John Eich - Director
eich@wisc.edu 
(608) 261-1890

John joined the Office of Rural Health in 2005 as a Program Manager of the Rural Community Initiatives, and was appointed Director in 2006. His experience and skills are primarily in community development, program planning, systems analysis and design.

John came to the Office of Rural Health from southern New Mexico, where he directed a county Health Council—a public/private partnership that assessed community health and wellness needs, established priorities, then built and maintained coalitions to strategically plan and implement projects. They also served as a resource to and advocate for the county on a regional and statewide basis.

John grew up in rural Wisconsin, dividing his spare time between doing chores and hiding from them with a good book.

 

 

Penny Black - Data and Evaluation Program Manager
pdblack@wisc.edu
(608) 261-1887

Penny has over 15 years of experience in public health program evaluation. She has worked at city, county, and state levels, domestically and abroad. Penny is responsible for assessing, analyzing, and reporting rural health data; tracking the effectiveness of the Office’s programming and collaborative projects; and overseeing graduate student interns. 

Penny has a Master’s Degree in Health Science from California State University, Long Beach and a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science from California State University, Fullerton.

 

Lynn Dassow - Financial and Office Manager
ladassow@wisc.edu
(608) 261-1885

Lynn joined the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health in May, 2012.  Her diverse operational and medical  finance background makes her an instrumental team member of the Rural Health’s office.  She is the organizer, manager and contact person for the office’s organizational success.  Lynn’s experience includes working in the dental field, and most recently at UW Hospital and Clinics and UW Home Health in the medical field.  She has worked 26 years for the University of Wisconsin. Lynn is generally the first point of contact to our office.

Lynn was born and resides in Waunakee, WI.  She enjoys family and friends, social media, UW sporting events, Green Bay Packer football, the Overture Center and boating.

 

Kevin Jacobson - Loan Assistance Program Manager
kmjacobson2@wisc.edu 
(608) 261-1888

Kevin began working for the Office of Rural Health in April 2007. His program management responsibilities include the Health Professions Loan Assistance Program, the Strong Rural Communities Initiative and the Rural Health Development Council.  Kevin also publishes a blog, Rural Community Development, where he posts information on opportunities and resources to improve capacity in rural communities, specifically around health care issues.

Before he relocated to Madison, Kevin was a Program Manager with the Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center, where he worked with rural communities in New York on a variety of environmental, public health and community development issues. Prior to that he was Payroll Manager of the University of California, Los Angeles Student Association.

Kevin has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Administration from UCLA and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Southern California.

 

Kathryn Miller - Rural Hospitals & Clinics Program Manager
kmiller9@wisc.edu
(608) 261-1891

Kathryn started in September 2008, as the Rural Hospitals/Clinics Program Manager.  

Kathryn was born and raised in Madison.  Prior to coming to the Office, Kathryn was employed at Human Services in rural Green County.  Working at the Office of Rural Health truly represents the best of both worlds: being able to continue her work with rural populations and rural healthcare issues, while working in her favorite city, Madison.

Kathryn graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with majors in Psychology and Social Welfare.

 

Tim Dybevik - Provider Recruitment Manager
dybevik2@wisc.edu
(608) 261-1889

Tim manages provider recruitment at the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health. He previously recruited physicians with Dean Health System in Wisconsin (now part of SSM), and worked for many years in sales for the pharmaceutical and mass media industries. 

 

 

 

Kye Richards - Program Assistant
krichards4@wisc.edu
(608) 261-1883

Kye joined the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health in September 2014 as Program Assistant, providing support for Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant administration, as well as the Rural Hospitals/Clinics Program and the Health Professions Loan Assistance Program. 

Born and raised in rural Dunn County, Kye earned a BA in Spanish from UW-Madison, and later a BFA from the University of Minnesota.  She cares deeply about health and wellbeing and enjoys helping people.  Her administrative skills support and further multiple Office of Rural Health initiatives.  Her flair for the artistic enhances the office environment bringing a spirit of playfulness to our work.
 

 

Elizabeth DiNovella - Communications Coordinator
edinovella@wisc.edu
(608) 261-1884

Elizabeth DiNovella writes the Rural Reporter daily news, events and grants feed. In addition, she writes our weekly email summary, manages our social media and digital communications, and produces other materials for our office.
 
Liz is a digital journalist with twenty years’ experience reporting for national magazines, radio, the web, and on social media. Most recently, Liz was the producer of Surgery Sett, a podcast hosted by Dr. Jonathan Kohler at the Department of Surgery at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
 
Liz enjoys writing about arts and music, along with science and medicine. In 2017, the Milwaukee Press Club awarded her piece, “Vern Stenman of Big Top Has Big Ideas for Breese Stevens Field” a prize for Best Long Form Feature Story in the radio category. The Onion described her work as “passionate, intelligent commentary.”
 
She graduated from UW Madison with degrees in History and Spanish. Find her on Instagram and Twitter @lizdinovella.

 

Amy Perkins - Data and Evaluation Intern

Amy has been with the Office of Rural Health since the fall of 2018, when she started her Master’s of Public Health program at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  Upon receiving her Bachelor’s in psychology from UW in 2016, Amy went to work for Qualtrics, LLC in Utah where she led a technical support team and became an expert in all things Qualtrics. 

Since joining the WORH team, she has been involved in various program evaluation and assessment projects for which she conducts statistical analyses and assists in building final reports.  Through this internship, she has developed her skills in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, ArcGIS, and has helped revamp many of the ways the rural health office utilizes Qualtrics.