Jackson Health System nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals welcomed the news that Miami civic activist Irene Lipof has been appointed to the Jackson Health System Financial Recovery Board.
Lipof was named by the AFL-CIO, which has the right to designate one member to the board which oversees the public hospital system.
“Ms. Lipof has been a strong advocate of labor for many years,” said Martha Baker, RN, president of SEIU Local 1991. “We look forward to working with her and the other board members to sustain our public healthcare system during this critical time in Jackson’s history.”
Irene Lipof, Ed.D., is a longtime professor, former Dean at Miami Dade College and community activist on a range of civic issues, particularly those involving women and children.
Unions are in her blood, thanks to growing up in the back of her father’s postal service union meetings. The lesson of self-empowerment was never forgotten. Years later, Lipof co-founded the United Faculty of Miami Dade College.
Raised in Miami, Lipof taught public school in Miami and California before becoming a professor in the Social Sciences Department at Miami Dade College. She taught full-time at MDC for more than 30 years, serving as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and Interim Dean of Students at the Wolfson Campus in the mid ‘80s and ‘90s.
Lipof has held leadership positions on the Miami Dade County Juvenile Justice Detention Center Board of Directors, the Citizen’s Coalition for Public Schools, Girl’s Advocacy Project Advisory Board, Third District Court of Appeals Judicial Nominating Commission, the local chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus and many other organizations. She still teaches part-time and serves as an organizer of United Faculty’s retiree chapter.
Besides her distinguished career and civic activism, Lipof has a soft spot in her heart for JHS.
At age 17, Lipof attended the Jackson Memorial School of Nursing.
Although she later decided to switch to degrees in education, Lipof’s time roaming the corridors of Jackson as a student nurse stayed with her.
As an adult survivor of cancer, Lipof also experienced the world-class care at Sylvester Cancer Center.
As the newest member of the Financial Recovery Board, Lipof’s goal is a sustainable Jackson that never forgets its primary mission as a public hospital.
“There has been a focus recently on the economic side,” she said. “I want to bring us back to the real mission of Jackson — to serve the community. With that, the greatness of the system I remember will come back.”