Health happens here.
Board of Directors
Pastor Mary Overstreet Smith, Clinic Founder and Emeritus Board Member
Dr. Mary H. Overstreet Smith, known to millions as “Pastor Mary” and nicknamed “Hurricane Mary” for her efforts in aiding the Hurricane Katrina victims, is the founding mother of the North by Northeast Community Health Clinic. She is uninhibited in the midst of challenges and has founded, among other things, the Powerhouse Church of God in Christ and Harvest Time Ministry TV Cable services. In addition to aiding Hurricane victims without the help of the government, Pastor Mary has aided those in her own community by founding and operating a food bank, a homeless and emergency shelter and drives to distribute warm clothes and blankets to the homeless. She ministers in jails and prisons and actively participates in the Northeast Gang Intervention Program as well as mentoring youth and providing college scholarships to those who want better lives for themselves. Pastor Mary holds degrees in social work, administration of justice and correction, and an honorary Doctor of Divinity. She is licensed as a foster parent and practical nurse. Her awards reflect her many years of deep service to her community and are too numerous to mention.
Pat Daniels
Patricia Daniels received her education from Portland Community College and Concordia College University with an MBA minor in Human Resource Management and a Bachelor of Science in Business Communication and Management. She has extensive experience in developing programs, beginning in 1980 with what was to be a 17-year position as Customer Service Manager at Portland International Airport. In this role, she created a central paging center, information desk, visual paging system, volunteer program and multi-language information kiosk and one of the first conference centers in the airport. When the Olympics came to Atlanta in 1996, she relocated for 6 years to serve as the Customer Service Administrator at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, overseeing a staff of 75 customer service representatives and 100 volunteers. Pat has worked as a gymnastics coach, for a performing arts center and started her own company, Crystal Production, promoting jazz artists. In 2005 Pat joined Irvington Covenant Church, the home of the Constructing Hope Training Program, to assist with fundraising. She now serves as Executive Director of Constructing Hope, whose mission is to help participants develop an understanding of apprenticeship opportunities available in the construction trades as well as familiarity with trade tools, terminology and basic principles.
Roslyn Farrington, Board President
Roslyn Farrington founded All About Community (AAC) in 2005 with the mission of building beloved community through personal, professional and community transformation. AAC assists organizations in administrative strengthening, outreach and community building. Roslyn currently serves as faculty member in Portland State University’s Women’s Studies Department. She served as the Executive Director of the Oregon Commission for Women from 2000-2005. Roslyn holds a Master’s Degree in Education and has over 20 years of professional experience working with all levels of government, non-profit agency staff, the State Legislature and boards and commissions. Roslyn is a seasoned teacher and trainer and has worked with students in settings ranging from high school to university to business. Roslyn’s mission, based on the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is to build Beloved Community—a community based on unconditional love where all people have a voice.
Jill Ginsberg, MD MPH, Co-Founder, Medical Director and Emeritus Board Member
Jill Ginsberg is the founding physician partner of the North by Northeast Community Health Center. She and Pastor Mary Overstreet met in November 2005 and opened the clinic doors in August of 2006. She has been active in the pursuit of social justice for many years, including working with the Portland Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board and serving on the Board of Directors and as Social Action chair of Congregation Beth Israel in Portland. From 2001-2007 she served on the Commission of Social Action of Reform Judaism, which helps set public policy for the Reform movement’s 900 congregations. Jill’s experience in helping start a free medical clinic for Spanish-speaking residents of Forks, WA, and her commitment to community engagement have been invaluable in her work with North by Northeast Community Health Center. Her educational background includes undergraduate studies at Barnard College, medical training at the University of California San Francisco and a Masters in Public Health from the University of California Berkeley. Jill has lived in Northeast Portland with her family since 1994. She has been a family physician with Northwest Permanente since 1994 and since 2008 serves as Physician Lead for Community Care.
Richard Howells
Richard Howells has been a practicing management consultant for 25 years. He has held executive leadership positions and served as Director of Organization Development for an Oregon-based insurance company. He consulted for six years as a principal with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). In 2000, Richard founded his own management consulting practice in Portland, Oregon, actively collaborating with clients and colleagues on various large-scale change projects. Richard has developed tools for exploring the effectiveness of team decision-making, accountability management, conflict management and other areas of organizational effectiveness. He is skilled using interviews, focus groups and surveys to identify organizational strengths and opportunities for improvement. Some of the clients that Richard has served include Allstate Insurance, GE Capital, Iowa Electric Services, Illinois Power, OxyChem, NASA (Lockheed-Martin), Raytheon, Mead Corporation, Cadence Design Systems, Liberty Northwest (Insurance), BP (energy) and Pierce Transit. Richard has also provided pro bono services to many non-profit boards and organizations. Richard enjoys being with his wife (Kate) and two grown children, Lindsay and Evan. He plays golf, tennis, and is an avid reader. He relaxes by puttering around his shop or taking hikes and being in the outdoors.
Ralph Prows, MD
Dr. Ralph Prows is the Chief Medical Officer of The Regence Group, a non-profit health company serving over 2 million members in the northwest and over half a million members in Oregon. Dr. Prows joined Regence in September 2004 and is responsible for clinical direction and coordination of health care services to all lines of business and products offered by Regence. Dr. Prows brings more than 30 years experience to North by Northeast’s board as a practicing physician and health care executive. He practiced internal medicine in San Antonio, taught internal medicine at the University of Massachusetts where he also served as medical director for a large health plan, was the chief executive officer of the Corvallis Clinic, the largest private multi-specialty clinic in the mid-Willamette Valley, and served as chairman and president of the Corvallis Area Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Physicians Association in Linn and Benton Counties. He presently serves as past president and vice chair of the Board for the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation and volunteers as a physician at North by Northeast in addition to serving on our board. Dr. Prows earned his medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine at Oschner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and American Board of Utilization Review and Quality Assurance and has current state medical licenses in Massachusetts and Oregon.
Ron Shoals
Bio and picture coming soon…
Janet Stein, NP
Janet Stein is a nurse practitioner certified in women’s health and primary care. She has worked as a health care provider since 1973, primarily in settings where underserved clients receive respectful and excellent care. Being a volunteer provider for North by Northeast since 2008 has fit perfectly with that commitment. Since 2008, she has worked as a primary care provider at the Multnomah County Health Department’s downtown primary care clinic, Westside Health Center - a site which specializes in clients with chronic mental illness, addiction, homelessness and other challenges. For the 28 years prior to that, she was a provider in the Women’s Clinic at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, commuting from Portland, where she has lived with her husband since 1971. Janet has done clinical teaching, started a women’s clinic in a college health center, and been on the board of a feminist women’s health center. She completed her college degree at The Evergreen State College, got her women’s health training at Harbor-UCLA, earned her nursing degree at University of the State of New York, and completed her master’s degree in nursing as a family nurse practitioner at Gonzaga University. She is a Neighborwatch block leader and a co-leader of Buckman’s Neighborhood Emergency Team disaster response team. Janet loves reading novels, going to movies, traveling, and looking at art, especially photography.
