Toasting to a Healthy Westchester

Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH, is Dean of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, DeLamar Professor of Public Health, Professor of Medicine, and Senior Vice President at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Previously, he was Director of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Director of the Division of HIV Prevention at CDC. He spent 10 years in Africa as the Director of CDC-Uganda and Director of CDC-Kenya. He is a retired 2-star Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the US Public Health Service. He has focused his career on science-based, innovative, pragmatic research and public health programs that decrease incidence, mortality, and health disparities. While in Africa and the U.S., he led CDC’s responses to outbreaks of mpox, Ebola, HIV, and other infectious diseases.

He completed an internal medicine residency at UCSF-San Francisco General Hospital, a preventive medicine residency at CDC and the California Department of Health Services, and an Epidemic Intelligence Service fellowship at CDC. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Stanford University School of Medicine, and has an MPH from Emory University. He has authored and co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications.

As the recently retired president of the Healthcare Association of New York State, Bea Grause is a passionate advocate for New York’s nonprofit and public hospitals, health systems and post-acute and continuing care providers. She also oversaw HANYS’ for-profit business services. During her tenure, Bea contributed her extensive clinical, political and legal know-how to the organization’s agenda and in discussions with state and federal healthcare stakeholders.

Throughout the tremendous challenges of the pandemic, Grause’s leadership ensured that New York’s hospitals and health systems had the resources, flexibility and government support needed to preserve care in communities across the state. She advocated tirelessly  on behalf of New York’s hospitals and health systems as they face fiscal, workforce and payer challenges post-pandemic.

Prior to HANYS, Grause served as president and CEO of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems for 14 years, successfully leading Vermont hospitals through a variety of reform initiatives, including the state’s single-payer debate, and building the hospitals’ brand as trusted, competent leaders.

Grause spent 10 years in Washington, D.C., in a variety of positions. She began her D.C. tenure as a legislative assistant, first in the office of Rep. Norman Y. Mineta and then for Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II. After she left Capitol Hill, Grause simultaneously held senior governmental affairs positions with the Tennessee Hospital Association and Massachusetts Hospital Association. She spent three years working as counsel with the law firm of Foley, Hoag. In this role, she developed tailored legislative and regulatory strategies for many healthcare clients. Grause previously worked as a registered nurse, primarily in the emergency room and intensive care areas at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center of California.

She completed a three-year term (2012 to 2015) as an at-large member of the American Hospital Association board of trustees, including a 2015 term on the AHA Executive and AHA CEO Search Committees. As part of her AHA board responsibilities, she also served as chair of the AHA Allied Advisory Committee on Medicaid.

Grause earned her Juris Doctorate in 1991. She earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Boston College in 1979 and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She is also a 2003 graduate of the Vermont Leadership Institute.

Dr. Amler is a pediatrician and public health physician, and a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Public Health Service. Currently he is Vice President for Government Affairs at New York Medical College. Formerly as Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice and Institute of Public Health, he co-founded BioInc, the region’s biotechnology incubator, Center for Disaster Medicine, and Children’s Environmental Health Center. Dr. Amler consults in environmental medicine at Boston Children’s Health Physicians and serves on the Boards of the Westchester County Association, Business Council of Westchester, and Hudson Vally Economic Development Corporation.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Dr. Amler was federal commander of the multilateral biomedical response force against terror attacks and natural disasters for the Northeast and Caribbean Region. He responded to outbreaks of Ebola, anthrax, measles and influenza variants, and was a reassuring public voice during COVID. Previously he was Chief Medical Officer for CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, where he oversaw more than 100 field investigations in all 50 States and founded the nationwide network of pediatric environmental clinics (PEHSU) that continue to serve thousands of children and families each year.

A practicing physician for 50 years, Dr. Amler is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Rutgers, and NYU, with post-graduate study at Harvard Business School. New York Medical College awarded him the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and its preeminent William Cullen Bryant Award. He received the Edwin W. Crawford Award from Council for Advancement and Support of Education, President’s Award from Westchester Institute of Human Development, Visionary Award from SUNY Optometry Foundation, honorary Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, and Dr. Robert W. Amler Day declared by the New York State Senate leader in 2011 and 2024.

As president and CEO of the Healthcare Association of New York State, Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., PhD, leads advocacy in Albany and Washington, D.C., on behalf of New York’s nonprofit and public hospitals, health systems and post-acute and continuing care providers and the patients they serve. He oversees all of HANYS’ work, including its educational programs, policy and data analysis, quality improvement initiatives and nationally engaged for-profit business services.

Prior to joining HANYS in 2026, Quatroche spent more than 20 years at Erie County Medical Center Corporation, where he was appointed president in 2015, followed by CEO and president in 2016. In these capacities, Quatroche provided leadership for over 3,800 staff members at ECMC, Terrace View Long Term Care facility and additional outpatient locations. His responsibilities included all strategic initiatives of the corporation, including affiliations with Great Lakes Health of Western New York, Kaleida Health, University at Buffalo and many other community organizations important to the corporation’s strategic direction. He previously served as ECMC’s senior vice president of marketing, planning and business development from 2004 to 2015.

Quatroche has served on HANYS’ board of trustees since 2016 and was its chair in 2020; that year, he also served as a member of the New York Medicaid Redesign Team II, was co-lead of the Western New York Vaccine Hub established to drive regional COVID-19 vaccine distribution and uptake, and served on New York’s Health Care Administrative Simplification Workgroup. In 2026, Quatroche was named a member of New York’s FutureWorks Commission. He is a former board member of America’s Essential Hospitals and served as its chair from 2025 to 2026.

HANYS, in partnership with the American Hospital Association, presented Quatroche with the 2025 New York State Grassroots Champion Award. He has been recognized for several consecutive years in the New York publication City & State, both in the Health Care Power 100 and Trailblazers in Health Care lists. He has also been a featured presenter at healthcare conferences regarding various policy issues, including federal healthcare reform.

Quatroche received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from the State University of New York College at Fredonia, a master’s degree in student personnel administration from Buffalo State University and his doctorate in higher education – educational leadership and policy from University at Buffalo.

New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88) serves Scarsdale, Edgemont, Eastchester, Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Pelham, Pelham Manor, and parts of New Rochelle and White Plains.

Paulin annually ranks among the state’s most productive lawmakers. Over 400 of her bills have been signed into law to date. Her diverse legislative agenda includes health care, education, reproductive rights, child welfare, domestic violence prevention, sex trafficking elimination, sustainability, animal welfare, and gun control. She currently chairs the Assembly Committee on Health.