100 People to Meet in 2026: Angels

From healing the sick to feeding the hungry and helping people with disabilities express themselves, these Virginians put others’ needs ahead of their own, making the commonwealth a better place.

DR. ASHISH CHAWLA

MATHER CHAIR AND DIVISION CHIEF, RADIATION ONCOLOGY, INOVA SCHAR CANCER, FALLS CHURCH

In October, Inova Schar Cancer in Falls Church became the first cancer center in the greater Washington, D.C., area to roll out adaptive online radiotherapy — one of the most advanced forms of personalized radiation therapy available today. Dr. Ashish Chawla, who sits at the helm of the radiation oncology division at Inova, says this new therapy helps identify changes in tumors and organs “in real time,” allowing doctors to “adjust treatment within minutes.” This, he explains, helps ensure “we are targeting the tumor as precisely as possible while protecting healthy tissue.”

Chawla earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Pennsylvania State University, his M.D. from Thomas Jefferson University, and completed his residency in radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital before serving as medical director of radiation oncology at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital before taking on his current role.

DR. WILLIAM A. COOPER

MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY, RESTON HOSPITAL CENTER, RESTON

“I am certainly not your average cardio-thoracic surgeon,” Dr. William Cooper writes on his LinkedIn page. Cooper leads Reston Hospital Center’s new heart surgery program. Opened in November, it’s the first new cardiac surgery program to launch in the Northern Virginia region in nearly four decades. Cooper is no stranger to leadership, and he’s worn many hats. He launched and built a heart surgery program at WellStar Health System in Georgia, and has served as an associate professor at Emory University, from which he received an MBA.

Cooper also founded Prime Health Services Group, which provides cardiovascular staffing and specialty solutions, and retired in 2019 as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves after nearly 35 years. His Army service included five deployments, including combat tours as a surgeon in Iraq and Kuwait and two tours in Afghanistan. Cooper is also the author of “Heart Attack: Truth, Tragedy, Triumph,” published in 2016.

DR. STEPHANIE GOLDBERG

VICE PRESIDENT, GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION, MARY WASHINGTON HEALTHCARE, FREDERICKSBURG

Under Dr. Stephanie Goldberg’s leadership, Mary Washington Healthcare Graduate Medical Education earned accreditation in November 2022, which “ensures we offer the best practices, research and advancements in educating the next generation of physicians,” she says.

In October this year, Goldberg was part of a team pitching a new medical school, tentatively called the Mary Washington College of Medicine, to address a severe physician shortage in the Fredericksburg region. Goldberg says the new medical school could diverge from more established models, which traditionally place heavy emphasis on diagnosis. Instead, the school would be focused on producing community physicians.

“The whole focus of medicine is going to change,” says Goldberg, a board-certified surgeon with special interests in general, emergency and trauma. She earned her M.D. and completed her general surgery residency and surgical critical care fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University.

GARY and ANN LEBLANC

FOUNDERS, MERCY CHEFS, PORTSMOUTH

Chef Gary LeBlanc watched helplessly as the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina ravaged his hometown of New Orleans in 2005. LeBlanc immediately drove south from his Virginia home and was shocked to find people in shelters eating green beans directly from cans. In 2006, LeBlanc and his wife, Ann, launched Mercy Chefs, a faith-based nonprofit that gets hot meals to those weathering disasters and emergencies.

Before founding Mercy Chefs, Gary LeBlanc, who serves as the nonprofit’s CEO, had worked for more than three decades in hospitality.

Ann LeBlanc, daughter of the late televangelist Pat Robertson, works as Mercy Chefs’ president. Previously, she was an executive for the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University, both now run by her brother Gordon Robertson.
Over nearly two decades, Mercy Chefs has served over 30 million meals. In October, the nonprofit posted harrowing video of aid workers fleeing their delivery truck after it was bombed by a Russian drone in western Ukraine.

REBECCA C. ‘BECKY’ MASSEY

ADVISORY BOARD IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR, VCU MASSEY COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER, RICHMOND

Herself a cancer survivor, Becky Massey has long served on the comprehensive cancer center’s advisory board, chairing it in 2024. Under her tenure, the center raised over $6 million through its 50th Anniversary Fund and celebrated the anniversary with a Golden Gala.

A Massey center volunteer for more than 30 years, Massey also drove the creation of Becky’s Garden, a rooftop healing garden at the center that opened in 2006. In 2007, she received one of YWCA Richmond’s Outstanding Women Awards.

Massey and her husband, William E. Massey Jr., are board members of the Massey Family Foundation. The foundation and family members donated to expand and name the cancer center in 1983 and continue to support it.

Massey’s latest passion project is supporting nonprofit Cancer Retreat Centers, which operates a retreat at Richmond’s Blanton House and is seeking to open additional locations to provide free programs throughout Central Virginia.

CANDACE MRAZ

FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, MRAZ AND CO.; CO-FOUNDER, FREEHORSE ARTS, ASHLAND

Candace Mraz wants to create a more inclusive Central Virginia. That includes making sure people with disabilities are welcomed in the music and art scenes.

Mraz is a co-founder of FreeHorse Arts, a Hanover County-based nonprofit that offers arts education, nature-based programming and equine experiential learning to people with diverse abilities. Candace’s brother, Grammy-winning singer Jason Mraz, will play at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen on Dec. 13-14 as part of the FreeHorse Songwriter Series, a fundraising event that previously featured singer-songwriter Paul Williams, a FreeHorse Arts board member.

Mraz is also a managing partner of an event venue and destination planned for Central Virginia called Sugar Creek. It will offer a workforce training program for people with disabilities.

She also has a day job. This year, Mraz & Co., the Richmond-based creative agency Mraz founded, celebrated its fifth anniversary. Clients include Kindness Cafe + Play, Charlottesville coffee shops that employ adults with cognitive disabilities.

DR. KELLY ORZECHOWSKI

CHIEF OF WOMEN’S HEALTH SERVICES, VHC HEALTH, ARLINGTON COUNTY

A female-led team of doctors, including Dr. Kelly Orzechowski, helped design the Charlotte Stump Benjamin Center for Women’s Health, which offers women’s health services, from prenatal care to menopause, in one 26,000-square-foot space. The center, which opened in 2023, is located on the fifth floor of VHC Health’s Outpatient Pavilion.

Women get better care at the Benjamin Center, Orzechowski has said, because the health practitioners all work in the same space and can consult about cases face-to-face.

As VHC’s chief of women’s health services, Orzechowski facilitates coordinated care efforts throughout the center. Specializing in maternal fetal medicine, she joined VHC Health in 2014.

After earning a master’s degree in public health at George Washington University, Orzechowski graduated from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada. In her free time, she is a marathoner.

ANDY SPICKNALL

PRESIDENT, BON SECOURS HARBOUR VIEW MEDICAL CENTER, SUFFOLK

Andy Spicknall is the inaugural president of Bon Secours’ $80 million, 100,000-square-foot Harbour View Medical Center in Suffolk. He led the hospital’s development, design and recruitment, culminating in its opening this past May. The hospital has a staff of about 100 people, 18 private inpatient rooms and four new operating rooms, a freestanding emergency department and on-site laboratory and imaging services.

Spicknall first joined the health system more than a decade ago as an administrative resident at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth. He later held several other positions in the market, including administrative director of operations and ambulatory services and vice president of operations for Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center.

Spicknall has a master’s degree in health administration from Virginia Commonwealth University and a bachelor’s degree in business from Virginia Tech. An active community member, he volunteers with the American Heart Association and serves on several boards.

DR. DEEPAK TALREJA

CLINICAL CHIEF OF CARDIOLOGY, SENTARA HEALTH, VIRGINIA BEACH

On an August morning, a man suffered a heart attack while driving in Virginia Beach. Fortunately, he crashed near the office of Dr. Deepak Talreja, Sentara Health’s chief of cardiology, who had been locked out of his office and just happened to hear the crash. He rushed to the scene and performed CPR for at least eight minutes, saving the man’s life.

The rescue marked one extraordinary moment in a career defined by community service for Talreja, who was named 2025 Physician of the Year by the John J. Krueger Foundation, whose founder once mentored him in high school.

A Virginia Beach native, Talreja has practiced cardiology at Sentara Health for more than 20 years, serving in numerous leadership roles. A founding member of the Structural Heart Program at Sentara Heart Hospital, he also helped create a cardiology fellowship with Old Dominion University and teaches at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

NOVELLA THOMPSON

ADMINISTRATOR, DEPARTMENT OF POPULATION HEALTH, UVA HEALTH, CHARLOTTESVILLE

Novella Thompson works to close gaps in health care. Sometimes that means thinking outside hospital walls.
When Greene County residents asked for primary care closer to home, Thompson, administrator of UVA Health’s Population Health department, announced in October that the health system’s mobile care unit would begin making monthly visits to the Greene County Senior Center in Stanardsville.

Thompson also oversees UVA Health’s Community Paramedicine program. Launched in 2022, that initiative pairs paramedics with patients who have a history of visiting emergency rooms for routine health care. During home visits, paramedics do things like connect these patients with primary care providers.

Additionally, Thompson leads UVA Health programs like remote patient monitoring, home health services, and the homeless consultation program.

During a recent Becker’s Healthcare podcast, Thompson told other health care leaders that innovation will sometimes be met with skepticism. But “if you believe deeply in your work,” she says, “hold steady to it.”

CHRIS TURNBULL

CHIEF OF STAFF, CARILION CLINIC, ROANOKE

On Chris Turnbull’s desk you’ll find a copy of “There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift.”

Turnbull, who has two daughters, likes to learn things. Sometimes that means reading about the creative decisions of a cultural phenomenon.

Turnbull joined Carilion Clinic in 2014 as a senior adviser in public relations and corporate communications. Six years later, he was named senior director of corporate communications.

When he became chief of staff to Carilion Clinic President and CEO Steve Arner in early 2025, he took time to consult other executives who held similar jobs, in health care, yes, but also in tech and the armed forces.

The takeaway from those conversations was that his job is to make Arner’s life easier. “Like, what can [I] take off his plate, so that the amount of thought and effort he has to put in is pointed in the right direction?” Turnbull says.

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