MCCG Founders and Staff

Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH

Co-Founder, Manhattan Cross Cultural Group

Director, The Disparities Solutions Center
Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy, Mass General Hospital
Director for Multicultural Education, Mass General Hospital
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Joseph R. Betancourt is co-founder of the Manhattan Cross Cultural Group, a training and research organization committed to improving health care to diverse patient populations and eliminating health disparities. Dr. Betancourt is the Director of a center focused on eliminating disparities at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as well as Director for Multicultural Education. He is is a practicing Internist at MGH, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he teaches cross-cultural medicine to medical students and residents.

Dr. Betancourt received his medical degree from New Jersey Medical School, completed an internal medicine residency at Cornell Medical Center in New York City, and obtained a master's degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. His primary interests include cross-cultural medicine, minority recruitment into the health professions and minority health/health policy research. Dr. Betancourt has served on several Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committees, including those that produced Unequal Treatment and Developing a National Health Care Disparities Report. He also serves on the Boston Board of Health and the Massachusetts State Disparities Council. Dr. Betancourt has authored peer-reviewed publications on issues such as cross-cultural education, hypertension in minority populations, clinical decision-making, ethics, workforce diversity and the impact of language barriers on health care.

Alexander R. Green, MD, MPH

Co-founder, Manhattan Cross Cultural Group

Associate Director, The Disparities Solutions Center
Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy, Mass General Hospital
Chair, Cross-Cultural Care Committee, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Alexander Green is a co-founder of the Manhattan Cross Cultural Group and co-developer of the Quality Interactions programs. He is Associate Director of the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School where he chairs the Cross-Cultural Care Committee.

Dr. Green completed his medical degree at the University of California, San Diego, and internal medicine residency at the New York Presbyterian Hospital - Cornell, where he later served as Associate Director of the primary care medicine residency program. He was a National Health Service Corps fellow in a community health center in Queens, New York and co-developed a highly acclaimed curriculum on cross-cultural health care. He received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and completed a research fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Green is a leader in the area of racial/ethnic disparities in health care and cultural competence, and he has published widely. He was an expert panelist for the Joint Commission's Hospitals, Language, and Culture project and he helped create a widely used documentary film and educational compendium Worlds Apart. His work explores root causes of disparities and promotes culturally competent health care through education and quality improvement.

J. Emilio Carrillo, MD, MPH

Co-Founder, Manhattan Cross Cultural Group

Vice President of Community Health Development of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
President and Chief Medical Officer of the NewYork-Presbyterian Community Health Plan where he directs the Institute of Healthcare Access Research
Associate Professor of Clinical Public Health, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Dr. J. Emilio Carrillo is co-founder of Manhattan Cross Cultural Group, a training and research organization committed to improving health care to diverse patient populations and eliminating health disparities. Dr. Carrillo graduated from Columbia College and received his M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard University, and subsequently trained in Internal Medicine at the Cambridge and Massachusetts General Hospitals. For ten years he served in the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, where he practiced and taught medicine. While there he also administered primary care programs as well as conducted research on infant mortality prevention, smoking prevention and cross-cultural primary care.

Dr. Carrillo was an original founder of the Boricua Health Organization. He later founded the Journal of Latin Community Health and the Journal of Multicultural Community Health. Dr. Carrillo has served in many State and Federal advisory councils, including the NCI, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Centers for Health Statistics (NCHS), Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) and advisory groups to the Governors of Massachusetts and New York State. He has published widely, received numerous awards and was recently appointed as a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine.

MCCG Staff

Diane Blake

Bergami

Senior Director of Business Operations and Client Affairs

Diane joined Manhattan Cross Cultural Group in December 2005, as Operations Manager. Her primary role is to manage the distribution of the Quality Interactions E-Learning Program, working closely with organizations to ensure their learners are successfully trained. In addition, Diane oversees the Quality Interactions website and provides marketing and sales support.

Diane came from Houghton Mifflin where she was a Web Developer/Project Coordinator for the Corporate IT group. There she helped define and build the HMCO product and other affiliating websites. Prior to joining Houghton Mifflin, she worked at BuyerZone.com, an online marketplace for small to mid-sized business purchasing, as a Web Production Specialist/Site Developer. Her experience also includes account management for FamilyEducation.com. Diane holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management/Marketing from the University of Connecticut.

You can reach Diane at dblake@qualityinteractions.org or call (866)568-9918 x702.

Evelyn Barahona

Business Development Associate

Evelyn joined the Manhattan Cross Cultural Group in June 2011, as the Business Development Associate. Her primary role is to build client relationships, grow MCCG's business development strategy and implement the company's marketing plan.

Evelyn has worked in the investment industry over 7 years in sales and marketing. Her experience includes working in consultant communications at Barings, and consultant relations at Putnam Investments. Most recently, she worked in business development and relationship management for a social initiative called Get Konnected at CPC Global. Get Konnected promotes multicultural networking among Boston's community and business leaders. Evelyn is also involved with a number of community initiatives including the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA). Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), and The Art Connection. Evelyn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from Northeastern University.

You can reach Evelyn at ebarahona@qualityinteractions.org or call (866)568-9918 x705.

Ed Arocha

Coordinator - Business Operations and Sales

Ed Arocha joined Manhattan Cross Cultural Group in July, 2011. His primary responsibilities include managing the sales database, providing marketing and sales support as well as assisting in operations and account set up and management.

Ed worked for 6 years as general manager at Medical Interpreters of the North Shore, in Lynn Massachusetts, where he worked in business development, database and account management, IT and client relations. Previously, Ed was patient relations coordinator for the Geriatric Home Care team at Boston Medical Center. Ed holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and is pursuing a Masters in Industrial Organizational Psychology at Salem State University where he collaborated with the Development Office in their fundraising efforts.

You can reach Ed at earocha@qualityinteractions.org or call (866)568-9918 x706.