Who We Are
Our Story
Chronic Care International was founded in Omaha, Nebraska by Dr. Chuck Filipi and his daughter-in-law Linda Filipi when they realized the profound need for improved healthcare for poor individuals with diabetes and high blood pressure in the Dominican Republic.
Board of Directors
President of CCI
Hans Dethlefs, MD
Hans is a family medicine physician at One World Community Health Centers in Omaha, Nebraska and serves as the medical director for the Heartland Community Health Network.
Vice President and one of the founders of CCI
Linda Filipi, RN, BSN, CDE
Linda is a nurse and certified diabetes educator. She has traveled with CCI teams to the Dominican Republic many times since 2010.
Co-Founder of CCI
Charles Filipi, MD
Charles is a professor of surgery at the Creighton University School of Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Chair of CCI’s Board of Directors
Anthony Hendrickson, PhD
Anthony is the Dean of the Heider College of Business at Creighton University.
Secretary of CCI
Rachel Dowd, RN, BSN, CDE
Rachel has worked in endocrinology ambulatory care for over 25 years and is a certified diabetes educator. She speaks Spanish and Haitian Kreyol, and she travels with the CCI team to the Dominican Republic each year.
Treasurer of CCI
Mark McCarville, MBA
Mark has more than thirty years of experience in corporate finance, including twenty-six years as a senior officer at the Sara Lee Corporation. He often travels with the CCI team to the Dominican Republic to assess management aspects of CCI’s projects.
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John Bertoni, MD, PhD
John is a member of the Department of Neurological Sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and he chaired the Department of Neurology at Creighton University Medical Center for 19 years.
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Michael Chase, JD, MHA
Michael is a partner at Baird Holm law firm in Omaha. His practice focuses on health care regulatory and compliance matters. He previously served as a volunteer coordinator at ILAC in the Dominican Republic.
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Andrea Dethlefs, BS, BA
Andrea teaches elementary school, including teaching Spanish. She travels to the Dominican Republic with the CCI team, and she has served the poor in Honduras and Guatemala.
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Michael Dougherty, PhD
Mike was the McGavacks of Loudoun Chair in Biochemistry at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and the former Director of Education for the American Society of Human Genetics. He joined the CCI board in 2024 and looks forward to helping its talented board and staff advance the CCI mission.
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Teresa Dougherty, BA, BS, APR
Teresa is an independent public relations consultant and the Principal of TND Strategic Communications. She joined the CCI board in 2024 and will focus on increasing CCI’s visibility, amplifying its engagement and supporting its fundraising efforts.
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Frances Ann Filipi, RN
Frances is a founder of a nonprofit community hospice in Walla Walla, Washington. She has traveled with CCI teams to the Dominican Republic ever since CCI’s founding in 2010.
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Dr. Juan F. Garcia, MD
Juan is the Referral/Care Coordinator at Heritage Health and Housing Center in Manhattan, New York. He formerly served as CCI's local Medical Director in the Dominican Republic and Physician at the Sabana Rey clinic.
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Matt McCarville, MHD, BA
Matt spent 30 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry. After college he and his wife worked at Boys Town for 5 years. He has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Arizona State University and a Masters in Human Development and Family Life from the University of Kansas.
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Pat O'Malley, MS
Pat specializes in business development and financial planning, and is the founder of Tax Help and O’Malley Financial Services in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Elizabeth Arquin Walker, PhD, RN
Elizabeth is Professor Emerita of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, and is a past President of the American Diabetes Association. She travels with the CCI team to the Dominican Republic every year, and she has led NIH-funded diabetes studies in minority populations in the U. S.
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Vern Walker, PhD, JD
Vern is Professor Emeritus of Law at Hofstra University in New York, and the former Director of the Research Laboratory for Law, Logic & Technology. He travels with the CCI team to the Dominican Republic each year, and he is the videographer and photographer for the team.
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Christian Warneke, MPA, MBA
Christian works for Spreetail in Financial Planning & Analysis, focusing on Fulfillment Center Finance. Previously, Christian worked in non-profit fundraising and capital campaign management.
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Kirk Blecha, JD
Kirk was an attorney at BairdHolm in Omaha, Nebraska, and his practice focused on all aspects of litigation including discovery, document retention and destruction, employment litigation, and complex commercial litigation.
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Daniel Counts, BS
Daniel is a board member for CCI.
Staff
Program Manager
Corey Lawson, MS, MBA
Corey was a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2012 to 2014 with a focus on Community Health and has been with us since 2015 helping in all aspects of CCI from Programs to Administration to Fundraising.
Our Partners
