Lisa Maldonado, MA, MPH
Executive Director
Lisa Maldonado has devoted her career to working on reproductive health issues, especially as they affect women, adolescents and immigrants. She has worked with large family planning programs in Latin America and Africa and, for over 10 years, worked with local New York City primary care clinics providing health care to Latino women and adolescents. She is active within the American Public Health Association, currently serving as co-chair of the Association’s Abortion Task Force and as a Governing Councilor for the Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health section. Lisa was one of the original founders of the Reproductive Health Access Project and has served as the organization’s Executive Director since 2005. She graduated from the University of Miami in 1985, received a Masters in Economics from the University of Michigan in 1988 and a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University in 1995.
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Linda Prine, MD
Medical Director
Linda Prine is a family practitioner on the faculty of the Beth Israel Residency Program in Urban Family Practice. Dr. Prine also works per diem for Planned Parenthood, New York City as an abortion provider and as a trainer to other family medicine faculty and residents. She graduated from Cornell University Medical College in 1987 and completed her residency training at Montefiore Medical Center's Residency Program in Social Medicine in 1990. She completed a faculty development fellowship at the Institute for Urban Family Health and a mini-fellowship in Reproductive Health at Rochester University Department of Family Medicine. She is board certified in family medicine
Dr. Prine has presented at numerous grand rounds around the country, at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and American Public Health Association conferences, and American Academy Family Physician meetings on topics in Women's Reproductive Health. She has published numerous academic articles and research papers on women's reproductive health. Prior to coming to Beth Israel in 1994, she worked in Boston as a family physician at two urban community health centers – one in Dorchester and one in East Somerville. She is currently the President of the New York County chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is one of the founders of the Reproductive Health Access Project.
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Ruth Lesnewski, MD
Education Director
Ruth Lesnewski graduated from the medical school at the University of California, San Francisco in 1987 and completed her residency in family medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in 1990. She is a Board Certified Family Physician. Currently, Ruth works both as an attending physician at Beth Israel Residency Program in Urban Family Practice and as medical director of East 13th Street Family Practice in Manhattan. Dr. Lesnewski has collaborated on multiple women’s health research projects and has presented at grand rounds around the country, at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and American Academy of Family Physician meetings. She is also active in the Clinical Director’s Network. She has worked with them to provide training to community health center staff on integrating evidenced based reproductive health services. Dr. Lesnewski is one of the founders of the Reproductive Health Access Project.
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Susan Yanow, MSW
Organizing Consultant
Susan Yanow
graduated from Social Work School at Boston College in 1977. Susan is a founder of the Abortion Access Project and from 1992 – 2006 served as AAP’s Executive Director and Director. Susan has strong organizing skills, in-depth knowledge of the issues facing primary care providers who want to provide comprehensive reproductive health care and an extensive network of national contacts that can be called upon to support the efforts of this project. Her work is fueled by her passion to ensure that every woman has access to an abortion when she needs one. She was a RHAP Advisory Board member from 2005-2006 and joined RHAP as a consultant in January 2007.
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Rosann Mariappuram
Program Assistant
Rosann Mariappuram is a graduate of New York University, where she studied political science and philosophy. During college Rosann interned at Human Rights Watch where she advocated for victims of sexual assault. That experience helped her develop a passion for protecting women's rights and access to reproductive health care. Rosann hopes to one day pursue a career in public interest law. She is proud to be part of the Reproductive Health Access Project and support its critical mission of increasing access to quality reproductive health care for all.
