Lt. Gov. McKee announces members of COVID-19 advisory group
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee, expected to take over as governor if Gina Raimondo is confirmed as President Joe Biden’s commerce secretary, on Wednesday unveiled the members of a 20-member panel that would advise him on the state’s continued response to the coronavirus pandemic, including vaccination efforts.
The COVID-19 Advisory Group includes medical professionals, lawmakers, municipal and community leaders, and others, and is co-chaired by Dr. John Stoukides, chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Roger Williams Medical Center, and Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, a nurse.
“We want to make sure we are leveraging all the talent we have in our state, so that Rhode Island’s families can reunite, children can return to school, and small business owners can return to normal,” McKee said in a written statement. “That’s why we brought together this group of experts, who will work closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health staff to help the state achieve a swift vaccine rollout.”
The other members are Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health; Hemi Tewarson, senior fellow at Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy; Dr. Mike Magee, a former Pfizer executive; Dr. John Morton; Maj. Gen. Christopher Callahan, adjutant general of the Rhode Island National Guard; James Tierney, Narragansett’s town manager; Michael Nina, of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island; James Cunha, Barrington’s town manager; Dola Adesina, a nurse; Frank Picozzi, mayor of Warwick; Lynne Urbani, House of Representatives policy director; Democratic state Sen. Bridget Valverde; Jamie Hainsworth, Jamestown’s town administrator; Robert Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association Rhode Island; Channavy Chhay, executive director of the Center for Southeast Asians; Joseph Andriole, president of the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters; Roberto DaSilva, mayor of East Providence; and M. Teresa Paiva Weed, president of the Rhode Island Hospital Association and former state senator.
