FOR RELEASE: Oct. 9, 2018
CONTACT: Angela Elles, angela@ginngroupconsulting.com

Gates Millennium Scholar and Hispanic Heritage Foundation LOFT Institute Member, Juan Pablo Sanchez, New Manager of SMART™ Business Development
Sanchez Joins Ginn Group Collaborative to Support SMART™ Student Health and Wellness Replication 

(Tampa, Florida), Oct. 9, 2018 – Melanie Ginn, CEO of Ginn Group Collaborative (GGC) is pleased to announce that Juan Pablo Sanchez, a public health professional and Gates Foundation Millennium Scholar, is joining the team as the Manager of Business Development for the firm’s SMART™ Student Health and Wellness Model. Through his role with SMART™, Sanchez is responsible for ensuring successful implementation of SMART™ model start-up operations, training, and quality oversight of the regional expansion sites, replication clinics, and operating agencies. He will serve as a key liaison for GGC’s internal, inter-disciplinary team of business, clinical, technical, marketing experts and peer mentors, and their collaborations with local stakeholder groups, including educators, medical provider partners and new SMART™ Team cohorts.

Sanchez’s insights, expertise and passion for improving population health outcomes will well serve GGC’s current focus to codify, expand and sustain the nationally recognized SMART™ model and its highly successful SMART™ Student Health and Wellness Center flagships in Chicago and rural Alabama.

“As we ever seek to increase the reach of SMART™ to improve the academic, and thus workforce success, of more at-risk children, Juan Pablo’s powerful dedication to the connections between health and education, and our proactive population health approach, will be an amazing asset to our work” said Ginn, GGC CEO and architect of the SMART™ Model.

In addition to his role with GGC and SMART™, Sanchez serves as a campus-based leader for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, is a member of the USF Health Executive Board and is Director of Communications for the University of South Florida Public Health Student Association Executive Board. He was a 3-time volunteer for the Hispanic Heritage Awards, and was a Senator for the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida Student Government. Furthermore, Sanchez has had the opportunity to participate in an education abroad opportunity where he analyzed the health and education systems in over 20 countries through Semester at Sea and hopes to use this experience to bring creative and holistic ideas to the SMART™ Model. His experience as a Congressional Health Intern for Congresswoman Nanette Barragán in Washington, D.C. will also help develop policies that will assist in the replication of the SMART™ Model nationwide.

Sanchez became acquainted with Ginn through Antonio Tijerino at the 2017 Inaugural SMART™ Symposium and Congressional Briefing co-hosted by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, and sponsored by Legacy Funder, CVS Health.

SMART™, which stands for School Health Model for Academics Reaching All and Transforming Lives, is a solution dedicated to improving individual student and school academic outcomes by proactively delivering Active Access to physical and behavioral health care interventions within K–12 schools. It possesses a five-year track record of uniquely outstanding reach, results and impacts. Currently, there are SMART™ Centers in several schools in Chicago and rural Alabama, with plans to expand to other cities over the next 5 years, of which Sanchez will be a key coordinator with stakeholders and partners, as directed Ginn.

“I could not be more honored to be on such an elite team of professionals that have a profound interdisciplinary approach to solving our nation’s health and education gap by being driven by data, the latest evidence-based practices, and developing a universal approach with the SMART™ Model that can be replicated in any community. Also, it is a great privilege to be working directly for Melanie Ginn, the Architect of the SMART™ Model, because of her passion for making sure children around the country are healthy and enabled to succeed academically and beyond,” said Sanchez.

As the direct product of being granted access to education by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to break the cycle of poverty in my family, I have personal experience with the barriers that are removed and the impact that the SMART™ Model can have on communities across the country. For this reason, I am passionate about the opportunity to assist with the expansion of the SMART™ Model and being a part of transforming communities one child at a time. The individual stories about the impact that the SMART™ Clinics have had on students resonate with me deeply and make the work that we are doing that much more rewarding and inspiring.

SMART™ was developed in Chicago in 2013 and recently marked 5 years of successful operation at its flagship site. The flagship site has routinely reached 98% of the student population, increasing attendance by 3-4%, and improving the school’s academic metrics and rating, at lower operational costs than traditional models. The data collected from this nationally-recognized model has been shared in Washington, D.C. to members of Congress as a best practice innovation by Dr. Liza Cariaga-Lo, Vice President for Academic Development, Diversity and Inclusion at Brown University, (as a Formative Evaluation). Ginn recently presented the SMART model’s impressive metrics to The Republican Task Force on Hispanic Affairs, founded and led by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT).  The SMART™ model recently received a 5-year, multi-million-dollar grant from the Aramark Charitable Fund to support development of SMART™ Student Health and Wellness Centers in K–12 schools across the country.

Sanchez will also have a key role in the upcoming Second Annual SMART™ Congressional Briefing and Symposium in Washington, D.C. on December 4^th and 5^th, 2018 hosted by Ginn Group Collaborative and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and sponsored by CVS Health and Aramark.

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Ginn Group Collaborative (GGC), led by President and CEO Melanie Ginn, is a nationally recognized design management firm with a proven track record in delivering exceptional outcomes and incisive analysis for clients. GGC brings objective and insightful perspective and expertise to review, research, develop, and deliver advanced business and legal analysis, strategies, and solutions. Learn more at ginngroupconsulting.com.