Jenene Renaye Washington-Stepter

As the 1991 valedictorian of Xenia Community City’s Xenia High School, Jenene Washington-Stepter’s classmates probably all expected her to go far in life. She certainly did not disappoint as she is now the Chief Medical Officer for the Baltimore Medical System in Baltimore, MD, and has dedicated her career to working as a safety net provider to serve underserved populations. ”The Xenia School System had stellar teachers in all disciplines; the English/Language instruction was remarkable,” said Washington-Stepter. “Strong written communication is a critical component to having a successful career. Having this strong foundation of writing skills has been valuable in my career as a leader in science and medicine.” Besides working as a medical provider, Washington-Stepter has served as Medical Director and Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Baltimore Medical System. In this role, she developed quality and performance improvement initiatives to optimize the delivery of healthcare to vulnerable populations. Washington-Stepter led the Baltimore Medical System to transform their operations into a patient centered model and to their first Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition in 2012 and again in 2015 with National Committee for Quality Assurance standards. At a national level, Washington-Stepter has actively worked to provide quality improvement and PCMH resources, education and training to the nation’s Community Health Centers (CHCs). In addition, she has been recruited to speak on a national level in venues like the Congressional Black Caucus as well as invited by the Centers for Medicaid Services to participate in a national expert panel. “While attending public school in Xenia, I was exposed to opportunities that extended beyond the traditional textbook and classroom,” said Washington-Stepter. “In 5th grade, I was able to become a Tecumseh Young Author where I was able to meet Marc Tolon Brown, author of the character ‘Arthur,’ which later became a very popular children's series of books and cartoons. For my book ‘Babyface,’ I was selected as that year's top author. In later years, I continued to master my writing skills and participated in the Daughters of the American Revolution writing contests. For two consecutive years, I received awards for the top essay as I provided historic accounts of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. “In addition, I did have a love of science and was given the opportunity to participate in several local, regional and state science fairs. As a result of my science fair participation and awards, I was selected to attend a national science program at UCLA-Berkeley. Being from a small town in Ohio, it could be intimidating to meet and work with high-performing students from larger cities, states, and schools. With my background and education from Xenia Schools, I was able to learn and compete with other national high school scholars. I was confident that my education from Xenia was compatible or greater than my peers from other areas.”