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Ryan Lilly, 36Associate Medical Center Director
VA Maine Health Care System
Ryan Lilly’s dedication to public service is as apparent as his strong work ethic.
A graduate of Noble High in Berwick and UMaine Farmington, Lilly continued his education at West Virginia University, where he completed a master’s degree in Public Administration and earned a Healthcare Administration Certificate.
He first worked at the Department of Veteran Affairs Health Administration Center in Denver in 1999, became Chief Financial Officer there in 2000, and in 2002 became Chief Financial Officer at the VA Medical Center at White River Junction, Vt., “at an age when most peers were not yet in supervisory roles,†notes one VA Maine HCS official.
In 2006, he became Associate Medical Center Director at Togus VAMC (now VA Maine Health Care System). He oversees operation of the Togus campus and the eight community-based outpatient clinics around Maine. His contributions to expanding local access to care include the opening of an outpatient clinic in Lincoln in 2007 and a part-time access point in Houlton in 2008, and a mobile healthcare clinic the following year.
Lilly supervised construction and completion of new outpatient clinics in Portland, Bangor and Lewiston/ Auburn. A leading speaker on rural veterans’ too-often limited access for care, he has received national recognition as the first Director of the VA Rural Health Resource Center - Eastern Region.
Lilly’s wife, Tara, died of cancer in 2007; he is the single father of four young children. It is a testament to both his energy and his commitment that he recently cycled the 100-mile leg of the Dempsey Challenge, which benefits the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. He also fund-raises and cycles (backto- back centuries last year) in the Prouty, benefitting cancer research at Dartmouth, and is on the board of the ALS-Maine Collaborative.
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