A Message from our CEO and Board Chair

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our VNS Health 2025 Benefit Gala! We’re excited to celebrate our two esteemed honorees, Hon. Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick (ret.), Of Counsel, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and Ramon Tallaj, MD, Founder and Chairman of the Board, SOMOS Community Care!

The theme of this year’s gala is Here When You Need Us. For 132 years, VNS Health has been here for vulnerable New Yorkers. Today, we continue to be here for those who need us, from the very young to the very old, here in New York City and across New York State.

We’re delighted to be presenting the 2025 Lillian D. Wald Award to Judge Ciparick and Dr. Tallaj. The award is named after the public health pioneer and founder of VNS Health and is presented each year in recognition of those who have made significant contributions to the health and welfare of others.

A former Senior Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals (New York State’s highest court) who has written ground-breaking decisions on many issues, Judge Ciparick has also served the public on dozens of boards, including 10 years as a VNS Health Board member. Throughout her career as a lawyer and her 34 years on the New York bench, she has striven to secure the elimination of racial and ethnic disparity in the court system, while paving the way for Latinos in New York and beyond.

Over the course of his 44-year medical career in the Dominican Republic and New York, Dr. Tallaj has championed initiatives focused on reducing health care disparities in low-income immigrant and minority communities. As the founder and chair of SOMOS Community Care, which began operations in 2015, he oversees more than 2,500 culturally diverse physicians who care for more than one million highly underserved patients in the New York City area.

Thank you, Judge Ciparick and Dr. Tallaj, for all that you’ve done to help the most vulnerable! Tonight, we celebrate you and the continuation of our mission.