Valerie Rochester announced as new Chief Health Equity Officer at CHC: Creating Healthier Communities


“I look forward to working with this team to build out strategies that will help move the needle toward achieving health justice and equity in our communities.”

CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to addressing the barriers to good health, is proud to announce Valerie L. Rochester as the organization’s new Chief Health Equity Officer, leading community health and equity initiatives.

“Bringing Valerie to CHC demonstrates our ongoing commitment to reducing health disparities,” said Thomas G. Bognanno, president and CEO at CHC. “Her leadership and significant expertise will accelerate our work, and most importantly, help create healthier people and communities – the outcome that we’re all working so hard to achieve.”

Rochester brings over 25 years of experience in the public health and human services fields, with a focus on impacting communities of color and improving access to quality programs and services, using a health, social equity, and justice-focused lens. Most recently, she served as Vice President/Chief Program Officer at AIDS United. Prior to that, Rochester was Director of Programs and Training at Black Women’s Health Imperative, a CHC partner, where she led the organization’s national programmatic responses to address racial and gender-based health inequities.

“I am pleased to join the CHC team and have the opportunity to apply my combined background in public health, health equity and health philanthropy to this new role,” said Valerie Rochester, chief health equity officer at CHC “I look forward to working with this team to build out strategies that will help move the needle toward achieving health justice and equity in our communities.”

Rochester has served on the board of directors of numerous national and community-based organizations, including her current tenure as board member and treasurer with the National Minority AIDS Council. Because of her commitment to addressing health inequities in communities of color, Rochester was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus Healthcare Hero Award in 2002. Rochester has a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Purdue University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Indiana University.

ABOUT CHC: CREATING HEALTHIER COMMUNITES

CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, formerly Community Health Charities, is a catalyst for good health, bringing communities, nonprofits, and businesses together around a shared commitment to better health and wellbeing. The organization represents thousands of high-impact nonprofits nationwide, working to address barriers to good health and connecting them with capital from corporate, foundation and government partners to power transformative change. By listening to partners and convening community and business leaders, CHC aims to act in the best interests of communities, directing resources and expertise where it is needed most. For more information, visit chcimpact.org or @chcimpact.

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