About Our Board

BOARD PRESIDENT: KEVIN J. EICHHOM, MD – Dr. Eichhom is an internal medicine and pediatric hospitalist at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Originally from Valparaiso, Indiana, he attended medical school and completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Indiana University. He holds positions on a number of quality improvement and patient safety committees at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, and his professional interests include public health, health care resource utilization and process improvement. He and his wife, Julie, adopted their son, George Tsedeke Eichhom, from Ethiopia in August 2007.

OTHER BOARD MEMBERS:

LAURA BAH, RN – Laura Bah is a registered nurse at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. She has an associate's degree in Nursing from Madison Area Technical College. She also has a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of Wisconsin, and has worked in fundraising for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

ATSEDE M. (EMUYE) ASFAW – Atsede Asfaw is the administrative officer of the Academic Personnel Office at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and formerly served as a counselor/personal supervisor in the Registrar’s Office there. Asfaw has earned degrees in African Studies (emphasis: economic development); public policy and administration; and business administration from Howard University (Washington, D.C.), UW-Madison, and Linfield College (Oregon) respectively. She has served on a number of committees at the UW, involving issues such as race awareness, sexual harassment and gender equity.

TAAVI McMAHON – Taavi McMahon graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991 with a degree in geography, Latin American studies, and a certificate in African studies. In 2002, he graduated from Seattle University Law School, Juris Doctor. He is a partner with Robertson Ohm & McMahon, and is also a partner in Coulee Region Bio-Fuels, which specializes in retrieving and refining vegetable oil. Taavi has traveled and lived in Africa and Latin America.

REV. JOHN-BRIAN PAPROCK – Rev. John-Brian Paprock is Priest- Vicar of Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Mission, which serves many Ethiopian families in the Madison area. He has served on many nonprofit boards and committees, including Annual Interfaith Awareness Week, Madison Urban Ministry, Association of Attending Clergy, Wisconsin Chaplain's Association, and WI-DOC Religious Practices Advisory Committee. He is director of Inroads Ministry, a hospital and hospice chaplain, a community organizer, a retreat leader, and an artist/photographer.

TERESA PENEGUY PAPROCK – Teresa Peneguy Paprock is the managing editor of Nursingmatters, as well as the editor of Neighbors and specialty/niche publications at Capital Newspapers in Madison, Wisconsin, publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal. She has been a professional journalist for 25 years and has also worked in marketing and public relations for non-profit agencies such as Easter Seals and the Energy Center of Wisconsin. Teresa also provides freelance writing, editing and marketing through her home-based business, words & stuff.

DESALEGN KASSA – Desalegn Kassa, CPA, is a tax analyst and president of Americare Staffing Services of Illinois, Inc., in Chicago. He became a mortgage broker in 2007, after having earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting at Savanna State University, Savannah, Georgia, and a Master of Taxation at the Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio. He also has a bachelor of arts in Ethiopian languages and literature from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Desalegn started and runs Americare Staffing, having developed all the goals, policies and procedures of the company, supervised day-to-day activities and supervising the hiring of employees. He lives in the Chicago area.

MARIBETH M. BRUNSELL RN, MHA, MSN - Maribeth has been a registered nurse for 32 years. She is currently a Clinical Manager with Dean Health Systems in Madison, Wisconsin. In this position she manages and oversees the daily operations of an large Internal Medicine department. Maribeth has earned Master's Degress in both Nursing and Healthcare Administration. She holds positions on many committees at Dean Clinic; involving process improvement, resource utilization, influenza vaccine utilization and administration, and frontline clinical concerns. Maribeth has traveled to Africa and sponsors a child in Arusha, Tanzania.

KATHI KOPPA – Kathi Koppa graduated from UW-Madison with a Master’s degree in Education and a teaching certificate in English as a Second Language (ESL). She taught ESL for 14 years, her most rewarding job being associate professor at Abbi Adi Teacher Training College in Ethiopia. During her graduate school career, she wrote a thesis entitled, “Negotiating Language and Cultural Identity in Northern Ethiopia” and a presentation, “Ethiopia: Debunking Myths and Stereotypes.” Currently Kathi works in the marketing department at Rowland Reading Foundation, a nonprofit educational publishing organization whose mission is teaching children to read. Kathi lives in Madison, WI with her Ethiopian-born husband Daniel and their son, Gabriel