Board of Directors
Our Mission: To minimize systemic healthcare disparities and create an environment
for self advocacy to flourish in vulnerable populations.
Nike Shoyinka, MD, Advisory Committee Member
Dr Shoyinka serves as the Medical Director for Public Health Services at Ingham and Ionia counties in Michigan where she oversees public health clinical operations for the HIV/STI clinic, Communicable Diseases program and Correctional Health. In her capacity as Medical Director, she has played a prominent role in the COVID Pandemic response in both communities ensuring care is equitably distributed.
She also provides inpatient clinical care as an Infectious Disease consultant at community hospitals across the region where she treats a broad range of infectious disease complications. She has over 16 years of clinical experience in internal medicine, infectious disease and public health and has practiced medicine in several settings including Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa. Her research and publications have focused primarily on global health and clinical outcomes of serious antibiotic resistant Staphyloccocal infections.
She graduated from the University of Ibadan Medical School and completed her Internal Medicine residency in Harlem Hospital at Columbia University in New York City and an Infectious Disease Fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital/Wayne State University in Detroit. Throughout her career and training she has made providing quality healthcare to vulnerable populations, domestically and internationally, a priority.
Dr Shoyinka believes that when barriers to basic needs for life, including optimal healthcare, are removed every individual and the family unit, as a whole, has the opportunity to thrive. Her passion for bridging health care gaps in resource limited communities has led her to volunteer with various international non-profit organizations where she works to identify and create innovative programs to develop sustainable capacity in those low income settings in Africa.
Dr Shoyinka is a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America and American College of Preventive Medicine, and served on committees and workgroups in both organizations.
Kylyn Mead, Board Secretary
Kylyn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Tufts University in Boston. She went on to the University of Maryland School of Law, where she received her Juris Doctor degree and her Health Law Certificate.
Kylyn has worked in the healthcare industry for the past decade. Her specialty has been in home based primary care, where people with complex and chronic conditions are provided with comprehensive care in their home setting. Kylyn has primarily worked in an operations capacity during her years working in this type of care.
Kylyn’s passion for patient care started at a young age. She became a hospice volunteer at the age of 16 and immediately fell in love with it. The ability to truly know and care for the people that you serve is very important to her. Outside of her contributions to Careline Health Group, Kylyn is a Board Member for a nonprofit organization Dignified Aging Project, a Board Member for Professional Lab Services and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.
In her personal life, Kylyn has three wonderful small boys and a poodle named Carroll. When asked what she does with her free time, Kylyn will say that she does not have that and reiterates that she has three small boys.
Wendy Ehnis, Vice Chair
Deborah Ayers, President of the Clinical Advisory Board
Heather Forbes Cordero, Tresurer
YOLANDA POPE, LPN, CDP, CALD
CEO & Founder
As a lifelong caregiver, and nurse since 2008, Yolanda Pope has spent her career working with the geriatric population, caregivers and their families in various roles from bedside to administration and operations. Senior care, advancing equity and advocacy is her passion. While working in the industry, Yolanda recognized the need for person centered education, support and guidance for seniors, their families and direct caregivers. In 2020 Yolanda, started the Dignified Aging Project LLC which is an organization geared towards assisting health care providers develop best practices to support their teams in providing a superior level of care with dignity in mind.
In 2022, Yolanda founded DAP Services & Resources to help bridge the equity gap and to be a resource for education, guidance and support surrounding the changes our seniors go through as they age and the challenges their families face. In addition, DAP Services & Resources aims to provide private care management services at no cost to underserved seniors and their families in hopes of facilitating a better understanding of care leading to improved clinical outcomes.
Yolanda is a Lansing native born and raised in Lansing, MI. In her personal life she is married with four children. In her free time she travels with her family, catches up with friends, enjoys painting, music and reading books.