Joseph Longacher, MD

President

Joe Longacher is a retired gastroenterologist from Richmond, Virginia and is serving on the Board from May 2012 to 2014. He graduated from Eastern Mennonite College (1959), and the Medical College of Virginia (1963).

After an internship and four years of service as a General Practitioner in Appalachia (eastern Kentucky), he did a residency in Internal Medicine from 1968 to 1970, followed by a fellowship in Gastroenterology both at the Medical College of Virginia. Following three years in Bluffton, Indiana from 1972 to 1975, he returned to Richmond and was in practice with Virginia Physicians through 2012.  In addition to clinical practice, Joe was also an Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and member of the Admissions Committee at the Medical College of Virginia.

Joe is a member of First Mennonite Church of Richmond where he has served in a variety of roles including as a mentor to the 50 medical students who have attended Medical College of Virginia.  He has also served at the conference and denominational level and was a past president of Mennonite Medical Association (MMA).   He is married to Constance (Brenneman), originally from Hesston, Kansas, and they have four children and six grandchildren.  His hobbies are reading, travel, and watching baseball games.

Carol Spicher, MS, RD, CDE, LDN

Vice-President

Carol Burkhart Spicher is a registered dietician from Mountville, Pennsylvania and is serving on the MHF Board from 2012 to 2015.  She graduated with a  BS in Nutrition and Dietetics from Eastern Mennonite College  (1982) and did a Dietetic Internship at Medical College of Virginia in 1983.  During her husband, Jim’s senior year of Medical School in 1986, she was in Paraguay for 2 months during Jim’s term with the Student Elective Term (SET) program.  She finished her MS in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics in Pittsburgh in 1988.  She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when they moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1990 and that nudged her to become a Certified Diabetes Educator and Insulin Pump trainer.  She currently works in  Medical Nutrition Therapy; Individual Counseling at General Internal Medicine of Lancaster; Nutritionist for Community Services Pool at Lancaster General Health; Medical Nutrition Therapy for Students at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. She is a member of Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster.

 

Vicky Kirkton, RN, MA

Secretary-Treasurer

Vicky Kirkton, R.N., is a registered nurse and educator from Goshen, Indiana and is serving from May 2012 to 2014. She graduated from Mennonite Hospital School of Nursing in 1970, Goshen College in 1973; and received her Masters Degree in Nursing from Ball State University in 1983.  She is currently the Director of the undergraduate program at Goshen College, both the basic BSN and the RN to BSN Program.  She also assisted with the development of the Master’s of Science in Nurisng Program at Goshen College.

Vicky and her husband, Jim, have three adult children and nine grandchildren who all live in the Goshen area.  She is on the Worship Commission at Silverwood Mennonite Church and serves as worship leader on occasion.

Rachael Clemmer Charles, RN

Rachael Clemmer Charles, R.N., is a nurse from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and is serving on the Board from 2011 to 2013.  On February 26, 2013, she and her husband, Michael Charles, welcomed their first child, a son, Caleb Elias Charles.

 

 

 

 

Eric Lehman, MD

Eric Lehman, M.D., is a physician in family practice from Archbold, Ohio and is serving on the Board from 2012 to 2015.  Eric graduated from Goshen College in 1982 and Ohio State University College of Medicine in Following his residency, he has been serving the Archbold community in family practice medicine since 1989.

 

 

 

 

 

Goshen College 1978-1982, Ohio State University College of Medicine 1982-1986, Grant Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio 1986-1989 Family Medicine residency

Kristen Metzler-Wilson, PT, PhD

Kristen Metzler-Wilson, PT, Ph.D., is a physical therapist from Nelsonville, Ohio and is serving on the Board from 2011 to 2013.  She has degrees from a BA from Goshen College (1999); an MSPT from Texas Woman’s University (2001), and a PhD from Thomas Jefferson University (2010).  Currently, Kristen is Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania.