Board

Michael Tarnoff, MD, FACS is President and Chief Executive Officer of Tufts Medical Center and Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston. He also continues to serve as Chair of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief, a post he accepted June 1, 2019. Dr. Tarnoff’s keen leadership and administrative skills, along with his history of clinical innovation and industry partnerships, has made him the perfect choice for the top position at the Tufts Medical Center, a founding member of the Wellforce health system.

Mike actually started his career as a Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgeon at Tufts MC in 2001 after completing his residency at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and his Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. Over the course of his early clinical career, he published more than 50 peer reviewed articles, chapters and text books in the areas of advanced minimally invasive surgery.

In 2008, Mike took on a leadership role in the medical device industry, serving as Corporate Chief Medical Officer and Vice-President for Medical Affairs for Covidien and most recently, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President Value-Based Healthcare Partnerships for Medtronic. Among his assignments – building and leading medical and regulatory affairs for Covidien and more recently incubating new business models for Medtronic as it contemplates its role in value-based healthcare.

Mike values the opportunity to lead the Department of Surgery, and now more broadly the Medical Center. Outside of work Mike enjoys spending time with his wife and their 5 kids with a real passion for anything outdoors and everything New England!

Born and raised in Malawi, Marie Da Silva worked as a nanny in the U.S. for nineteen years. During this time she lost many members of her family to the AIDS pandemic. In 2002 after realizing the school in her home village in Malawi was going to close and seeing firsthand the devastation AIDS had wrought in her home village, she founded the Jacaranda School for Orphans in her childhood home. For the next nine years, Marie supported the school financially by sending a third of her monthly salary to Malawi.

In 2008 Marie was recognized as Top Ten CNN Hero for her dedication to orphans in Malawi. Among many other awards received for her work, Marie also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the President of Malawi.

Today Marie spends most of her time in Malawi at the school and frequently travels abroad for fundraising and speaking engagements. Marie is married to Jacaranda’s Executive Director, Luc Deschamps.

Luc Deschamps was born and raised in France, where he graduated from CELSA Paris Sorbonne with a Masters Degree in Communication and Journalism. Luc lives in Malawi and since July 2007, he has been spearheading the growth of Jacaranda School for Orphans and the development of Jacaranda’s outreach programs, which include the construction of a community physiotherapy clinic - a program of home support and children homes construction - the creation of libraries for public primary schools and community centres - the construction of a vocational school and a preschool - the development of the Jacaranda college scholarships program - and the founding of Jacaranda Cultural Center in Blantyre. Luc leads the 120+ employees of Jacaranda Foundation.

Luc is also Honorary Consul of France in Malawi and organizes French linguistic and cultural cooperation activities in the country.

John Heilman is a law school professor at both Southwestern Law School and the University of Southern California Law School. Mr. Heilman earned his law degree at the University of Southern California, where he was Notes and Articles Editor of Southern California Law Review and the recipient of the Shattuck Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Law Center.

Mr. Heilman is also a prominent elected official, having served as Mayor and City Council member of West Hollywood since the city was incorporated in 1984. Professor Heilman has been an active member of the National League of Cities and has served on the board of both the National and California League of Cities. He is a past board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the Local Government Commission and is also past president of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Local Officials Group.

Rob Burke is a former mathematics teacher at Ridley College in Ontario, Canada and Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China. He has been supporting the Jacaranda School since 2008 in partnership with both Shanghai American School and Ridley College. Rob has now visited the school fifteen times with students, parents and teachers from both schools. Since 2008, he has fundraised for a science lab, a nurse’s clinic, a storage facility, classrooms, restrooms, renovations tostudent’s homes, and much more.

In 2016, he was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers by the Governor General of Canada for his work with The Jacaranda School and Habitat for Humanity. The photo is with Michaëlle Jean, Governor General for Canada 2005-2010.

Randi Malkin Steinberger is an American photographer and documentary filmmaker whose work has been shown worldwide. She sits on the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Randi was introduced to the Jacaranda Foundation by her son who met Marie Da Silva in 2006 when he was twelve years old after he heard her speak at his school. Since then, he and his family have visited the school in Malawi and they remain dedicated to supporting the work of the organization.

Nicole DeVault teaches French, Art and Ethics at the Alexander Robertson School in New York City. She holds an M.S. Ed., in Multi-Cultural education. A harpist and vocalist, Ms. DeVault enhances and supports her instruction with music and art to facilitate a multi-sensory approach in her teaching practice. She is the winner of the 2014 Blackboard Awards for teachers, in recognition of her outstanding work for New York City students. She is currently collaborating on writing and developing an inter-spiritual curriculum for children.

Heather Kun, MS PhD, is Executive Director of Fuck Cancer where she leads strategic programming to help prevent, detect and provide support to cancer patients and their families. She brings years of research, evaluation and health experience to the agency in order to better design programs with potential for impact in the cancer space. She is also principal and founder of HK Impact Advisors that partners with philanthropic, non‐profit and corporate clients to build strategy with maximum potential for impact.

Prior, Dr. Kun was Vice President of Research and Evaluation at the National Health Foundation (NHF) for over 6 years. She was responsible for overseeing the research and evaluation arm of the organization in addition to participating in development, operational and fundraising activities. She also oversaw all of the chronic disease prevention and management, patient safety, patient family centered care and other hospital/community clinic based programs.

Before working for NHF, Dr. Kun was an epidemic intelligence service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stationed in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Acute Communicable Disease Control Branch. She has also worked as a consultant for various private family foundations and has led and participated in multiple large-scale quantitative and qualitative research projects specifically centered on immigrant health.

Dr. Kun received her doctorate degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her dissertation work addressed health status and access to healthcare of farmworkers living along the eastern Mexico‐California border. Dr. Kun also holds an M.S. degree in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Sciences from Yale University.

John Staheli is a CPA and finance professional at the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group of Medtronic, a global healthcare solutions company.

John was introduced to Jacaranda in 2016 and was immediately inspired by the foundation’s mission and its impact on the children and communities of Malawi. In 2017 John became the Jacaranda Treasurer, bringing a background in strategic financial planning, project analysis and financial internal control processes.