Company
Valera Health was founded by a team of clinicians and psychiatrists, providing keen insight into the needs of our patients. Recognizing the tools needed to provide complete care, we’ve adopted a thoughtful approach to therapeutic and medical services. Our mission is driven by our need to provide high-quality telehealth services to our patients, making the process easy and accessible. Our telehealth outcomes are extremely positive, and we credit that to Valera’s complete care model, which focuses on prioritizing a patient’s overall mental health.
Through strategic planning and measured growth, we’ve expanded our network of insurers, accepting in-network benefits for millions of patients across the United States.
Our team consists of expert-level licensed clinicians, therapists, and psychiatrists. We take into consideration the needs of our patients, and have built a team of specialists with experience in a variety of areas.
Inclusive Clinical Programs 
We know that behavioral healthcare isn’t one-size-fits-all, and we’ve tailored our complete care model to meet the needs of the individual. We believe that no one should be excluded from receiving the care they need, and our diverse team reflects the change we bring to the space.
Mission-Driven 
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Our team consists of expert-level licensed clinicians, therapists, and psychiatrists. We take into consideration the needs of our patients, and have built a team of specialists with experience in a variety of areas.
Inclusive Clinical Programs
We know that behavioral healthcare isn’t one-size-fits-all, and we’ve tailored our complete care model to meet the needs of the individual. We believe that no one should be excluded from receiving the care they need, and our diverse team reflects the change we bring to the space.
Mission-Driven
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MEET OUR
Team
We’ve assembled a team of clinicians, technologists, and operational experts with the goal of redefining what the best virtual mental healthcare model with the highest quality and optimal access would look like. The result has attracted amazing provider and healthcare partners and delivered superb clinical outcomes.
Thomas Tsang | MD | MPH
CEO, Co-Founder
CEO, Co-Founder
Thomas Tsang
He was the former CMO at a Merck subsidiary focused on commercializing digital solutions. Prior to Merck, Tom was part of the team that developed the Affordable Care Act on the House Committee on Ways and Means and worked on the development of a national framework for the use of electronic health records as Medical Director at the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, HHS. He started his career as Chief Medical Officer working at Charles B. Wang, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving the immigrant Asian population in NYC and served on the Board of Health for NYC. He currently serves on several boards including BCBS Kansas City.Thomas Tsang | MD | MPH
CEO, Co-Founder
CEO, Co-Founder
Thomas Tsang
He was the former CMO at a Merck subsidiary focused on commercializing digital solutions. Prior to Merck, Tom was part of the team that developed the Affordable Care Act on the House Committee on Ways and Means and worked on the development of a national framework for the use of electronic health records as Medical Director at the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, HHS. He started his career as Chief Medical Officer working at Charles B. Wang, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving the immigrant Asian population in NYC and served on the Board of Health for NYC. He currently serves on several boards including BCBS Kansas City. Prashant Gharpure
CTO
CTO
Prashant Gharpure
As a Chief Technology Officer, Prashant Gharpure leads the execution of the company’s technology strategy and is responsible for the management of software development, informatics, and infrastructure operations. Prior to Valera Health, he served as the CTO at Phynd (acquired by symplr). With over 30 years of experience in software product architecture and development, Prashant helmed technology leadership and consultative positions at various startup companies. He currently lives in the Atlanta area and is a passionate wildlife photographer.Noam Shahaf
VP, Research and Development
VP, Research and Development
Noam Shahaf
Noam formerly served as Head of Technology and Strategy in an elite technology unit in the Israeli Defense Forces. He is passionate about building innovative people-centered products, and brings more than 10 years of experience managing projects in IT and mobile technology, cyber security and business research. Noam Tzur
Lead Developer
Lead Developer
Noam Tzur
Noam formerly worked as a Software Engineer at Quickode, VMWare and ORCAM. He received his B.S. in Computer Software Engineering from the Jerusalem College of Engineering.Michele McCleary | MBA
Director of Operations
Director of Operations
Michele McCleary
Michele has worked as the Regional Vice President at Elements Behavioral Health and Head of Operations & Expansion at Defining Wellness Centers.Sterling Elder
Director of Human Resources
Director of Human Resources
Sterling Elder
Sterling Elder most recently worked at Evolent Health. She brings a breadth of experience in human resource management, recruitment team leadership, and clinical recruiting. Alex Ferstenberg
Director of Finance
Director of Finance
Alex Ferstenberg
Alex Ferstenberg is a CPA with experience leading the Finance & Accounting functions at high-growth tech startups in the NYC area. Prior to that, he worked at PwC in their Alternative Investments division.Andrew Boyer
Director of Clinical Informatics
Director of Clinical Informatics
Andrew Boyer
Andrew is passionate about healthcare tech, privacy, interoperability, and improving the patient experience. At Epic he worked with healthcare organizations across the U.S. and Canada as a technical support engineer. As a consultant, he helped design, implement, and manage analytics initiatives and population health programs.Lauren Mills | LCSW
Director of New Markets
Director of New Markets
Lauren Mills
Lauren Mills began her career as a clinical social worker providing counseling to children and families in a community-based mental health program at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Lauren later became a Clinical Supervisor and oversaw operations of a Medicaid funded program for children and adolescents and owned a private psychotherapy practice. Through this work, Lauren became passionate about increasing access to mental health services through technology and joined AbleTo, where she helped develop and scale a telemental health program and national provider network serving thousands of patients as Clinical Director. Following AbleTo, Lauren joined Aetna and led new product development as the Strategy and Product Management Director for National Account Commercial Business. Lauren holds a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University and is currently pursuing an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Lauren lives outside Providence, RI with her husband and three year old daughter.
Daniel Ji
Director of Growth Marketing
Director of Growth Marketing
Daniel Ji
Daniel is a seasoned marketer with experience leading Marketing and User Acquisition functions at several different startups across eCommerce, Healthcare and Fintech business verticals.
Naomi Yau
Lead Product Manager
Lead Product Manager
Naomi Yau
Naomi is passionate about using technology to improve mental healthcare, accessibility and the patient experience. She believes in the interdisciplinary nature of creative problem-solving, reflected in her time incorporating music, fitness and social/mental health at Drums Alive. Prior to Valera, she worked at Kaiser Permanente, using her product and engineering background to drive virtual and digital care initiatives spanning several clinical specialties across the Southern California region.
Larry Ozowara | MD
Medical Director
Medical Director
Larry Ozowara
Larry Ozowara is a psychiatrist who specializes in the collaboration between inpatient and outpatient care. He attended Stanford Medical School, completed a residency in adult psychiatry at Columbia University and is a former Assistant Professor at NYU School of Medicine where he supervised and trained medical students, residents and fellows in psychiatry. He has extensive experience in working with patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and patients with serious and persistent mental illness. Dr. Ozowara directs Valera’s psychiatry program and HEDIS improvement program for healthplans and hospitals.
Faisal Khan | MD
Associate Medical Director
Associate Medical Director
Faisal Khan
Faisal is a psychiatrist and pediatrician specializing in integrated care. He completed a combined residency in adult psychiatry, child & adolescent psychiatry, and pediatrics at Columbia NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Faisal uses a recovery oriented, systems-based practice approach to navigate systems of care while working at various non-profit, community-based organizations in New York City.
Michael Cooper
Associate Medical Director
Associate Medical Director
Michael Cooper
Dr. Michael Cooper is a psychiatrist trained in both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. He completed his M.D. at Albert Einstein School of Medicine, his residency at NYU Langone Hospital and was faculty member at NYU School of Medicine, where he participated in novel clinical trials for psilocybin-assisted psychopharmacologic therapy for alcoholism. Dr. Cooper is strengthening Valera Health’s quality improvement program and new clinical trials program.
Alan Fong | LCSW
Clinical Director
Clinical Director
Alan Fong LCSW
Alan is a clinical social worker who works with children, adolescents, and adults. He has prior experience as Family Coordinator and Complex Trauma Program faculty member at Mount Sinai, therapist at the largest FQHC network for Asian-Americans, and clinical fellow at Yale School of Medicine. He specializes in trauma, anxiety, and mood disorders, with particular interest in supporting families of youth with behavioral health issues and co-occurring disorders.
Manna Chan | LCSW
Clinical Director, Inclusive Care
Clinical Director, Inclusive Care
Manna Chan
Manna Chan, LCSW served as the Director of Social Work and the Chair of Patient Relations at Charles B. Wang Community Health Center for 16 years.
Christine Rambert | LCSW
Associate Director, Inclusive Care
Associate Director, Inclusive Care
Christine Rambert
Christine Rambert has 10 years of clinical experience providing psychotherapeutic services to culturally diverse and bilingual populations from children to older adults. Bilingual in Spanish, Christine has worked collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams in various outpatient settings to deliver integrative behavioral health care. Christine has extensive training in therapeutic modalities which include CBT, DBT, ACT and TF-CBT. She earned an MA in Sociology/Anthropology from Northeastern University and a Masters in Social Work from NYU Silver School of Social Work. Christine is also a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) with Yoga Alliance.
Karina Tsareva | LCSW
Associate Clinical Director
Associate Clinical Director
Karina Tsareva
Karina has half a decade of experience in the mental health field. She has provided case management to people experiencing SMI, has integrated behavioral health care into two primary care practices, and is a certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. In her role within Valera Health, Karina is focused on expanding access to quality and inclusive mental health care while providing the resources, training, as well as support needed for Social Workers to thrive regardless of their level of experience.
Caitlin Cote | LCSW
Associate Clinical Director
Associate Clinical Director
Caitlin Cote
Caitlin uses a holistic and collaborative approach to address the emotional needs of each client to help them achieve their individual goals and improve overall well-being.
Sherese Ezelle | LCPC | LMHC
Associate Clinical Director
Associate Clinical Director
Sherese Ezelle
Sherese has over 10 years of clinical counseling experience. She strives to highlight holistic physical, emotional, and spiritual health. She believes in listening to strengths to support recovery and obtaining the best out of behavioral health services. Her mission is to support a mutual relationship in which the client and therapist seamlessly work together. She believes in the identification of behavioral healthcare goals utilizing all available resources as a team.
Victoria Johnson | MD
Associate Clinical Director
Associate Clinical Director
Victoria Johnson
Dr. Victoria Johnson, M.D. is a Georgia native now living in NYC with a passion for providing patient-centered, recovery-oriented care. She holds board certifications in both Adult Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and enjoys working with patients ranging from school age youth to young adulthood. Dr. Johnson received her medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta, GA) and completed her specialty training in Psychiatry at the University of Alabama- Birmingham (UAB) Medical Center and Columbia University. In her free time, Dr. Johnson enjoys spending time with her partner, exploring NYC’s hidden gems, reading, and traveling.
Sarah Randolph
Senior Program Manager
Senior Program Manager
Sarah Randolph
Sarah has over 15 years of experience in healthcare. She started her career as a Medical Assistant and worked closely with physicians in a variety of clinical settings. Prior to Valera, she worked for a rural hospital in Vermont as a clinical informaticist. She has an undergraduate degree in information technology and a masters degree in healthcare administration from Champlain College. She is passionate about technology in healthcare and providing patients with exceptional quality of care.Maya Dalack
Program Manager
Program Manager
Maya Dalack
Maya is passionate about making mental healthcare more equitable and accessible. Before Valera, she worked as a clinical research coordinator at Columbia University Medical Center. She received her BS in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience from the University of Michigan.
Adam Caccavale
Analytics Manager
Analytics Manager
Adam Caccavale
Adam is passionate about healthcare, wellness and its intersection with data and technology. He most recently worked in Analytics at Signify Health, championing their growth in multiple value-based care insurance programs. He is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, where he earned a B.A. in Public Health and Biology.
Julia Lega
Senior Associate, Operations
Senior Associate, Operations
Julia Lega
Julia is passionate about providing accessible and high-quality mental healthcare. Julia holds a BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University.Kourtney Sibley
Human Resources Coordinator
Human Resources Coordinator
Kourtney Sibley
Kourtney serves as an HR Coordinator for Valera Health. Kourtney brings over four years of HR and Recruiting experience to the Valera Team. Prior to joining Valera, Kourtney worked as an HR Generalist in the medical field & convenience store industry where she focused on Onboarding, Employee Relations, & Recruiting, with an emphasis on high level management & executive positions.
Veena Muthusamy | MD
Regional Manager
Regional Manager
Veena Muthusamy
Veena Muthusamy is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. She completed her adult psychiatry training at Northwell Health, her child and adolescent psychiatry training at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and a public psychiatry fellowship at Columbia University/NYSPI. Dr. Muthusamy believes in providing patient centered care using a trauma focused lens and recovery oriented approach. Through a systems based approach she helps her patients navigate the complex mental health system and address social determinants of health.
MEET OUR
Board of Directors
Valera Health is fortunate to have a board composed of national business-leaders, healthcare experts and VC partners who are guiding us to be a high-performing scalable mission-based company.
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Manish Agarwal
Manish Agarwal
Mr. Agarwal joined AXA Venture Partners in 2015 and focuses on early stage investments, based in New York. He led AVP’s US and Israeli early stage investments including PG, Limelight, Mindoula and K4Connect. Prior to AVP, Manish held a number of investing, operational and strategic roles. Most recently, he was the Head of Financial Protection for Equitable, responsible for the company’s life insurance business.Manish started his career at McKinsey & Co. where he led client teams in engagements across strategy, corporate finance and operations & technology.
Ofer Sharon
Ofer Sharon
Ofer Sharon, MD is the CEO of OncoHost Ltd. a clinical stage precision oncology company combining blood based proteomic analysis and powerful machine learning tools in order to predict response to immunotherapy and provide clinicians with potential combinations strategies to overcome treatment resistance and improve patient outcomes.Dr. Sharon is a physician and entrepreneur with close to 20 years of experience in clinical and commercial product development for startups in the health tech, biotech, and medical device industries. Ofer is the co-founder and President of Valera Health a commercial stage US-Israeli startup company developing a digital platform for payers and providers for severe mental illness serving more than 4 million patients in the US. Prior to joining Oncohost, he served multiple roles in global pharmaceutical companies including Medical Director for AstraZeneca (Israel), new technologies scout for Medimmune and Medical Director for MSD (Israel). He co-founded several healthcare companies, mainly focusing on bioinformatic and machine learning platforms for clinical deterioration detection and early intervention.
James Nahirny
James Nahirny
Mr. Nahirny was the Managing Director of Bain Capital Ventures and past chairman of the New England Venture Capital Association and Managing Partner of Leerink Capital Partners. Mr. Nahirny was a former partner at McKinsey consulting and is the Founder, Managing Partner of Alsora Capital. James Nahirny serves on several community and industry boards, including Children’s Hospital Boston Board of Overseers, New England Venture Capital Association, and Yale Entrepreneurial Society.
Tom Insel
Tom Insel
Thomas R. lnsel, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology. From 2002-2015, Dr. Insel served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). More recently (2015 – 2017), he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) in South San Francisco, CA. In 2017 he co-founded Mindstrong Health, a Silicon Valley start-up building tools for people with serious mental illness. In 2020, he co-founded Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery. Since May of 2019, he has been a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Chair of the Board of the Steinberg Institute in Sacramento, California. Dr. Insel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous national and international awards including honorary degrees in the U.S. and Europe.
Arick Rynearson
Arick Rynearson
Arick Rynearson joined The Whittemore Company (TWC) in 2007 with a focus alternative investments, including early stage investing. A serial entrepreneur with deep background in finance, operations and strategy, Arick represents TWC in a number of early stage investments, including several in the health tech space.
Keith Schraad
Keith Schraad
Keith Schraad is Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. Prior to joining AZBlue, Keith was Director of the Arizona Department of Insurance and served as Vice Chair of the NAIC’s Innovation and Technology Committee. Prior to that, Keith worked with several technology startup companies and formerly served as a State Senator in Kansas.
Adam Fine
Adam Fine
Adam Fine is a co-founder and CEO of Windham Venture Partners. Adam is currently Director at Coravin, GlySens, CuraSeal and HelpAround, Board Observer to SpineView, MC10, Holaira and VytronUS. Adam is a mentor in Blueprint Health, a healthcare IT accelerator in NYC. Prior to Windham, Adam was VP & GM at I-many, Inc., an enterprise software company. Prior to joining I-many, Adam was a New Business Development Analyst at Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company focused on interventional vascular devices such as stents. In that capacity, Adam worked on a range of licenses, acquisitions, divestments, as well as strategic investments with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), J&J’s strategic venture arm. Prior to J&J, Adam was a research analyst at Coopers & Lybrand’s Integrated Healthcare Consulting practice.
Partners
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