Reconciling with histories of injustice

Mrs. Lillie Jewel Tyson Head is the daughter of Freddie Lee Tyson, one of the 623 men whose legal health rights were violated in the United States Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis (USPHSUS) in the Negro Male at Tuskegee and Macon County, Alabama, 1932-1972. She is the daughter of Johnnie Mae Neal Tyson.  Mrs. Head is passionate about fairness in social justice and treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Mrs. Head is the daughter of Freddie Lee Tyson. She is the founding President of Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by descendants in 2014 to “Transform the Legacy of the United States Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male at Tuskegee and Macon County, Alabama. The organization’s purpose is: Remembering, Celebrating and honoring the 623 men who suffered greatly from the Study.” As president of Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, Mrs. Head is committed to keeping alive the men’s stories and promoting education. The organization connects descendants across generations, provides annual scholarships to descendants, participates in the research project “The Untold Story,” offers support and guidance to the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, while pursuing all other strategic plans. In June of 2022, the Foundation entered a partnership with the Milbank Memorial Fund to promote equity and trust in medical care.

She is active in different ministries at her church, Resurrection Catholic. She volunteers at the Booker T Washington National Monument in Hardy, VA, the birthplace of Booker T Washington.

Mrs. Head retired as a Physical Education/Health teacher and Education Consultant after 33 years from the Waterbury, Connecticut Public School System.

She is a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute where she received a BS Degree in Physical Education.  She received her Master’s Degree in Physical Education from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut and her Education and Administrative Leadership Graduate Degree from the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  She has received professional recognitions from her colleagues and civic awards recognizing her leadership, educational initiatives, program management and service to the Waterbury community.

Mrs. Head has written numerous articles for Medical Research Journals, appeared on International, National, and Local News networks advocating the importance of the COVID Vaccines. She has appeared in several documentaries promoting the mission of Voices For Our Fathers Legacy Foundation and revealing Untold Stories about the 623 African American men who were victims in (USPHSUS) Negro Male.

Mrs. Head and her husband, Wilbert now reside in Wirtz, Virginia.  She is the mother of sons, Wil, (wife Chantal), Mark (wife Tanikia), daughter Carmen, (hubsand Edward Thornton), the grandmother of twins, Bryce and Kylie and their younger sister, Trinity.

Christopher F. Koller is president of the Fund. Before joining the Fund, he served the state of Rhode Island as the country’s first health insurance commissioner, an appointment he held from March of 2005 through June of 2013. Under Mr. Koller’s leadership, the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner was nationally recognized for its rate review process and its efforts to use insurance regulation to promote payment reform, primary care revitalization, and delivery system transformation. The Office was also one of the lead agencies in implementing the Affordable Care Act in Rhode Island.

Prior to serving as health insurance commissioner, Mr. Koller was the CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island for nine years. In this role, he was the founding chair of the Association of Community Affiliated Plans. Mr. Koller has a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) from Dartmouth College and master’s degrees in social ethics and public/private management from Yale University. He has served on four Committees of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, as well as its Health Care Services Board. He has also served in numerous national and state health policy advisory capacities and was the recipient of the Primary Care Collaborative’s Starfield Award in 2019.  Mr. Koller is a professor of the practice in the department of health services, policy and practice in the School of Public Health at Brown University.