Atlas Research Senior Vice President Hilda R. Heady today announced her plans to retire at the end of December, capping a 50-year career as a widely-respected expert and advocate for rural health and the health and well-being of Veterans.
Ms. Heady will transition to the role of Senior Fellow, where she will continue to provide subject matter expertise on a limited basis to Atlas employees and clients.
“I want to thank my colleagues, partners, and clients for their support and encouragement,” said Ms. Heady. “It’s been a great run, but after 50 years in the workforce—including six at Atlas—I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family, especially my grandchildren, and puttering in my garden.”
“Hilda is beloved by her colleagues,” said Atlas President Mark H. Chichester. “She has been a critical contributor to the culture and success of the company, and she will be greatly missed. Working with her has been a privilege and joy. We look forward to celebrating her tremendous career as she prepares to enter the next chapter of her life.”
Ms. Heady has been a Senior Vice President at Atlas since 2010, developing and leading programs in homelessness, health workforce, rural Veterans, rural health care policy, and rural health services research. She led programs designed to improve the health and well-being of underserved populations, and she has been widely recognized for her work with rural women Veterans, efforts to improve hospice and palliative care, and homelessness prevention services for Veterans. Her work has included working with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health on diffusion of promising practices; supervising trainers and case managers working with homeless Veterans in the areas of supported employment, rapid re-housing, Housing First, and other evidence based practices; supporting the VA National Veterans Caregiver Training Program; leading a VA collaboration project with rural community health centers; and program evaluation of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) workforce networks. Throughout her career, she has secured and directed over $75 million in education, health, and human service grants and contracts from private foundations and state and federal agencies.
Before joining Atlas, Ms. Heady spent 42 years working in the fields of community organizing and development, health care policy and administration, women's health, workforce development, community-based health professions training, and working with Veterans. She formerly served as Associate Vice President for Rural Health at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, Executive Director of the West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships, and Program Director of the West Virginia Area Health Education Center. She was CEO of a 58-bed rural hospital and director of a birth center and provided content leadership on patient-centered care and cultural competence in these roles. She is also a former President of the National Rural Health Association and served there in many leadership positions.
Ms. Heady speaks nationally regarding cultural competence in health care and policy, rural values and culture, and rural Veterans' and health workforce issues. In 2010-11, she served as guest editor for the Rural Veterans special issue of the Journal for Rural Social Sciences. She focuses on the growing health problems of Veterans, particularly new Veterans returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her expertise on these issues has led to invitations to provide congressional testimony on numerous occasions. In 2008, she was appointed to the Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee charged with advising the VA Secretary.
She received the HRSA Associate Administrator's Award in 2005 for outstanding achievement in expanding community-based health professions training and the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award in Rural Health by the National Rural Health Association.
She and her husband, Dennis G. Zahradnik, a retired high school principal from Harrison County Schools in West Virginia, are the proud parents of a daughter, four sons, four daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren, all living in West Virginia.