition and Street Sense, Washington’s “homeless” newspaper. He was also the co-convener of the first Nonprofit Congress, held in Washington DC in 2006. Currently, Robert serves on the boards of: Kitchens for Good (San Diego) Chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen #HashTagLunchBag Robert’s book on the nonprofit sector, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding for All, was released in 2004 by HarperCollins. It received the 2005 McAdam Book Award for “Best Nonprofit Management Book” by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. L.A. Weekly named Robert one of its 2016 People of the Year, and in 2015, he was given the Conscious Leader of the Year award by Conscious Capitalism. He was included in The Non-Profit Times’ list of the “50 Most Powerful and Influential” nonprofit leaders from 2006-2009. He was the recipient of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s 2007 “Lifetime Achievement” award and the 2004 James Beard Foundation “Humanitarian of the Year” award. Robert has also been named an Oprah Angel, a Washingtonian of the Year, a Point of Light, a Food Hero by Food Tank, a REAL Food Innovator by the US Healthful Food Council and one of the Ten Most Caring People in America by the Caring Institute. He is also a 15-gallon blood donor to the American Red Cross. Robert speaks throughout the country and internationally on the subjects of hunger, sustainability, nonprofit political engagement and social enterprise. He writes blogs and editorials to share his ideas about the nonprofit sector and the future of America.

Dr. Marcus Thygeson is an innovator to his core. His passion for innovative health solutions that improve health outcomes is central to his work at Surest, where he leads the Health team and oversees the redesign of health coverage that maps to high-value care by condition and provides consumer clarity. Marcus serves on the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Performance Measurement Committee and the Board of Directors of the Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative. He received his BS summa cum laude from the University of California at Davis, his MD from Harvard Medical School and an MPH from the University of Minnesota. Marcus is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.

Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., is internationally recognized for his work with deeply forgetful people, their families and allied organizations. His book The Moral Challenge of Alzheimer’s Disease: Ethical Issues from Diagnosis to Dying (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000) was designated a “medical classic of the century” by the British Medical Journal. His research on the dynamics of compassionate care in the lives of persons with dementia and their caregivers resulted in his being elected a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of Alzheimer’s Disease International. He is also one of only several recipients of the Alzheimer’s Association national distinguished service award “in recognition of personal and professional outreach to the Alzheimer’s Association Chapters on ethics issues important to people with Alzheimer’s and their families.” Post began his work with “deeply forgetful people” while in Cleveland where he served as a professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (1988–2008). He has published widely on dignity, ethics, and spirituality of caregiving, and he has been quoted in more than 3000 international newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Parade Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, and many TV programs including The Daily Show. Post is the author of 300 articles in premier journals such as Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, Psychosomatic Medicine, Hospital Pediatrics, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. The author of several books including the bestselling Why Good Things Happen to Good People (Random House), Post’s most recent book, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press (2022) is Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People: How Caregivers Can Meet the Challenges of Alzheimer’s Disease. He offers insights and perspectives that encourage us all to recognize the continuing self-identity and dignity of affected individuals and their caregivers. A graduate of the University of Chicago with training in psychology, world religions, and ethics, Post is renowned for his work on compassionate care at the interface of science, ethics, spiritual thought, and behavioral medicine. He is the President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, which he co-founded with philanthropist Sir John Templeton, who personally selected Post as President in 2001. He is also founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York (2008–present), where he also serves as Professor of Family, Population, and Preventative Medicine and Head of the Division of Medicine in Society. Post served as a co-chair of the United Nations Population Fund conference on spirituality and global transformation. He is an elected member of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for “distinguished contributions to medicine,” the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Royal Society of Medicine, London. An opinion leader and public speaker, Post served on the Board of the John Templeton Foundation (2008–2014), which focuses on virtue and public life. A leader in research on the benefits of giving and on compassionate care in relation to improved patient outcomes and clinician well-being, Post addressed the U.S. Congress on volunteerism and health, receiving the Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition for Outstanding Achievement. Post was co-recipient (2012) with Edmund D. Pellegrino MD of the Pioneer Medal for Outstanding Leadership in HealthCare from the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, and the Kama Book Award in Medical Humanities from World Literacy Canada (2008). Co-Recipient of the 2019 National Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society Professionalism Award for development of the Professional Identity Formation curriculum at the School of Medicine, at Stony Brook (2008–present), where his Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics, “a place where the human side of medicine is elevated, examined and revered,” was selected (2011) for special institutional excellence by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (AMA & AAMC accrediting body), the only humanities and ethics entity in American medical school history to receive this distinction. A recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities “top public speaker” award, Post uses a highly engaging style with a mix of stories, clinical, and philosophical perspectives to inspire audiences. Dr. Post continues to travel the globe speaking about those with memory issues and sharing about the transformative benefits of kindness, volunteering, spirituality, forgiveness and purpose.