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CURRICULUM VITAEVitka L. Eisen, MSW, EdD1094 Euclid Ave.Berkeley, CA 94708(H) 510/486-0996(W) 415/762-1558(cell) 415/652-3547(Email) veisen@healthRIGHT360.orgEducation:Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ed. D.— Learning & Teaching, June 2002San Francisco State University. M.S.W.— Program Planning & Administration, May 1993Antioch University. B.A.— Liberal Studies/Social Science, May 1990Professional Experience:2010-presentHealthRIGHT 360, S.F., CAChief Executive Officer2008San Francisco State University, School of Social Work, S.F., CALecturer2006 - 2010Walden House, Inc., S.F., CAChief Operating Officer2004-2006Walden House, Inc., S.F., CAManaging Director, Criminal Justice Programs2001-2004Walden House, Inc., S.F., CAAssociate Director, Criminal Justice Programs1999-2001Walden House/California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility & State Prison,Corcoran, CAProgram Director1998-1999Youth Opportunities Upheld, Worcester, MADirector of Education, Employment, & Training1995-1998Spectrum Health Systems-Suffolk County House of Correction, Boston, MACounselor/Educator1987-1993Walden House, Inc., San Francisco, CADirector of Human Resources -- 1992-1993Director of Education –1990-1992School Coordinator –1988-1990School Counselor –1987-1988
EISEN CV4/21/2016Page 2 of 3Teaching ExperienceSan Francisco State University, SFGraduate School of Social WorkLecturer, Spring 2008University of California, Los AngelesExtension Program: Innovations in Substance Abuse TreatmentPresenter: June 2001.University of California, San Diego, CAUCSD Summer Clinical Institute Lecturer: Behavior Shaping within In-custodyTherapeutic Communities, August 7, 2000.Porterville Community College, Porterville, CAInstructor: Introduction to Alcoholism and Addiction, Spring 2000; Summer 2000,Fall 2000.Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.Teaching Fellow: Psychology of Girls and Women, Fall, 1997.Teaching Fellow: Qualitative Research Methods, Fall, 1994Walden House, Inc., San Francisco, CAAdult Basic Education Teacher, 1985-1986Research Experience:Dissertation Research, Harvard Graduate School of EducationTalking About Sex: The Regulation of Sexuality and Gender within an AdolescentTreatment Program, Spring 1998 to Spring 2002Individual Research, Harvard Graduate School of EducationRelapse and Recidivism Amongst Incarcerated Women, Fall, 1997Research Assistant, San Francisco State UniversityDomestic Violence and Help-seeking Behavior in Lesbian Relationships, Fall 1992.Master’s Degree Research, San Francisco State UniversityWomen’s Experiences within Residential Drug Treatment, Fall 1992-Spring 1993.Professional Presentations:Eisen, V. & Valdes, A. Medication Assisted Treatment Workshop. Council of CommunityClinics 6th Annual Integration Summit. San Diego, CA. December 2015.Eisen, V., Chau, C., Clark, H., Mark, T., & Pating, D. Plenary Panel: Navigating a ChangingHealthcare Landscape: Perceptions from the Field on Addiction Health Services.Addiction Health Services Research Conference. Marina Del Rey, CA. October2015.Eisen, V., Senella, A., Bond, K., & Judd, P. CA Provider Panel. California Behavioral HealthPolicy Forum: Whole Person Care: Making the Vision a Reality. San Diego, CA.October 2015.Eisen, V. and Oss, M. How To Successfully Launch A New Service Line & Diversify YourRevenue Streams Presentation. Open Minds Conference. San Diego, CA. August2015.
EISEN CV4/21/2016Page 3 of 3Eisen, V., Castellano-Garcia, C., Renfree., T, & Clark, W. California Perspectives on Policy,Practice, and Opportunities for Transformation in Integrated Primary Care,Substance Use and Addiction Services. California Health Care Foundation ThirdAnnual Innovations Summit on Integrated Care. Sacramento, CA. June 2015.Eisen, V., Amsland, S., Oldhman, R., Reilly, C., Integrated Care In Practice: How PrimaryCare Practices & FQHCs Are Providing Mental Health Services & Integrated CareDelivery. Open Minds Conference. San Diego, CA. August 2014.Eisen, V. Challenges and Opportunities in Providing Behavioral Health Care Services underthe Affordable Care Act and Parity. 2nd Annual David E. Smith, MD Symposium:Advances in Addiction Medicine and Recovery, San Francisco, CA. June 2014.Eisen, V. Providing Integrated Care in the Era of Health Care Reform and Parity. David ESmith Symposium: Medicalization of Addiction Tx in the Era of Healthcare Reformand Parity, San Francisco, CA, June 2013.Current Professional Activities:Member, Board of Directors, California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies,2014 to present; Chair of Substance Use Disorder Committee, November 2014 topresentMember, Director’s Stakeholder Advisory Group, CDCR Division of Rehabilitation,October 2013 to presentMember, Board of Directors, Treatment Communities of America, April 2013 to presentMember, Board of Directors, San Francisco Community Clinics ConsortiumJuly 2011 to present; Treasurer, July 2013 to presentMember, Board of Directors, California Association of Alcohol and Drug ProgramExecutives, 2010 to presentMember, Steering Committee of the San Francisco Human Services Network, 2006 topresentProfessional Memberships:National Association of Community Health CentersProfessional AccomplishmentsFinalist for San Francisco Chronicle’s Visionary of the Year Award, 2016San Francisco State University Alumni Hall of Fame, 2011
Recovered heroin addict goes full circle to serve huge communityBy Victoria Colliver January 30, 2016previous year, she had been named the first and onlyWalden House graduate to serve as its chief executiveofficer.Under her leadership, the new organization has expandedits depth and range of services for underserved people,taking under its umbrella other health organizations in theBay Area and throughout California. HealthRight 360 offersprimary care, mental health and substance abuse servicesusing programs sensitive to its patients’ languages,ethnicities, genders, sexual identities and cultures.Insider’s perspectiveBarbara Garcia, director of health at the San FranciscoDepartment of Public Health, described Eisen’s leadershipas “rooted in her commitment to communities that faceprofound prejudice and stigma.”“She knows that those suffering from mental illness andaddiction can recover and live healthy lives. It is this visionthat drives her every day,” Garcia said.Photo: Peter DaSilva, Special To The ChronicleThe personal struggles that brought Eisen to Walden Housegive her credibility, said journalist, author and broadcasterBen Fong-Torres, who nominated Eisen for the Visionaryaward.Three decades ago, Vitka Eisen was a heroin addict, but sheknew from the start she needed to find a way to quit.“I just wasn’t very good at it,” she said. “Even though I wascompletely hooked on heroin, I spent the whole timethinking I’ve got to get off of this.”“She’s not some outside recruited talent who has come in torun this health organization,” Fong-Torres said. “Shebenefited from the early version of Walden House and iscommitted to doing for others what has been done forher.”Her decision to finally kick the habit for good turned herlife in a direction she probably didn’t anticipate and provedfortuitous for a large underserved community of people inneed of substance abuse, medical and mental healthintervention.Eisen’s history doesn’t entirely define her, but it makes for acompelling backstory.It led her to Walden House, a longtime residential treatmentcenter in San Francisco where she entered theorganization’s two year treatment program, completing it in1987.A self-described middleclass Jew from the Bronx, Eisendabbled early in marijuana and prescription drugs. Shemanaged to maintain high enough grades to go to collegebut eventually graduated to using heroin and dropped out.After finding her way to San Francisco, she tried seventimes to overcome her heroin addiction before landing atWalden House.Today, Eisen, who is a finalist for The Chronicle’s secondannual Visionary of the Year award, leads HealthRight 360,a nonprofit health provider created in 2011 by a merger ofWalden House and the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic. The1
Free from her addiction, Eisen finished her undergraduatedegree at New College and then attended San FranciscoState University, where she received her master’s degree insocial work. Encouraged by a professor there, she appliedto Harvard to get a doctorate in education and surprisedherself by getting in. Before she could complete herdissertation, Walden House recruited her to run one of itsprograms, and, in 2010, she was named its chief executiveofficer.Growing need for servicesBut demand for HealthRight 360’s services continues toincrease, she said. “Over the years, our clients are sicker,they have many more complex health challenges, more cooccurring mental health conditions and fewer resources,”she said.Eisen, 56, is married to Rachel Sing, whom she met as agraduate student at Harvard, and the two are raising threechildren in Berkeley.Overseeing growthIt’s been decades since she recovered from her addiction,but her experience still helps her to see beyond thesubstance abuse or the mental health issues of the peoplewho come to her clinics.Under her leadership, HealthRight 360 has nearly doubledits annual budget and now serves more than 27,000 peoplea year. It has acquired organizations in the Bay Area andother parts of California, particularly those in financialdistress or struggling under administrative burdens.“They’re somebody’s child. They’re somebody’s mother,”she said. “When we look at them . we see the person theywere before.”Eisen, 56, visibly bristles when people, even in jest, refer tothe organization as an “empire,” but acknowledges that hervision all along has been to expand HealthRight 360’sservices.Visionary of the Year awardThis is one of eight profiles of nominees for TheChronicle’s second annual Visionary of the Year award,which is presented in collaboration with St. Mary’s College’sSchool of Economics and Business Administration. Thehonor salutes leaders who strive to make the world a betterplace and drive social and economic change by employingnew, innovative business models and practices. The eightfinalists were nominated by a distinguished committee thatincluded Evan Marwell, CEO and cofounder of thenonprofit group Education SuperHighway; Pam Baer,founder and CEO of For Goodness Sake, a nonprofitfoundation that created an ecommerce site to connectconsumers with curated brands and nonprofits; RonConway, an angel investor and philanthropist; Ben FongTorres, a noted rock journalist, author and broadcaster;Pamela Joyner, founder of the strategic marketingconsulting company Avid Partners LLC; Zhan Li, dean ofSt. Mary's School of Economics and BusinessAdministration; and John Diaz, The Chronicle’s editorialpage editor. Chronicle Publisher Jeff Johnson, Editor inChief Audrey Cooper and Diaz will select the winner, whowill be announced during a March 29 ceremony.Its programs include Asian American Recovery Services,which operates in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Claracounties; Women’s Recovery Association in San Mateo;North County Serenity House in San Diego County; SanFrancisco’s Lyon-Martin Health Services, which specializesin providing health care to women and transgender people;and Rock Medicine, which has been providing care at musicevents in Northern California for four decades.HealthRight 360 also offers treatment to inmates at threestate prisons and last year agreed to operate Glide’s healthclinic, now renamed Tenderloin Health Services.The organization plans next year to move its primary care,mental health and substance abuse services into a five-story50,000-square-foot building it purchased at 1563 Mission St.Lyon-Martin Health Services will move into HealthRight360’s current leased 34,000-square-foot building just twoblocks away.Eisen credited the Affordable Care Act with helping tofinancially stabilize the organization’s clinics by expandingMedicaid programs to poor people, often single men withno dependents, who previously could not qualify forbenefits.To read more, go to www.sfgate.com/visionsf. 2016 Hearst Communications, Inc.“Overnight, the percentage of clients who had a source ofpayment for medical services went from 10 percent to 80percent,” she said.2
Vitka L. Eisen, MSW, EdD 1094 Euclid Ave. Berkeley, CA 94708 (H) 510/486-0996 (W) 415/762-1558 (cell) 415/652-3547 (Email) veisen@healthRIGHT360.org Education: Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ed. D.— Learning & Teaching, June 2002 San Francisco State University. M.S.W.— Program Planning & Admi
