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Pooja Padgaonkar is a Family Physician and the Director of Student Health Services at Rutgers-Health Newark in Newark, NJ. She has been involved in student health services since August 2023. Her specific areas of interest include student mental health and wellness and contraception/reproductive healthcare.
Pooja has been a part of the M51³Ô¹Ïe-board since the summer of 2025 and currently serves as the President. She has enjoyed collaborating with student health colleagues from various fields and hopes the M51³Ô¹Ïboard can help in creating community for the M51³Ô¹Ïaffiliate.
Outside of work, Pooja enjoys spending time with her family and friends, indulging in delicious foods, and playing table-top games.

Dr. Jennifer Jones-Damis is a licensed psychologist in New York and New Jersey and serves as the Director of Counseling, Alcohol & Other Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), and Psychiatric Services at Rutgers University. She specializes in traumatic stress and racial trauma, providing trainings and workshops that promote resilience, psychological safety, and healing-centered practices. She is co-author of Racial Trauma in Black Clients: Effective Practice for Clinicians.

Her professional interests within college health include trauma-informed systems, clinician wellness, crisis intervention, and equity-centered care.

Dr. Jones-Damis is the President-Elect of the Mid-Atlantic College Health Association (MACHA) and is actively involved in advancing collaboration and leadership in college health. She is also engaged with the Association of Black Psychologists at the state and national levels. Her work in M51³Ô¹Ïis driven by a commitment to strengthening systems of care and supporting diverse student populations.

Outside of work, she enjoys writing, speaking, and creating spaces that center community, joy, and purpose.

Joseph W. Henson, MSN, FNP-BC, is a Family Nurse Practitioner and healthcare administrator with more than 20 years of experience in university health and acute care settings. Licensed in New Jersey and New York and board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), he is committed to advancing student health through collaborative leadership and thoughtful program development across the Mid-Atlantic college health community.

Joe serves as Assistant Director and Advanced Practice Nurse at Seton Hall University Health Services, where he partners in the oversight of a comprehensive collegiate health program serving a diverse campus population. In addition to providing direct clinical care, he has supported two successful AAAHC accreditations and is active in regulatory compliance and quality improvement initiatives. He is dedicated to mentoring future clinicians and serves as a preceptor for APRN and Physician Assistant students.

Previously at Kean University, Joe led pharmaceutical and medical supply oversight, implemented multilingual campus health communications to improve access and equity, and contributed to institutional recovery initiatives. He played a key role in launching a vaccine assistance program to support socioeconomically disadvantaged students and expanding safer sexual healthcare services. In recognition of his leadership and impact, he received Kean University’s Presidential Excellence Award in 2021.

Joe currently serves as Vice President of both the Mid-Atlantic College Health Association and the New Jersey College Health Association. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led development of isolation and quarantine protocols, implementation of contact tracing infrastructure, and alignment of institutional policies with CDC and state guidance.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Joe is active in community service, including youth mentorship, Scouting leadership, and youth basketball and soccer.

Benjamin Silverberg, MD, MSc, FAAFP, FCUCM, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Primary Care and Population Health in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He works full-time in student health. Prior to relocating to California, he was the inaugural Medical Director of the Division of Physician Assistant Studies within the Department of Human Performance at West Virginia University, where he also worked in student health, urgent care, and travel medicine. His areas of academic focus include sexual and mental health, and health disparities. He is an active lecturer and writer and is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of American College Health. Dr Silverberg is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Virginia, and pursued a fellowship in Community Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. He also holds master’s degrees in Biotechnology and Global Health from Georgetown University and Duke University, respectively. While in West Virginia, Dr Silverberg helped rejuvenate the M51³Ô¹Ïregional affiliate, serving as President from 2022-2024.

Betty is a Registered Nurse and Nurse Supervisor at Rutgers Student Health (RSH) at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She brings over 33 years of nursing experience across a wide range of specialties, including transplant care, Intensive care, travel nursing, cardiac catheterization lab, and OB/GYN. In 2009, Betty returned to Rutgers University, her alma mater and a graduate of the Rutgers College of Nursing, as a staff nurse. She was promoted to Nurse Supervisor in 2021, where she continues to support both patient care and clinical staff.

Betty currently serves as Secretary of the Mid-Atlantic College Health Association (MACHA), where she values the opportunity to collaborate and network with colleagues across universities.

Outside of her professional role, Betty enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, listening to music, and cooking. She was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States with her family in 1980. She is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese.

Edythe Cook has worked in the student health center at American University for over twenty years and is the Associate Director for Administrative Services.

Edythe has been active with the Mid-Atlantic College Health Association since 2006 and has held various leadership roles in the organization and is the current treasurer. Edythe enjoys that M51³Ô¹Ïallows her to work with colleagues at other universities and has found the networking opportunities to be invaluable.

Outside of work Edythe enjoys attending Broadway shows, reading, and planning her next vacation.

Christopher Ouren, MBA, has worked in higher education for almost 20 years, with over 5 years' experience working in collegiate healthcare. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Business Operations at the James Madison University Health Center, overseeing all support operations of the clinic including customer service, IT, and finance.

Mr. Ouren earned his Masters of Business Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, following a Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Performance from Iowa State University.

Throughout his career in college health, Chris has focused on optimizing clinic operations and expanding services to meet student needs. He has played a role in many construction projects throughout the clinic that have improved the student experience, including the creation of an athletic training clinic as well as re-design and improvements to the acute care services. Focusing on the student experience, he has secured funding to allow for students with Medicaid to receive no-cost services at the clinic and has implemented a wellness vending machine program on campus which has expanded access to our services to other areas on campus.

In addition to his role with MACHA, Mr. Ouren is also involved on campus serving as the co-chair of the Employee Advisory Committee as well as a member of the Compensation Advisory Council and Dukes Remembrance Day Committee.

Revici Witter is a Registered Nurse at Rutgers University, where he also serves as an Assistant Site Coordinator for the Cook-Douglass Health Center. He has been actively involved in student health services since 2018, demonstrating a strong commitment to supporting the well-being of the campus community.

In the summer of 2025, Revici became a Member at Large for MACHA.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Revici enjoys spending quality time with his family and friends.

Michele F. Richardson, MDiv, ThM, MBA, CSAEd, SHRM-CP, is a career administrator who is passionate about holistic human and student development. With more than 15 years in higher education, Michele currently serves as Director of Wellness and the Henry Wise Wellness Center at Bowie (pronounced boo-wee) State University in Maryland.

Michele is a clinically-trained Chaplain who is committed to guiding others toward better relationships and better lives, in general. She has spent most of her adult life devising and writing about strategies and techniques in personal development, healing, and transformation, emphasizing a holistic and integrated view of the spirit, soul, and body. She draws on her miraculous healing from cancer to share personal experiences and author writings that focus on helping readers in their everyday lives.

As a professional, Michele is also dedicated to servant leadership at the institutional, local, regional and national levels. Since becoming a member of ACHA, Michele has served 51³Ô¹Ïas an active member of several committees and coalitions, including in leadership as Ethics Committee Chair. Michele is excited about her next chapter with ACHA…that of working with her colleagues as the Region IV Representative.

Michele is a woman of faith who is devoted to her family and to her work. Michele’s self-care practices include: taking long walks, singing, cooking, and baking.