On the Thursday morning of the 2026 VCHA Annual Meeting and Conference, ten outstanding members of the Virginia healthcare community were recognized for their efforts over the past year.
“Each year, we ask our members to shine a light on colleagues who demonstrate exceptional dedication, leadership, and service to their patients, health centers, and communities. These awards give us an opportunity to celebrate those who consistently go the extra mile and make a meaningful difference in the lives of others,” said VCHA CEO Tracy Douglas in her remarks. “We’re proud to recognize their achievements and grateful for all they do to strengthen community health across Virginia.”
STAFF MEMBER OF THE YEAR – Berta Moreira, Certified Application Counselor at HealthWorks for Northern Virginia
At HealthWorks, she plays a critical role in helping individuals and families overcome one of the greatest barriers to healthcare: obtaining health insurance. Every day, Berta guides patients through Medicaid enrollment, Virginia’s Health Insurance Marketplace, and other coverage options, helping uninsured and underinsured individuals navigate complex eligibility requirements with confidence and dignity. And she does it in both English and Spanish, ensuring that language is never a barrier to accessing the medical, dental, and behavioral healthcare services they need.
As Medicaid eligibility requirements continue to change, Berta has also demonstrated an eagerness to learn, anticipate how those changes will affect HealthWorks patients, and find new ways to educate and support her community. Through her expertise, compassion, and unwavering commitment to the people she serves, Berta truly embodies the mission of HealthWorks.
HR PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR – Terri King, Human Resources Director at Tri-Area Community Health
Since joining Tri-Area Community Health in 2019, Terri King has been much more than our Human Resources Director. She has been a trusted leader and tireless advocate for our employees, helping guide Tri-Area through a period when our workforce more than doubled. Terri has championed expanded benefits, employee recognition and engagement, and training that develops stronger managers and leaders. Most importantly, she has helped create a workplace where people feel welcomed, heard, respected, and appreciated. Her leadership, expertise, and genuine kindness truly embody the HR Professional of the Year.
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR – Dr. Delia Heck, Board Member at Tri-Area Community Health
For nearly a decade, Dr. Delia Heck has been a remarkable volunteer leader for Tri-Area Community Health. As Board Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, she has helped guide our organization while giving generously of her time, expertise, and voice. Her service extends outside the boardroom—from advocacy and community partnerships to strengthening our relationship with Ferrum College. And that same commitment to service reaches well beyond Tri-Area, through her work promoting environmental justice and helping communities become more resilient. Delia truly embodies the spirit of the Volunteer of the Year Award.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR – Marcy Rosenbaum, Behavioral Health and New Day Recovery Director at Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems
As Behavioral Health and New Day Recovery Director, Marcy has spent nearly two decades breaking down barriers to care and transforming how rural communities address mental health and substance use. She helped integrate behavioral health into primary care and expanded the department by 200%, ensuring patients could receive timely, compassionate support without long waits, long-distance travel, or the stigma of seeking help elsewhere.
In 2016, she launched New Day Recovery, one of Virginia’s first Office-Based Opioid Treatment programs. The program has brought life-saving addiction treatment into local communities and became a model for training health centers across the Commonwealth.
Marcy’s leadership extends beyond the exam room. Recognizing that recovery depends on more than medical treatment, she secured two competitive HRSA grants to launch the Community of Hope program across all three New Day Recovery sites, connecting patients with recovery specialists and community navigators who help address the challenges affecting their health and well-being. Through her vision, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to whole-person care, Marcy has transformed barriers into pathways to recovery – and helped build a stronger, more connected safety net for the people of Southwest Virginia.
NURSE OF THE YEAR – Chasity Barrett, Advanced Practice Nurse/NP at Tri-Area Community Health
Chasity Barrett has built an extraordinary nursing career—from Certified Nurse Aide to LPN, RN, and now Family Nurse Practitioner—all while leading the clinical team at Tri-Area’s largest and busiest clinic. Her commitment to excellence extends far beyond her own patients. She has trained nurses and managers across the organization and developed a clinical competency program to strengthen the quality and consistency of care at every Tri-Area location. Now, she’ll bring that same dedication to children in an underserved community as a Nurse Practitioner at our new Floyd County school-based health center. Chasity truly represents the very best of nursing.
DENTIST OF THE YEAR – Dr. Alex Wood, Dental Director at the Community Health Center of the New River Valley
Dr. Wood has helped transform the way dental patients at his health center are supported by integrating behavioral health into dental services, including developing an anxiety screening and intervention process that connects patients directly with behavioral health providers. His dedication extends to some of the region’s most vulnerable patients, including those with substance use disorders, ensuring they receive timely, compassionate care when they need it most.
Dr. Wood has also been a driving force in expanding access to dental care across Southwest Virginia. He’s led efforts to bring dental services to a local nursing home and helped establish dental care within a School-Based Health Center, bringing essential oral healthcare directly into communities where people live and learn.
Perhaps most significantly, Dr. Wood is helping build the future of dentistry in rural Southwest Virginia. Recognizing the region’s critical shortage of dental providers, he’s taken a strategic approach to recruiting dentists with connections to the area and is working toward establishing a dental residency program to create a sustainable pipeline of providers. Through his leadership, innovation, and vision, Dr. Wood is not only improving the lives of patients today, he’s helping ensure that generations of Southwest Virginians will have access to quality dental care tomorrow.
PROVIDER OF THE YEAR – Dr. Katelyn Inge, Chief Medical Officer at Southern Dominion Health System
Beyond her direct patient care responsibilities, Dr. Inge is a respected leader within Virginia’s community health center network. As CMO, she helps lead Southern Dominion while continuing to maintain a full patient schedule three days a week – a reflection of her deep commitment to remaining connected to the patients she serves.
Dr. Inge is known for her servant’s heart and her unwavering dedication to the people around her. She mentors students and future healthcare professionals, supports and motivates her clinical teams, and can often be found cheering on her young patients at local sporting events and graduations. In addition, she and her provider team offer free sports physicals to local students each year, and she’s helped guide countless young people toward careers in medicine and healthcare.
Her dedication to saving lives doesn’t end when she leaves the health center. Recently, while on a family trip, Dr. Inge witnessed a serious car accident and was the first person on the scene, immediately providing emergency care to an injured patient until EMS arrived. To her patients, colleagues, staff, and the many future healthcare professionals she has mentored, she is much more than a physician. She is a leader, an advocate, a mentor, a cheerleader, and truly the heart of her practice.
PROVIDER OF THE YEAR – Dr. Art Van Zee, Stone Mountain Health Services
For nearly five decades, Dr. Van Zee has provided compassionate, exceptional care to thousands of patients and generations of families. His impact, however, has extended far beyond the walls of the exam room.
Throughout his career, he’s been a tireless advocate for his community – promoting prevention and wellness, expanding access to cancer screenings, confronting the opioid crisis, and helping build systems of care for individuals struggling with addiction. As one of the earliest providers in Southwest Virginia to offer medication treatment to help patients overcome opioid addiction, his leadership and advocacy have helped save countless lives.
His work has earned national and international recognition, including appearances before the U.S. Senate and in the HBO documentary The Crime of the Century, as well as recognition in Beth Macy’s Dopesick. Yet, despite these accolades, Dr. Van Zee has remained focused on what has always mattered most: his patients and his community. Now entering his 50th year of practice, he continues to see patients every day, mentor the next generation of physicians, and demonstrate the extraordinary difference one dedicated provider can make.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD – Saundra Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Stone Mountain Health Services
Saundra began her career serving patients directly as a Volunteer Services Coordinator. Over the years, she took on roles in Human Resources and executive leadership before becoming Chief Operating Officer, a position she’s held for more than 20 years. As COO, Saundra’s been a steady and trusted leader through tremendous growth and extraordinary challenges. She’s helped guide Stone Mountain through new clinic openings and expanded services, the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricanes, devastating floods, and countless staffing and operational challenges. Through it all, she’s led with integrity, fairness, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to doing what’s right.
Saundra supports employees at every level, mentors future leaders, works closely with the board, and has a remarkable ability to bring empathy and calm to even the most difficult patient concerns. Her compassion extends beyond the health center as well. She’s deeply connected to the community and is often among the first to check on staff and their families when they face illness or hardship.
For 35 years, Saundra’s helped shape the history, culture, and future of Stone Mountain. Her impact can be seen in the people she’s mentored, the challenges she’s helped overcome, and the countless patients who continue to receive quality care close to home. Today, we celebrate her extraordinary service, compassionate leadership, and unwavering commitment to community health.
2026 A1C Award – Blue Ridge Medical Center
This award recognizes a member health center for success in improving A1C rates among their patient population. The award is structured around UDS data. We look at the percentage of patients in each health center with un-managed diabetes – the percentage of patients with an A1C above 9 percent. The award is given to the health center that reduces that percentage the most during that 12-month period.
Through their commitment to improving diabetes care and patient outcomes, Blue Ridge made remarkable progress in 2025. The percentage of patients with uncontrolled A1c levels decreased from 29.05% to just 16.79%. That means their diabetes control rate increased from 70.95% to 83.21% – an impressive 12.27 percentage-point improvement in just one year.
Colorectal Cancer Screening Award – Rockbridge Area Health Center
This award recognizes a health center that has dedicated its time, talent, and expertise to advancing initiatives that support our shared goal of improving colorectal cancer screening rates in communities across Virginia. Just like our A1c Award, we compared UDS data from 2024 and 2025 to identify the health center that demonstrated the greatest progress.
Rockbridge made impressive progress in increasing colorectal cancer screening among their eligible patients. Their screening rate increased from 46.15% to 56.03% – a 9.87 percentage-point improvement over the previous year. This kind of progress represents more patients receiving potentially lifesaving preventive care and demonstrates Rockbridge’s commitment to early detection and better health outcomes.
TORCHBEARER AWARD – Vonda Robinson, President of the National Black Lung Association
Vonda has spent more than a decade fighting for miners living with black lung disease to ensure they receive the healthcare, benefits, protections, and support they’ve earned. As Vice President of the National Black Lung Association (NBLA), she’s become a respected and powerful advocate at both the state and national levels. She was elected NBLA President in mid-September.
Vonda’s commitment to this work is deeply personal. Her husband, John, lives with black lung disease, giving Vonda firsthand insight into the physical, emotional, and financial challenges faced by miners and their families. She’s taken that personal experience and turned it into action – testifying before federal agencies, working with Virginia’s U.S. senators to advance legislation, and advocating for stronger workplace protections and benefits.
Her advocacy has contributed to efforts involving:
- Improvements to the Black Lung Survivors Benefits Law
- The Black Lung Improvement Act
- The Black Lung Stipend Law
- Increasing the coal excise tax to 25 cents per ton to help fund the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund
- Strengthening protections through the Silica Rule to reduce miners’ exposure to respirable crystalline silica
But what makes Vonda a true Torchbearer is her perseverance, compassion, and willingness to stand up and speak out for people who need a voice. She’s spent years shining a light on the realities facing coal miners and their families and challenging policymakers and healthcare leaders to do better. Vonda Robinson embodies what it means to be a Torchbearer – someone who sees a need, steps forward, and helps light the way for others.
Congratulations to all of our 2026 Annual Conference Award winners!
