A highly-engaged and committed network of healthcare professionals from the pharma, bio-tech and medical device industries partnering with experienced community-based partners to change the lives of thousands.

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Our History

Healthcare Partners began in 2012 as a group of passionate and empowered employees from healthcare companies in the Chicago area working with a local NGO, Children’s Place International, to address the healthcare needs of children and families living in extreme poverty in Chicago. Today, Healthcare Partners creates partnerships between leading healthcare companies and its extensive network of community-based partners to develop and implement health equity projects in underserved communities around the world including Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Our values are at the core of what we do.

We strive to ensure that all Healthcare Partners collaborations meet three key criteria:

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    Projects stem from the expressed needs of the communities and the local partners.

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    Shared values, goals and objectives exist between healthcare companies and partnering community-based partners.

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    Projects measurably improve health equity and health outcomes in the target communities.

Who We Are

John Sweeney

Founder and Executive Director

John has over 30 years of international management experience across Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. His desire to help improve the lives of individuals living in impoverished communities began in Okondja, Gabon where John served as a Peace Corps volunteer. Since then, he’s worked in various international roles for companies and organizations like Baxter Healthcare’s International Group, Chemonics International and AID Village Clinics. In 2007, John co-founded Children’s Place International and led the design and implementation of programming in Haiti, Guyana, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. John holds an MBA from Northwestern University and speaks French fluently.

John has over 30 years of international management experience across Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia.

Micol Werner

Director

Micol has over 15 years of international management experience including living and working in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Europe. She joined Children’s Place International in 2017, where she manages partnerships in support of children and families in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.  Prior to joining, she worked for TechnoServe, a non-profit providing business solutions to poverty in Mozambique and Madagascar. She also worked for six years with Abbott and subsequently AbbVie in sales and marketing and as a consultant for McKinsey & Company.  Micol holds a Masters in Biochemical Engineering and an MBA from Stanford University. She speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish fluently.

Micol has over 15 years of international management experience including living and working in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Europe. 

Jennifer Torres

Program Manager

Jennifer has over 20 years of international experience including living and working in Ghana, Niger, and Guyana. Jennifer is currently managing a diversity of partnerships to support children and families in Haiti and previously managed partnerships in Guyana. Prior to joining Children’s Place International, she worked directly for the Minister of Health in Guyana, developing and implementing health interventions. Jennifer served in the Peace Corps in Niger and Ghana and holds an MPH in international health and development from Tulane University. Jennifer speaks Haitian Kreyol and French.

Jennifer has over 20 years of international experience including living and working across Africa, the Caribbean, and South America.

“Healthcare Partners for Access allows healthcare companies and members a chance to make a difference in the lives of others, which is largely the reason we work in healthcare.”

Pere Berkowitz, Vice President, Fresenius Kabi USA

Partners

Dr. Chris Reddick
Vice President, R&D Health Equity, Takeda 

Cinaiya Stubbs
President and CEO, The Children’s Place Association

Dr. Gary Harper
Professor, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Dr. Fredrick Chite Asirwa
Executive Director and CEO, International Cancer Institute, Kenya

Kgomotso Nana Sejoe
Executive Director, Marang Childcare Network Trust, Botswana

Tim Koenig
Vice President, Annexus Health

Dr. Wesler Lambert
Deputy Executive Director, Partners in Health Haiti

Dr. James McAuley
Clinical Director, Whiteriver Indian Hospital 

Rick Moser
Corporate Vice President, Abbott Laboratories

Tina Eddy
Regional Vice President, Fresenius Medical Care 

Pere Berkowitz
Vice President, Fresenius Kabi USA

Brad Dunlap
Vice-President, Business Development, CIVCO Medical Solutions 

How Healthcare Partners Works

Read More About How We Operate

Contact Us

Interested in working with us or learning more? We’d love to hear from you.

Contact Healthcare Partners for Access’ Director, Micol Werner, by email at mwerner@hcpfa.org