WHITMAN-WALKER CLINIC STAFF BIOS

Donald Blanchon
Chief Executive Officer

Donald Blanchon began his tenure as CEO of Whitman-Walker Clinic on May 1, 2006. Before that, he spent nine years with Schaller Anderson, a national health care management and consulting firm that specializes in public-sector programs. During that time, he held positions of increasing authority, including CFO and CEO of Maryland Physicians Care, a $325 million multi-product health plan owned by four Maryland-based non-profit community health systems. From 2004 to 2006, Blanchon served as vice president for Medicaid and Medicare programs for Schaller Anderson.

Earlier in his career, Blanchon served as vice president for strategic planning for Health Services for Children with Special Needs, a specialty health plan in Washington, DC. He also spent five years as a budget examiner in the executive office of the president at the federal Office of Management and Budget.

Blanchon, a native of Foxborough, MA., holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin College and a master’s in public health and public affairs from Columbia University. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and their two children.

Daniel Bruner
Director of Legal Services

Daniel Bruner is director of Whitman-Walker Clinic’s legal services program, which offers information, counseling, legal representation and referrals people with HIV or other clients of the Clinic. The program’s lawyers, paralegals and volunteers help clients with such legal issues as securing health insurance, immigrating, applying for public benefits and fighting HIV discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

Before joining Whitman-Walker’s staff in 1995, Bruner was a partner at the Washington, DC, law firm of Spiegel & McDiarmid. While there, he was a Whitman-Walker volunteer attorney for five years and also worked on pro bono projects with the Pennsylvania AIDS Law Project and Lambda Legal. At Whitman-Walker, Bruner’s practice has concentrated on discrimination in employment and health care, insurance and employee benefits and privacy issues.   

Bruner received his law degree magna cum laude and a master’s in public policy from the University of Michigan. He did graduate work in philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also an associate adjunct professor of law at American University’s Washington College of Law, where he teaches public health law.

Bruner is a native of San Antonio, TX.

Dwaine Gasser
Site Director, Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center

Dwaine Gasser has been the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center site director since June 2006. Before that, he served a year as the Clinic’s behavioral health administrator

From 2003 to 2005, he worked at the Hospital for Sick Children, an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, and at Health Services for Children with Special Needs, which manages care and coordination of benefits for special needs children and adolescents, in Washington, DC.  

In the latter two posts, Gasser worked with credentialing of health care providers, presented credentialing files to both institutions’ administrations, assured compliance with Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards, and updated credentialing policies and procedures.

From 1984 to 2003, he worked at Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, where he held several positions, including vice president for professional services and vice president for support services. During his time at Columbia, he was responsible for medical office practices, professional and support services departments and more than 200 employees. His areas of expertise include budgeting, planning, credentialing, development and administration of policies and procedures, contracting, physician relations, business development, JCAHO accreditation and federal and state inspections.

A native of Washington, DC, he holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in health services administration from the George Washington University.

Steve Geishecker
Director of Behavioral Health and Social Services

Steve Geishecker was named director of behavioral health and social services in 2007 after a year as interim director. Before that, he was clinical program manager of mental health services, a post he held since 2004.

Geishecker has served Whitman-Walker in many capacities, beginning as a graduate student intern in case management in 1992. From 1995-1997, he provided home-based psychiatric social work for Visiting Nurse Service of New York. He returned to the clinic in 1997 and worked as a care coordinator in the access center for three years and as clinical program manager from 2001 to 2004. He assumed management of mental health services in 2004 and continued to provide direct client care through individual and group psychotherapy. He was honored by his colleagues with the Larry Medley Staff Award for Excellence in 2003. 

Geishecker is a native of Waldorf, MD, and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Salisbury State University and a master's degree in clinical social work from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Chip Lewis
Deputy Director of Communications

Chip Lewis has been a part of the Whitman-Walker Clinic communications structure since 1999 and serves as spokesman for the Clinic.

Before joining Whitman-Walker Clinic, he spent a year as press secretary for Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-IN., and three years as a program manager in the Energy Policy Division of the Indiana Department of Commerce. There, he developed press materials, oversaw the creation of department publications and administered a federally funded energy efficiency grant program for schools and hospitals.

A native of Indiana, he received a master’s degree in public relations and a bachelor’s degree in history, both from Ball State University.

Raymond C. Martins
Chief Medical Officer

Raymond Martins joined Whitman-Walker Clinic in February 2008 as Chief Medical Officer. Originally from Connecticut, he came to Washington, DC for medical school at The George Washington University where he completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine/Primary Care.  During that time, he had continuity clinics in many of the city’s community health centers including La Clinica Del Pueblo and Bread for the City. After completing a chief residency, Martins practiced HIV and general internal medicine at private practices in Washington, DC, and Arlington, VA, and remained active in teaching Georgetown and GWU medical students and residents.

ReGina Newkirk
Director of Development, Communications and Community Relations

ReGina Newkirk was named Director of Development in 2006. Before that, she served as the director of grants and corporate relations for the YMCA of metropolitan Washington. During her five-year tenure there, she oversaw all grant requests, grants management and corporate sponsorship proposals. She more than doubled the grant dollars raised in her first year and she increased federal funding by 500 percent. 

Earlier in her career, Newkirk worked as a fundraiser for the National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington and for the Carpetbag Theatre in Knoxville, TN. She began her professional career as the assistant vice president of community development at First American National Bank in Nashville, TN, where she created community education programs for low-income neighborhoods and helped non-profits secure government and corporate financing. She also served as assistant vice president of internal communications and was an integral part of developing a centralized employee communications system.

Newkirk was born in Fort Collins, CO, and raised in Nashville. She graduated with highest honors from New York University with a B.F.A. in dramatic writing. She received her master’s degree in communications from the University of Tennessee.