Our Team

Daniel Bustillo is Director of the Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP), a national organization of SEIU unions and healthcare employers who are partnering in support of developing innovative career pathways and quality healthcare career education models. He is also Vice President of the H-CAP Education Association – a related organization comprised of a network of industry-based healthcare training partnerships – and is Director of the National Center for Healthcare Apprenticeships (NCHA). Daniel presently serves as a member of the national advisory council of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education at the University of Minnesota as well as the Board of Directors for The National Skills Coalition.

Daniel has extensive experience working with healthcare industry partners and the public workforce system, coordinating a variety of federal and state grants designed to provide upskilling and on-the-job training opportunities for healthcare workers. Previously, he served as Assistant Director, Field Services and Labor Management Consultant at the 1199SEIU Training and Employment Funds in New York City, the largest industry-based healthcare training fund in the country. In these capacities, he worked with healthcare workers, the labor union 1199SEIU, and the major organized voluntary not-for-profit hospitals in New York City, facilitating joint labor management teams on issues related to workforce development and quality/process improvement initiatives. Daniel is also a doctoral candidate in Social Policy at Columbia University where his work on group-based disparities has been published in a variety of outlets.

Rebecca Malberg von Loewenfeldt is Associate Director of the Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP). Prior to coming to H-CAP, Rebecca was the Director of Workforce and Long Term Care Integration at Harbage Consulting.

During her tenure there, she supported the Workforce Committee at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital as they implemented the state’s DSRIP program. She also co-authored a report submitted to the California Legislature to identify ways that California can extend the apprenticeship model to the healthcare industry.

Prior to Harbage Consulting, she was the Home Care Division Director and Executive Committee member at SEIU United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) where she led the union’s home care division and chaired the union’s health benefit trust fund. Rebecca has spent more than 15 years leading major political, legislative, and organizing campaigns in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California for SEIU and various non-profits. Rebecca holds a certification from the Project Management Institute and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Neelam is the Project Manager at H-CAP and has nearly 20 years of experience in leading program and policy efforts with multiple stakeholders to improve healthcare and well-being for vulnerable populations.

Prior to joining H-CAP, she worked at the Worker Education and Resource Center in Los Angeles, on research, policy, communications, and grant-writing to advance workforce development in a healthcare labor/management environment, which included developing apprenticeship models. Previously, she directed LA Health Action, a strategic initiative of a private healthcare foundation where she partnered with over 70 organizations to improve the health of low-income Los Angeles communities through policy advocacy and strategic alliances. Her diverse experience includes a health planning collaborative of public and private organizations, older adult research center on developing workforce solutions, Medicaid managed care plan, domestic violence agency, and community health center association.

Neelam earned dual Master’s degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles in Public Health specializing in Health Policy and Management and in Social Welfare with a concentration in Gerontology where she received the Harry Wasserman Prize for Community Service.

Tamara Martial-Dolcy is the Program Coordinator for Research and Policy at H-CAP. For close to a decade, Tamara has been committed to social justice issues as they relate to healthcare and labor, with a particular focus on healthcare access, education and advancement of working people.

During her tenure at 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers East, Tamara played a key role in bargaining and securing a new contract for 110,000 hospital and nursing home workers. Her research work was instrumental in organizing drives at major health systems, community based organizations and ambulatory facilities.

Tamara previously worked in media where she developed strategic communications and relationships with business partners and clients. She was responsible for writing proposals, development of marketing literature and educating clients regarding new technologies.

Tamara has a BA in English and Journalism from Morgan State University and MA in Media Studies from the New School.

Grace Ahrens is the Project Coordinator at H-CAP. With a passion for achieving women's rights in the workforce, Grace is committed to create social change through innovative and impactful ways to provide equal opportunity.

Prior to this position, she consulted for Data-Pop Alliance, a think tank that leverages Big Data to help achieve the 17 goals for Sustainable Development established by the UN in Sept 2015. 

Grace holds an MS in Social Work from Columbia University, with a specialization in Social Enterprise Administration. Throughout her last year at Columbia, she worked at the Women's Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor, where she engaged with key stakeholders that were raising awareness on women's issues in the workforce. She also did research on the topics of equal pay and paid family leave, focusing on barriers to implementation in states that had already approved paid family laws. She was exposed to workforce development when forming partnerships that helped get women into non-traditional occupations, particularly through registered apprenticeship programs. Grace will continue to work in this field, now applied to the healthcare sector, with H-CAP.

Prior to this, Grace worked in Education for four years as a Dean of Students at Colegio Himalaya Monterrey, in Monterrey, Mexico. Her passion for finding innovative ways to deliver services put her on the team that piloted the Apple Education Project, introducing One-to-one programs in the classroom. The program is now successfully being run in several schools within the Semper Altius network.

Gina Obando, Program Assistant, comes to H-CAP with an extensive background in the non- profit and corporate sectors. Before joining H-CAP as Program Assistant in 2015, Gina spent 12 years at Lighthouse International, working with the blind and visually impaired as Executive Assistant and Office Coordinator.

In this capacity, she worked on fund raising, community outreach, grant submissions, customer service, and registrar initiatives for the Education Department.

Prior to that Gina worked for  the Bond Market Association, the trade association for the bond markets as Executive Assistant to the President and as liaison to the Board of Directors. Gina’s work experience includes 20 years in Administrative work, Customer Service, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivables, Budget Planning and Event Planning. Gina attended Hunter College and Louis D. Brandeis High School in New York City.

Jessica Espinoza is a Program Coordinator of the Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP). During the past decade Jessica has developed her professional experience addressing workplace issues and concerns in unionized settings with a passion for staff development and workforce training initiatives.

Dea Thomas joined H-CAP as Program Coordinator in January 2019.  Ms. Thomas is a seasoned healthcare professional who possesses more than a decade of experience in healthcare policy, advocacy, and workforce development in corporate and non-profit sectors.

She began her career serving Maryland’s constituency at Capitol Hill on behalf of Maryland’s senior United Sates Senator— finding ways to end healthcare disparities, improving the Children’s Health Insurance Program and advocating for access to quality, affordable health care. While working with 1199SEIU TUF in Maryland, she continued efforts towards affordable healthcare and workforce development by leading the implementation of a $4.6 million Green Grant issued by the U.S. Department of Labor.  Prior to joining H-CAP, Ms. Thomas championed organizational change and advocated for working families, workplace equity, and patient centered healthcare in one of Baltimore’s anchor healthcare systems.

Ms. Thomas is based in Baltimore and focuses her volunteer efforts within that region.  She currently serves on the Executive Committee of Baltimore’s NAACP Branch, and leads Development and Advocacy efforts for Black Girls Vote, Inc.  She earned her BA in Political Science from Howard University and MS in Health Systems Management from the University of Baltimore.