June Simmons

President & CEO Partners In Care Foundation, San Fernando, CA

Nationally recognized for her leadership in the administration of health care organizations, W. June Simmons is a visionary in developing innovative approaches to health care delivery in the 21st century. Throughout her distinguished career, she has been instrumental in creating, funding and operating forward-looking health and social services research and programs. As founding President and CEO of Partners in Care Foundation, Ms. Simmons strongly believes that health care and social delivery of services need to change, especially in community and home settings. She takes an active role in developing initiatives and pro-active programs which meet the mutual needs of patient populations, providers, and health care delivery networks to encourage cost-effective, patient-friendly integration of care from hospital to home and community. Under her leadership, Partners has grown ten-fold since its establishment in 1998 and has been awarded many major grants to investigate and evaluate new models of health care and social service delivery, including those in managed care environments.

Ms. Simmons is currently a member of the National Advisory Council to the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Other national roles have included: the HMO Caregiver Work Group, a national think tank funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance managed care models for caring for the aging population which also included major medical providers from across the country; the National Board of the American Society on Aging (ASA). Current roles include the National Leadership Council of the National Council on Aging (NCOA); Mentor and Advisory Board Member of the Practice Change Fellows; Chair of the California Community Choices Advisory Committee to oversee the federal grant for re-balancing long term care services; and as a consultant to managed care and hospital organizations. Ms. Simmons served as a Delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. Taking a broad view of the health care system, Ms. Simmons was founding Chair of the National Chronic Care Consortium.

In addition, Ms. Simmons has served on several local technical committees, panels and advisory boards including: the L.A. County Long Term Care Strategic Planning Team; the Board of Councilors of USC School of Social Work as Chair, and the Federal Hispanic Elders Project. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars and has been recognized for her leadership in innovation and management by academic and national professional organizations.

Ms. Simmons began her career at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California where she developed and administered a comprehensive multi-function hospital social work department as Chief of Patient Services. As Founding Director of Senior Care Network, she developed a comprehensive geriatric services center to develop new in-patient models, health promotion and community-based coordinated health care programs and financing systems with multiple major grants. As Associate Hospital Administrator, she was responsible for all patient flow functions as well as the hospital.s cancer programs.

In 1993 Ms. Simmons joined Visiting Nurse Association, Los Angeles, which was first established in 1927, to provide home health services. She later became President and CEO in 1996. After the assets of the VNA-LA were sold in 1997, she served as the founding President and CEO for the succeeding non-profit Partners in Care Foundation.

June Simmons holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree from Occidental College and a M.S.W. from the University of Southern California.