New York, NY (August 1, 2022)–CAI announced today that it has promoted two longtime staff members into new leadership roles. Maisha Drayton will serve as Vice President of Community Engagement, and Lindsay Senter is now the Vice President of Research and Evaluation.
The promotions reflect both the overall growth of the organization in recent years and an increasing emphasis on incorporating these core strategies into CAI’s work to help healthcare and social service agencies build capacity and improve the quality of their services.
As Vice President of Community Engagement, Maisha Drayton will lead the increasing number of CAI projects that engage community members in identifying solutions to longstanding health equity challenges and develop sustainable solutions to address them.
Drayton has been directing community-driven projects since she joined the organization in 2015, launching and leading HOPE Buffalo, a community-led movement to reduce teen pregnancy and STI rates in Buffalo, NY. Other CAI community-driven projects have addressed challenges that include tobacco use, nutrition, and COVID.
Drayton has a master’s degree in creative studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo, is a 2014 recipient of Buffalo Business First’s “40 Under 40 Award,” and was named a “Next Generation Leader in Health Care” by the Buffalo News in 2019. Drayton currently lives in Atlanta, GA. Maisha is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Lindsay Senter, moving from Director to Vice President of Research and Evaluation, will lead a team of 14 staff members who ensure that the organization’s work integrates innovative new approaches, reflects best practices, with outcomes that can be measured.
Senter joined CAI in 2012 as a research scientist on a multinational Latin American HIV research study and soon after became the Director of Research and Evaluation. Over the last 10 years, she has established strong standards guided by data-driven approaches and strengthened CAI’s research and evaluation practices, including by ensuring that community members’ voices are at the center of research initiatives.
Two notable research projects that Senter is currently leading are the evaluation of Black People Against Tobacco (Project BAT), which will advance knowledge of how changing social norms can help prevent and reduce smoking to improve health outcomes, and a partnership with Yale University to study maternal morbidity and mortality disparities at three sites.
Senter has a Master of Public Health in Health Services and Epidemiology from the University of Washington, where she was an awardee in the Maternal and Child Health Leadership Program. Senter is a peer reviewer on several public health journals and a member of the American Evaluation Association. Senter lives in Denver, CO.
“Maisha and Lindsay’s talent, depth of experience, and deep personal commitment to health equity have contributed greatly to CAI’s growth and reputation in the field,” said Barbara Cicatelli, Founder and CEO of CAI. “I’m grateful for their leadership and am looking forward to working alongside them to further expand the impact of our community engagement and research and evaluation work.”