Policy Advisory Board

Dr. Mary F. Brunette is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School and the Medical Director of the Bureau of Behavioral Health within the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. As a board-certified addiction psychiatrist, she has been involved with research and clinical care of patients with severe mental illnesses and co-occurring substance use disorders for over 15 years. She has been active with both psychosocial research and clinical trials studying treatments for people with these co-occurring disorders.

Jonathan Ballard, MD, currently serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the NH Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He works closely with Commissioner’s Office, the DHHS Executive Team, and other key members to ensure cost-effectiveness, compliant and high-quality programs, services, and operations system-wide. Jonathan oversees the clinical implementation of quality improvement efforts designed to improve clinical and quality performance and maintain compliance with JCAHO, HIPAA, and other accreditation standards as well as evaluate developments in medical care, health services administration, health insurance programming, including managed care, and make recommendations for new practices, policies and procedures.

Steven Descoteaux, MD is board certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine.  He has treated addiction in numerous settings including primary care, urgent care, correctional facilities, and both inpatient and outpatient addiction treatment programs.  He believes in expanding access to addiction treatment that meets patients at all stages of their recovery.

Sandi Hoffman has served as the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of VT Health Access since September 2020 and leads the Department’s clinical services work, inclusive of the Department’s clinical operations, clinical integrity and quality improvement, pharmacy services, data analysis, and oversight and monitoring responsibilities.  Sandi previously served as the Department’s Chief of Clinical Services and before that was the Department’s Director of Quality Improvement and Clinical Integrity.  With over 20 years of direct care experience specializing in early childhood trauma, adolescent development, substance use disorder, mental health and well-being, Sandi’s experience and commitment to integrated care ensures collaboration and coordination are at the core of the Department’s clinical response to member and provider needs. Sandi maintains her licensure as an alcohol and drug counselor (LADC), holds a Master of Social Work form the University of Vermont, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Criminal Justice from Trinity College.  She is also a graduate of the VT Certified Public Manager Program.

Lisa Letourneau, MD, MPH is a board-certified internist and public health advocate, and currently serves as Senior Advisor for Delivery System Change for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Commissioner’s Office. She is a physician leader and passionate advocate for health care system delivery change, with a particular interest in advancing primary care and public health efforts. Lisa previously served as Executive Director of Maine Quality Counts, a regional health improvement collaborative, where she led several quality improvement efforts including the Maine Aligning Forces for Quality initiative and the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Pilot.

Donald McNally, DO, is a board-certified addiction and general psychiatrist and currently serves as the Medical Director of Behavioral Health at New Hampshire Healthy Families. In addition to his several years of administrative work he has provided care across several behavioral health clinical settings and has participated and contributed to research and publications in the fields of psychiatry and substance use disorders. In his current role at NH Healthy Families, he works as part of a multidisciplinary team engaged in program development, training, quality improvement, and advancing behavioral and physical health equity in New Hampshire.  Dr. McNally continues to be an active advocate for mental health and substance use disorders as an active member of several committees, in both New Hampshire and Maine, including the Maine Medical Professionals Health Program Advisory Committee and serving as Treasurer for the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians.

Tiffany L. Pierce, M.D., M.S. is a board-certified internal medicine doctor who serves as the New England Market Medical Executive at Cigna Health Care. She leads their value-based initiatives working directly with clients and through partnerships with doctors in the community.

In her previous roles at Cigna, Dr. Pierce had responsibility for educating medical directors and nurses to enhance their quality and effectiveness through proactive medical management, she led their complex and catastrophic case management team for the East Region, helped developed the medical program for their individual and family plan business that is on the exchange and co-chaired our Quality Management Governing Body. She also serves as a board member for Malta House of Care, which provides free medical services to individuals without medical insurance. Prior to joining Cigna, Dr. Pierce worked as the lead hospitalist for Dartmouth-Hitchcock and spent time working in hospitals in Africa.

Jessica Rubinstein, MD, MHCM is the Medical Director for Well Sense Health Plan since June 2021. After 28 years of combining primary care pediatric practice with practice management, Jessica began her health plan career at Tufts Health Public Plans in 2017 where she held the positions of Medical Director and Interim Chief Medical Officer.  Jessica is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and did her pediatric training at Boston Floating Hospital (now Tufts Medical Center).

Kim Trvalik, RN, MS, has 30+ years of experience as a nurse and has worked in a variety of behavioral health settings. Kim has a Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration.  In addition to direct care, she has held several leadership positions and currently works as the Behavioral Health Program Director for Boston Medical Center Health System, Well Sense Health Plan.  She has a strong interest in the treatment of substance use disorders and lived experience with family members.

Dr. Tom Weigel is the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont.  For more than a decade, he has served in hospital administration, clinical programs, and government agencies, with a focus on quality improvement and outcomes measurement.