Mellie currently serves as the CEO, President, and founder of the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership and as the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Regional Director of Strategy, Management, and Administration with over 23 years of experience in community and organizational networking, grant writing, and program development and implementation. Mellie founded the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership organization in 2008. It began with five critical access hospitals and has grown its membership to 19 rural hospitals, 4 FQHCs, over 120 member-owned and affiliated clinics, and three medical schools serving rural Arkansas. Mellie has obtained over $72 million in grant funds for Arkansas Rural Health Partnership and its members to implement healthcare provider training opportunities, workforce initiatives, chronic disease programs, behavioral and mental health services, and improved access to care throughout rural Arkansas. Mellie has served on the National Rural Health Association Congress and the Arkansas Department of Health Board of Directors and graduated 2019 from the NRHA Rural Fellows program. She was recently appointed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services and currently serves on the USDA/National Rural Health Association Advisory Group, Delta Region Community Health Systems Development Advisory Committee, the NRHA Rural Community Health Initiatives workgroup, and as Executive Director and founding member of the Rural Health Association of Arkansas, Arkansas’ state rural health organization.

In 2016, Mellie was acknowledged as a Federal Office of Rural Health’s Rural Health Champion and, in 2020, was awarded the Healthcare Heroes Innovation award by Arkansas Business magazine and one of Arkansas’ Most Powerful Women of 2020 by Arkansas Business and Politics. Under Mellie’s leadership, ARHP has been recognized nationally as a Rural Health Community Champion for Collaborative Partnerships by the Federal Office of Rural Health and as Outstanding Network of the Year by the National Cooperative of Health Networks Association. She served on the Arkansas Women’s Commission in 2022 and, in 2023, was named one of 100 Women of Impact in Arkansas by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and Little Rock Soiree magazine. In 2025, Mellie received Heartland Whole Health Institute’s Inaugural Bridge Award, The Samaritan Health Project’s Rural Trailblazer Award, and was named Arkansas Business’s 50 Over 50 and featured in the Health Journal of Arkansas.

Mellie has co-written rural health policy papers and presents across the country, speaking on rural hospital sustainability, rural health innovation and initiatives, and the importance of collaboration among healthcare organizations

MELLIE BOAGNI-CONTACTMellie@arruralhealth.orgMBBridewell@uams.edu

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