WASHINGTON (February 5, 2025) — The Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University has named Mary Ann Zelazny, CEO of Finger Lakes Community Health in New York as the 2025 Geiger Gibson Program Distinguished Visitor.
The Distinguished Visitor Program recognizes leaders in the community health center movement who have made exceptional contributions to community health and medically underserved communities. Each year, the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health selects a Distinguished Visitor to share their experience and insights with students, faculty, and staff through an in-residence lectureship and campus visit. Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitors represent the finest in community health center leadership.
Zelazny began her career at the health center in 1996 and was appointed CEO in 2006. She led a major expansion effort to provide access to healthcare services throughout New York’s Finger Lakes region, expanding programs and services to reach the area’s many diverse communities, and growing Finger Lakes Health Center to provide comprehensive care and services at eight locations across six counties. Zelazny is chair of the National Center for Farmworker Health Board of Directors, chair of the National Association of Community Health Centers Rural Health Committee and serves on the board of the Community Health Center Association of NYS. A pioneer in telehealth and tele-dentistry well before the pandemic, she has continued to develop opportunities to expand access and enhance care. In 2023, Zelazny was recognized by The New York State Association for Rural Health with the Senator Patricia McGee Award for Outstanding Rural Health Worker. She received an MBA in Health Informatics from New England College.
“The Distinguished Visitor program provides a unique opportunity for students, faculty and staff in the School’s Department of Health Policy and Management to engage with and learn from senior health center policy and practice experts from across the country” Feygele Jacobs, director of the Geiger Gibson Program at the Milken Institute SPH, said. “Mary Ann Zelazny is recognized leader in rural community health care and agriculture worker health. Her contributions to innovative health center practice and health care access distinguish her as a leading voice in the health center movement .
The Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health is a special initiative of Milken Institute SPH, named in honor of Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers in community health practice and tireless advocates for civil and human rights. Housed in the School’s Department of Health Policy and Management the Geiger Gibson Program has worked since 2004 to help eliminate medical underservice and disparities in population health through education, training and research projects.
-GW-