Board of Directors

Rick is one of the founders of Medical Aid to Haiti and the President. In 2009, Rick went on a medical mission as a volunteer for an organization that was providing much-needed healthcare to communities whose people rarely received organized care. Like most first-time visitors to Haiti, he experienced sensory overload shortly after his arrival there. The poverty, overcrowding, noise, filth – even the smell – all contributed to what he sums up as desperation. Rick’s role, as the sole non-medical person the team, was to help organize the clinics that they conducted at various sites in and around Port-au-Prince.

The trip was arranged on a shoestring budget, yet they were able to provide basic healthcare services, including medication, to more than 500 people during that week. Rick left for home with the uneasy knowledge that the patients we had treated, and the sites our clinic visited, would have to do without medical attention until we returned. Their need fueled Rick’s desire to do more, and it gave birth to Medical Aid To Haiti, Inc. (MATH).

Rick graduated from St. Michael’s College, in Vermont, with a B.A. in Business Administration, and where he met his future wife, Eileen. Upon graduation in 1981, he was self-employed and owned multiple businesses until his retirement in 2019.  Rick and his wife live in West Hartford, CT, and have two grown daughters.

Anne first visited Haiti in 2014 and saw the dire living conditions and lack of basic medical care available to the people of Port-au-Prince. Although non-medical, she joined the MATH Board and brings organizational and problem-solving skills in hopes of contributing to the board’s mission of helping Haitians heal Haitians.

Anne graduated from the University of Hartford with a BS in Electronics Engineering Technology and Rensselaer at Hartford with an MS in Metallurgy. She spent 39 years in the aerospace industry and travelled extensively to places around the globe.

She also is a member on the Board of the Haitian Humanitarian Network, which supports a small medical clinic in Beaulieu, Haiti. In her retirement, she is on the Institutional Review Board for patient advocacy in research projects at Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center in Hartford, CT, and volunteers at Saint Francis and Mercy High School in Middletown, CT, her alma mater. She resides in Hartford and is proud to be Nana to five wonderful grandchildren in her extended family and aunt to several nieces and nephews.

John is Managing Partner of Arcade Partners, LLC, a private equity firm. During his more than 20 years of private equity experience, he has funded and closed numerous acquisitions of companies in industries including forest products, energy, health care, industrial manufacturing, service and distribution. He is a Director of KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp., an NYSE-listed company for which he was one of five founders. Mr. Chapman is a graduate of Bates College and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.

Mr. Chapman has a long history of charitable involvement. For more than 10 years he was a director, and for two years was a Vice Chairman, of the PKD Foundation, an international charitable organization devoted to finding treatments and a cure for Polycystic Kidney Disease. He has been a board member and its Treasurer for a number of years.

John is an avid skier and golfer and enjoys spending time with his wife, Lorri, and their three children.

With degrees in economics and modern letters, Pierre M. Antoine is President of the Board of Hôpital de la Communauté Dame-Marienne, the community hospital in the remote agricultural and fishing village of Dame-Marie, and a firm advocate for the people and the town.  This community health project was established in 1989 following the signing of an agreement between the Haitian Ministry of Health and Association d’Entraide de Dame Mariens (AEADMA), a  community development organization in Dame-Marie.  Pierre also provides for the welcome and safety of the MATH surgical mission teams, who stay in his boyhood home during their week of service.

The Antoine family has lived in Dame-Marie for generations, and Pierre and his six sisters remain closely related to their community through involvement in Fondation Antoine, the family foundation, and AEADMA.   While Fondation Antoine is primarily organized to provide educational and medical services to the population of approximately 50,000, the goal is also to break the vicious cycle of chronic under-development in this remote area. 

He, and his wife, Bérangère, have 3 children, Anne-Christele, Jean Luc, and Stephann and live in Port-au-Prince, where he recently retired from his construction company.

Shortly after the 2010 catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, Dr. Michael Bourque’s medical missionary team from International Medical Missions was invited to the village of Dame-Marie, a remote community on Haiti’s far west coast in need of help following a series of devastating hurricanes. Dr. Bourque, a senior OB/GYN at Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center in Hartford, CT, led his team to restore a small operating room to working order in a 16-bed hospital building.

Dr. Bourque’s ongoing missions, backed by St. Francis, include surgical and medical teams, pediatrics, obstetrics and primary care. He brings vast medical international mission expertise to Medical Aid to Haiti and has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for his service and dedication to the poor.

Dr. Bourque is an Associate Clinical Professor at UCONN Medical School. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Farmington, CT where they have raised four children and many golden retrievers.

Victor practices Law in Simsbury, CT at Dowling & Dowling. He is involved at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford as a Corporator and is a member of the Board of the St. Francis Foundation. Victor volunteers as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Francis Hospital, as well as at St. Timothy’s Church in West Hartford. Victor is on the Board of The Malta House of Care in Hartford and chairs the Nominating and Governance Committee, as well as assisting in the Malta Food Pantry. He is a Founding member of the Hartford area chapter of Legatus, a Catholic Business organization. He currently serves as Treasurer of both Knights of Columbus and Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Victor is an avid runner, skier and scuba diver. He and his wife, Jody, reside in West Hartford, CT in the same home where they raised their four children.

Jerry Galipeau received a doctorate in liturgical studies from Catholic Theological Union at Chicago and is recognized as a leader nationally and internationally in the fields of Christian initiation, spirituality, adult faith formation, and evangelization.  He is currently Executive Director of Mission Integration at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center / Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital.

Jerry is an accomplished pianist and enjoys hiking, gardening, and roaming his wooded property in Amston, CT.

Dr. Gorin attended the University of Notre Dame for undergraduate training and received his medical degree in 1972 from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his training in the pediatric residency program at Connecticut before moving to Maine and opening his own private practice, where he served for fifteen years. In 1990, Tom returned to Connecticut to work at the UCONN Student Health Service and four years later returned to private practice, joining Mansfield Pediatrics in Mansfield, CT, where he continues to practice today.

Dr. Gorin started travelling to Haiti 1992 as a member of the Haiti Committee at St. Thomas Aquinas in Storrs, CT. Impressed with the spirit of the people he became a member of the Board of Haitian Ministries for the Norwich Diocese where he served for several years. It was from there that a small Saturday morning clinic at the Norwich Mission House in Port-au-Prince led to medical mission trips sponsored by Haitian Ministries and then later inspired the creation of MATH. Dr. Gorin is also a member on the Board of the Haitian Humanitarian Network, which built and supports a small medical clinic on the south coast of Haiti, and continues to work with Friends of l’École AGAPÊ aiding a Haitian elementary school and providing for those who cannot afford public education.

He lives with his wife, Ginnie, in Storrs, CT, where two of their three children and three grandchildren also reside. Tom enjoys following his grandsons to their soccer and hockey games, as well as being a UCONN Husky fan.

Maggie recalls the specific moment at the age of 14 when the future as a Peace Corps volunteer (or nun) working in Africa flashed before her eyes. Years later and working as a nurse, an invitation to visit Haiti from her parish priest during mass connected with her 14 year old inner self, and her husband of 18 years leaned over and said, “You ARE going, aren’t you?,” and she said, “Yes, of course”.

That first visit, although terrifying, was the start of almost 20 years of service to the people of Haiti. Her favorite days now are when she is doing something related to our medical work in Haiti and has no qualms about extending an invitation for others to join. “I believe it is not my invitation, but God’s, and I meet a kindred spirit when someone says yes as if they were just waiting to be asked.”

Maggie is a registered nurse working in the Emergency Department at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, CT. She graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Nursing.

Ms. Musilli is an attorney. She is a graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University and Fordham School of Law. She has spent many years working for prominent law firms in New York and Boston.

Giuliana is very philanthropic and is involved in many charitable organizations. She is the Recent Past President of the Renbrook School Parent Organization and the Parent Admission Network Liaison. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford (CT) and the Greater Hartford Larrabee Fund Association, and the Task Force Chairperson for the Goodwin Estate Development Task Force. Ms. Musilli is fluent in French and Italian.

Dr. Parekh attended the University of Connecticut earning a B.S. in Physiology and Neurobiology and received his medical degree with Highest Honors from Ross University School of Medicine in 2003. He completed his residency training in Family Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center through the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Dr. Parekh is a staff physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center, Medical Director of CVS MinuteClinic (CVS Health) in Connecticut, and is a medical consultant to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

In addition, to his patient care and staff supervisory roles, he has academic appointments as an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Quinnipiac University School of Medicine, and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Dr. Parekh provided direct patient care and management of a mobile medical unit for Hurricane Katrina victims through Heart to Heart International in 2006, and made his first trip to Haiti with MATH in 2014 working alongside the Haitian mobile clinic team.

He lives with his wife, Ashka, and two children, Sohan and Aavni, in Glastonbury, CT.

Vicki Veltri is results-oriented with a successful record of accomplishments in healthcare policy administration and execution.   She earned her Juris Doctor from Western New England College School of Law, and Masters of Laws from New York University School of Law.

Vicki is Executive Director, State of Connecticut, Office of Health Strategy, overseeing the Office’s mission “to implement comprehensive, data-driven strategies that promote equal access to high quality health care, control costs, and ensure better health for the people of Connecticut.”  She is a member of the Board of Directors on the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange (d/b/a Access Health CT), and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Connecticut Partners for Health.

Vicki has extensive legal experience in health care advocacy and in legislative policy and lectures frequently at colleges, universities and conferences on health reform and Connecticut healthcare initiatives.  She has been a skillful healthcare advocate for over 25 years and brings analytical, organizational, interpersonal, supervisory, and verbal and written communication skills.

She lives in Colchester, CT.

Dr. Wilkens says, “I have fully embarked, body and soul in this project because I am convinced that positive things are still possible for young fighters in this country.”  In fulfillment of a dream, Dr. Wilkens founded Centre Medico-Chirurgical du Quartier (CMCQ) and Karavan Lasante (KL), the neighborhood and mobile clinic operations in Port-au-Prince, in 2012 with the mission to help his fellow Haitians care for themselves, to fight against certain diseases and to recover their health, which he believes is a fundamental right.

In addition to his responsibilities as Medical Director for CMCQ and KL, Dr. WIlkens is a skilled surgeon,  provides surgical services during week-long MATH surgical missions to Dame-Marie, provides surgical services one day a week at Hôpital Communautaire de Bon Repos in Port-au-Prince; teaches at Université Lumière bringing knowledge, inspiration and experience to the next generation of medical personnel; and works daily to reduce the vulnerability of populations and influence the country’s health indicators by participating in prevention, caring for the sick, and making health promotion a reality in community life.

Dr. WIlkens received his medical degree from Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Université Lumiére, completed an internship and residency at Hôpital Justinien, and received his surgical training at Brooklyn Hospital Center.  Through a partnership between the University of Montreal and Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, he completed a Master’s degree in Health Services Management.

He is married to Sherly Pateau, a pediatrician, and they have a daughter, Lilia.  They recently moved from their home in Croix-des-Bouquets to Marlique and residing at the hospital.