Prominent Hampton Roads physician and community health leader to serve on Board of Directors of new charitable organization to expand career opportunities and address Virginia’s healthcare workforce shortages
Former Virginia Health Commissioner Cynthia C. Romero, MD has joined the Board of Directors of Claude Moore Opportunities, a leading nonprofit working to create healthcare career opportunities for Virginians and address the Commonwealth’s healthcare workforce shortage.
Dr. Romero adds Hampton Roads representation and considerable experience in community health and healthcare workforce development to the board of well-known healthcare, finance, business, and philanthropy leaders who guide Claude Moore’s statewide efforts.
According to Old Dominion University Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, the Hampton Roads region will face a shortfall of 139 new nurses every year until 2031. This shortfall reflects statewide trends, as the George Mason University Center for Health Workforce projects significant statewide shortfalls in needed nurses, lab techs, pharmacy techs, and counselors in the years ahead as Virginia confronts a wave of retirements and increased demand associated with an aging population.
A 2023 study conducted for the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority found that approximately 30% of Virginia’s population lives in a federally designated “Health Professional Shortage Area” or a “Mental Healthcare Professional Shortage Area.”
“Dr. Romero’s experience as a physician, educator, and Virginia’s top healthcare advisor makes her perfectly suited to help guide our efforts at Claude Moore,” said Dr. Bill Hazel, CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities. “Her statewide experience and deep roots in Hampton Roads will help Claude Moore achieve its mission of supporting collaborative healthcare workforce development efforts in every corner of the Commonwealth.”
“Claude Moore has proven that it knows how to bring communities together to create opportunities and meet the growing needs of its citizens,” said Dr. Romero. “With current and projected healthcare workforce shortages in Hampton Roads and communities around Virginia, now is the time to begin building the pipeline for the next generation of healthcare workers.”
Since its founding in 2024, Claude Moore Opportunities has raised more than $1.1 million and distributed nearly $275,000 in charitable funds to create more pathways into good paying healthcare careers and to meet Virginia’s healthcare workforce needs. The nonprofit organization supports regional healthcare workforce development initiatives across Virginia that bring together stakeholders including local and state workforce agencies, private employers, public school systems, colleges and universities, and other community partners.
Notable achievements during CMO’s first year include the launch of a new veterans healthcare workforce initiative, creation and implementation of a regional roadmap for healthcare job creation, and more than $100,000 in healthcare training equipment and supplies to K-12 school systems and community colleges.
In addition to Dr. Romero, the Board of Directors of Claude Moore Opportunities includes:
- Karen G. Schaufeld, President
- John Cook, Treasurer
- Lara Parker Major, Secretary
- Kevin Reynolds, Director
About Dr. Cynthia Romero
Dr. Romero currently serves as Director of the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health in the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. She served as Virginia Health Commissioner from 2013-2014, over seeing an agency with an annual budget of $626 million, 4,500 employees, and 119 health departments across 35 health districts.
Prior to her appointment as Virginia’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Romero was Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Quality and Medical Affairs for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center. Dr. Romero was in private practice for 20 years at Romero Family Practice with her mother as her partner and her father as her office manager for 16 of those years.
Dr. Romero has been a strong advocate for her patients and for the medical profession through leadership in professional medical organizations. She served as President of the Philippine Medical Association of Southeastern Virginia, Inc., Tidewater Academy of Family Physicians, Norfolk Academy of Medicine, and Virginia Academy of Family Physicians. In 2011, she was the President of the Medical Society of Virginia, the statewide organization representing over 10,000 physicians, residents, and medical students across the Commonwealth.
Dr. Romero received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology and Economics from the University of Virginia and her Doctor of Medicine from Eastern Virginia Medical School. She completed her training in family medicine at the Riverside Family Medicine Residency in Newport News. She completed a Primary Healthcare Policy Fellowship through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was recognized with the Mead Johnson Award by the American Academy of Family Physicians for excellence in clinical medicine and community services. She received a 2025 Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
About Claude Moore Opportunities
Launched in 2024, Claude Moore Opportunities is a new 501(c)3 public nonprofit organization that will raise and distribute philanthropic funds to support regional and collaborative efforts to expand Virginia’s healthcare workforce and create family-sustaining career opportunities. The independent organization is led by CEO Dr. Bill Hazel, Jr., former Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources under Governors Bob McDonnell and Terry McAuliffe, and governed by an executive board of notable civic, philanthropic, and healthcare leaders from around Virginia. Claude Moore Opportunities will build on the 20 years of healthcare workforce development efforts by the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, which has invested more than $24 million to enable thousands of Virginians to receive healthcare workforce training and credentials through strategic partnerships with public school systems around the state, the Virginia Community College System, George Mason University, INOVA Health System, the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and the Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Science Careers, among others.
