Board of Directors - Maine AllCare

Maine AllCare board members, along with our dedicated volunteers, form the core of our organization. They bring experience and expertise in medicine and health care, business, economics, education, policy, management, communications, and more.

Contact us at info@maineallcare.org with questions, ideas, or if you might be interested in sharing your skills and energy by joining our board or working with a committee.

Michael Bacon
Westbrook

B.S., Michigan State University
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Mike began working as a volunteer with Maine AllCare in 2017 after a long career of research in oceanography. He first became interested in health care advocacy after learning, from personal experience, how well Medicare works for the patient and deciding that, with modest improvements, it should include everyone. He joined the board at the end of 2023 and serves on the Education and Outreach Committee.

“According to one assessment, the U.S. health care system ranks 69th in the world. Compared to citizens of other wealthy countries, we spend more, are less healthy, and die sooner. It astonishes me that we Americans tolerate such a poor showing. We all want to be number one in athletic competitions. Let’s bring the same spirit to the reform of our health care system. It would save money and save lives.”

Karen Foster, Vice-Chair
Portland

B.S., University of New Hampshire

Karen had a long career at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, where she held several senior management positions. She retired in 2000 and set out as an independent consultant specializing in nonprofit organizational structure, planning and governance. She also served as interim executive director for several Maine nonprofits in public health, the arts, and civil liberties. In addition to serving on many nonprofit boards, she was a founder of Maine AllCare in 2010 and was treasurer for five years. She rejoined the board in 2020.

"We are a small organization spreading an important message to the public and policy makers. If we can help move this state toward a system of good accessible and affordable health care for everyone, we will be a healthier and more equal society. That’s a cause I believe in."

Caryl Heaton, DO, Secretary
East Blue Hill

BGS, University of Michigan
DO, Michigan State University
Family Medicine Residency at Ohio State University; Primary Care Faculty Development Fellowship at Michigan State OMERAD; professorships at Ohio State, Michigan, University of Medicine and Dentistry and Rowan University; past president of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians

Caryl Heaton has long been an advocate of health care reform and evidence-based primary care. She has taught Family Medicine residents and students for over 30 years, “semi-retiring” to Maine several years ago. She joined the Maine AllCare Board in October 2019 and serves on the Legislative and the Policy Committees.

“I truly believe there has to be a better way to give high-quality care to people. Doctors and patients need to be able to come together for healing and prevention. We shouldn’t have to worry constantly about what code to bill or what deductible needs to be paid. Having studied this for over 20 years, I am convinced that publicly financed, privately delivered health care is the best answer for all of us."

David Jolly
Penobscot

Master’s in elementary education, Tufts University
Doctor of Public Health in health behavior and health education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

David Jolly taught in the Department of Public Health Education at North Carolina Central University for 17 years, where he developed and taught a wide variety of courses in public health and health care policy. He also worked with the state public health department in NC and with other nonprofit organizations, including in pioneering work in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He has a long-held interest in health care access and has been an advocate for health care reform for decades. David began volunteering with the Maine AllCare Downeast chapter in 2018. He joined the board in January 2023, and currently serves as chair of the Education and Outreach committee.

“I taught a policy course on access to health care at a historically Black university. For their first assignment students wrote about personal experiences with the U.S. health care system—their own or a family member's. Their eye-opening stories were often maddening and/or gut-wrenching. They made clear the system is failing us, those who have been marginalized above all—and too often with tragic results.”

Julie Keller Pease, MD
Topsham

SB, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MD, University of Minnesota Medical School
Internship, St. Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, New Jersey
Psychiatry Residency, Medical Center Hospital of Vermont

Dr. Julie Pease hails from Minnesota, and has lived in Maine since 1987. She is currently practicing psychiatry for part of the year in New Zealand, a country that has provided single-payer universal health care for its residents since 1948.

Dr. Pease is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a past president of the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians. She is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, and she represents Maine on the board of One Payer States, a national organization that fights to win high-quality, cost-effective health care for all. Dr. Pease was a co-founder of Maine AllCare in 2010 and served as president of the board from 2011-2016. She returned to the Maine AllCare Board in January 2022 and serves on the Education and Outreach and Legislative Committees.

"It is long past time for us to overhaul our inequitable, overpriced and complicated health care system. I am returning to the Maine AllCare board with the goal of organizing Maine health care practitioners and patients to demand a simple, affordable health care system that will cover everyone in Maine. Please join us in this fight!"

Elizabeth Solet
Blue Hill

B.S., University of Massachusetts
M.S., Antioch University New England

Liz began working as a volunteer with Maine AllCare in 2014. She joined the board in December 2023 and serves on the Education and Outreach Committee.

Liz co-founded of the Downeast Civil Action Alliance in 2019. She has also volunteered with the Blue Hill Public Library,

Tom Sterne, MD, Chair
Bridgton

B.A., Harvard College
M.Sc., London School of Economics
MD, Harvard Medical School; Residency in Internal Medicine, Mass. General Hospital

Before moving to Maine, Tom worked as a primary care physician, teacher, and administrator in the Boston area for years, and was the Medical Director for two community health centers, with appointments at Mass. General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. With a background in health economics and administration, he has been a longtime member of Physicians for a National Health Program. His interests include medical (and general) education, health care financing and the care of minority and immigrant/refugee populations. He is fluent in Spanish and has lived and worked in the Guatemalan highlands. Tom is married and lives with his wife Tereta and their dog Duke in an 1860s home in Bridgton. Tom joined the Maine AllCare Board in 2018. He is a member of the Executive Committee and the Policy Committee.

“The sad truth is that the vast majority of insurance policies carry with them imposing deductibles, which leave enrollees functionally uninsured, and do not reduce insurers’ administrative overhead. I have joined the Maine AllCare Board to work toward state-based universal coverage, which would provide well-funded, comprehensive, and less-expensive medical care for all Maine residents.”