02/26/2026
We are incredibly proud to see our CEO, Stephanie Wroten, recognized by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers during Black History Month.
Stephanie’s leadership is rooted in lived experience, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to health equity. From her early inspiration growing up in Philadelphia to her work today on Cape Cod, she has dedicated her career to ensuring that individuals facing homelessness, poverty, and systemic inequities are fully seen, valued, and acknowledged in the healthcare system.
At Duffy Health Center, that commitment shows up every day through accessible, culturally responsive care and advocacy for those whose voices are too often unheard.
Thank you to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers for honoring Stephanie’s leadership and the community health center movement. We are proud to walk alongside her in this work. 💜
Stephanie Wroten, CEO of Duffy Health Center in Hyannis, is proud of her Philadelphia roots. She grew up in one of the city’s brick row houses in a proud Black neighborhood, raised by parents who instilled in her cultural pride and the importance of leadership rooted in service. It was in this home where her journey to the community health center movement began.
In her childhood home she watched Dr. Frank James, her father’s Black cardiologist provide her father with superior care during regular home visits. Recognizing the impact that compassionate care can have, she enrolled in nursing school and it was Dr. James who gave Stephanie her first job as an EKG technician.
The next stop in her community health journey was nursing school, where she developed a close relationship with Mildred Howie, her only Black professor. Professor Howie was there for her when she needed her most and the lessons and confidence she instilled in her as a student still guide Stephanie today. After nursing school, she worked at Temple University Hospital in North Philadelphia, where she saw how health inequities directly harmed patients. This is where she realized that she could make a bigger impact outside the hospital setting by addressing the social and structural forces that make people sick.
Stephanie’s leadership is rooted in lived experience; she’s cared for individuals facing generational poverty, homelessness, and isolation, gaining a deep understanding of the challenges underserved communities face. Her commitment to health equity is more than a principle; it’s a daily practice. She works to ensure everyone is fully seen, valued, and acknowledged in the healthcare system, and her executive vision mirrors the community she serves.
Now a leader of the health center movement at Duffy Health Center, Stephanie is still a nurse at heart. She walks in the footsteps of Mary Eliza Mahoney, a Dorchester native who went on to become the first Black woman in the country to study and work as a nurse in the late 1800s. Much like her heroine, Stephanie is using her work, compassion, and role to elevate the status of her community. As she puts it, “racial equity cannot exist when people are not fully seen, valued, or acknowledged.” That’s why she sees amplifying the healthcare issues and social injustices that disproportionately impact Black communities on the Cape and beyond as a critical part of the work and leadership of her health center.
Her impact goes beyond the walls of the health center. Stephanie has led initiatives that provide accessible, culturally competent care, and has advocated for resources that address the social determinants of health. She empowers her team to become agents of change, elevates the voices of the homeless on Cape Cod and beyond, and builds trust through authentic representation. Her humanistic leadership inspires hope, drives progress, and creates opportunities for healthier futures.
There is no doubt that her work has made her family, heroes, and mentors proud. And at the Mass League, we’re proud to recognize Stephanie Wroten for all that she does to promote health equity and racial justice on Cape Cod and beyond. .
