Karel Rose Amaranth, Neighbor

<b>Karel R. Amaranth, MPH, MA</b>

I have dedicated my professional life to the health and well-being of women and children. My 30-year career in the not-for-profit sector have focused my  artistic, creative and executive skills on supporting positive change in the lives of families.

A through-line in my career is a commitment to strengthening vulnerable populations: In addition to directing  Bronx-based not-for-profit home care agencies, I  served as executive director for the nationally associated Women&#39;s Action Alliance and for Victims Assistance Services in Westchester County, New York.

I firmly believe that health is a right that should be accessible to all people. I have  worked in many capacities to make this vision reality. For 10 years I served as the executive director of the Butler Child Advocacy Center in the Bronx, New York.  

Moving Mountains is a project I developed in collaboration with the Butler Child Advocacy Center, Teachers College Columbia and the Rose Kennedy Center at Einstein College of Medicine.  The project addresses issues of abuse of children with disabilities who are at very high risk of physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.

In addition to managing not for profit operations and development, I have been active in health policy. In 2005, I co-authored landmark New York City legislation requiring review of child deaths.  I have served on a national Expert Child Death Review Panel that was engaged to review the deaths of children in Nevada and make recommendations that dramatically changed the social services, health care and investigative interventions in that state.

In the fall of 2007, I was given the opportunity by Montefiore President Spencer Foreman, MD to conduct an intensive study of women&#39;s hospitals across the United States.  Traveling from Boston to San Diego to Baton Rouge to Washington, DC, Providence, Rhode Island, Niskayuna, New York to Pittsburgh, I met with hospital CEOs and staff and researched the history, services, financial plans, payer mixes and patient demographics of each hospital for a comprehensive report.

I have had the opportunity to host many foreign visitors who have been guests of the United States Department of State.  In return the Department of State has arranged for me to  visit healthcare facilities, governmental offices and social services agencies in Bogotá, Colombia, Prague, Czech Republic, and Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

As a guest lecturer, I have traveled nationally and internationally to research, advise and speak on child advocacy. I have presented at the International Conference on Victimology in Montreal, Canada, the International Conferences on Child and Family Maltreatment in San Diego, California, and the International Congresses on Child Abuse and Neglect in Hong Kong, China, Tampere, Finland, and Belfast, Ireland among many other venues.

I am currently working on a book inspired by my travels to women&#39;s hospitals, the children&#39;s health organization Saude Crianza, Renascer in Rio de Janeiro and the Child Death Review Panel in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. My blog &#34;A Private Life in PUblic Health&#34; is accessible on the Patch as well as at http://privatelifeinpublichealth.com

I have a Bachelors degree in English and Creative Writing and a Master of Arts degree in Fine Arts and Art Therapy.  In 2010, I completed a Masters degree in Public Health writing my thesis on an innovative project to address maternal mortality. The project, which focuses on the empowerment of local women through social design, microfinance and the use of birthing kits, is supported by public health literature and evidence-based science.  I traveled to Makwanpur, Nepal in November 2010 to work with the women’s health empowerment project, MIRA, to explore opportunities for implementing the birthing kit project.  During the summer of 2011, I was the teaching assistant for the Einstein College of Medicine Global Health course at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India.

I enjoy bike rides along the Hudson River, vigorous tennis matches and working obsessively in my garden and pond.  My three daughters, my grandchildren and my friends are my perpetual inspirations. I&#39;m very passionate about everything I do, and that keeps life balanced!