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The WiRED International Governing Board has elected Charlotte Keegan Ferretti, R.N., Ed.D., as its new board chair, effective August 1, 2019. She replaces Anthony Hodge, who, though retiring from the helm, will stay on the board.
Mr. Hodge said, “I enjoyed greatly my tenure as chair working with Director Gary Selnow and the other board members, who are an amazing group of bright, brainy and energetic individuals who have made WiRED a success for 22 years. I am happy to pass the baton on to Charlotte, who will do a great job for WiRED in the years to come.”
Dr. Ferretti brings extensive experience working in community health care with underserved populations as well as expertise as a resource for WiRED’s health education programs. After receiving a nursing degree from St. Vincent’s Medical Center in New York, she focused her career on hospital nursing, while raising two children with her husband, Robert, an orthopedic surgeon. After completing a master’s degree at UC San Francisco and a doctorate in education at the University of San Francisco, Dr. Ferretti became a tenured professor of nursing at San Francisco State University, teaching in the graduate nursing program. While teaching, she obtained funding to establish a nurse-managed high school health center in San Francisco for a diverse underserved population, which also supported internships for nursing students.
Charlotte Keegan Ferretti, R.N., Ed.D.
In 2000, Dr. Ferretti became director of the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at SF State, where she oversaw several city-wide programs, including the Head Start program for the City of San Francisco. As director of the Institute, she began working with WiRED, facilitating teleconferencing to connect physicians and nurses in San Francisco with those in Iraq. “I’ve always been interested in linking nursing and teaching with community needs, whether local or global. WiRED is the ambitious and successful example of that effort." Although retired from the Institute, Dr. Ferretti continues to serve on the Kai Ming Head Start Board in San Francisco and is a volunteer for Marin Court Appointed Special Advocates.
Dr. Ferretti said, “I’m honored to accept a leadership position for such an exceptional humanitarian program and for the confidence of WiRED’s board members. It’s an inspiration to me to be able to work with committed individuals who generously give of their time, talent and resources. It will not be easy to follow the successful efforts of our two previous board chairs. I’m looking forward to collaborating with all of WiRED’s board and to supporting Gary, as WiRED continues to provide health education around the world!”
WiRED’s Board Chairs
WiRED has been incredibly fortunate during the past two decades to have had remarkable board leadership. Bob Ohrenschall, our first board chair, recognized the importance of using technology to assist people throughout the former Yugoslavia, where WiRED began its work, by providing reliable and accessible health information. With Bob’s support and guidance, WiRED established its footing as a reliable health education organization, using evolving new technologies to distribute our programs.
Tony Hodge, who assumed the chair position when Bob stepped down, promoted our continued expansion into Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eurasia. Tony is a strong supporter of health diplomacy, and accordingly has put his shoulder behind our humanitarian work in some of the world’s poorest countries. Further, he has championed our use of the latest technologies to deliver health training material to every region of the planet.
Charlotte Ferretti, a long-standing member of our board, now assumes the chair as a strong advocate of WiRED’s major new program — the development and distribution of a training curriculum, designed to prepare community health workers to serve in low-resource areas where physicians and nurses are in alarmingly short supply. Charlotte has backed this program since its inception, and she is already taking steps to assemble the resources needed for the program’s launch. I look forward to working with her on this effort and on many other health education initiatives in the years ahead.
— WiRED Director Gary Selnow, Ph.D.
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