Give Joy

Leadership

Decades of experience in healthcare clowning.

Our leadership team brings together founders of the modern healthcare clowning movement and a board committed to its growth nationwide.

Executive Leadership

Portrait of Dina Paul-Parks.

Dina Paul-Parks

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

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Portrait of Jon Luongo.

Jon Luongo

Artistic Director

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Portrait of Skyler Sullivan.

Skyler Sullivan

Director of Training and Education

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Board of Directors

Portrait of Derrick Horner.

Derrick Horner

Board Chair · Angel Investor & Entrepreneur

Portrait of Dina Paul-Parks.

Dina Paul-Parks

Co-Founder & CEO, Healthy Humor

Portrait of Judith Absalon, MD, MPH, FIDSA.

Judith Absalon, MD, MPH, FIDSA

Clinical Research Head for Infectious Diseases, GSK

Portrait of Christina McLarty Arquette.

Christina McLarty Arquette

Senior Advisor, XTR

Portrait of Sean Bryan.

Sean Bryan

Chief Creative Officer & ECD, Global Brands

Portrait of Kiara Ellozy.

Kiara Ellozy

Chief Operating Officer & Partner, Kai Kai Group

Portrait of Tirza Greer, MD.

Tirza Greer, MD

Pediatrics Attending, Montefiore Medical Center

Portrait of Laura Fern Higginson.

Laura Fern Higginson

Big Arrow Group

Portrait of Deborah Kaufmann.

Deborah Kaufmann

Co-Founder & Director of Training and Education, Emerita

Portrait of Jeffery Lauria.

Jeffery Lauria

Chief Information Security Officer, iCorps Technologies

Portrait of Anthony Oland.

Anthony Oland

Chief Administrative Officer, Expert Institute

Portrait of Carlyle Peake.

Carlyle Peake

Managing Director & Head of Syndicate, BBVA

Portrait of Katie Peake.

Katie Peake

Office of the Chief Legal Officer, LVMH

Dina Paul-Parks

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Dina is responsible for ensuring the vision and overall management of Healthy Humor and its strategic growth. Prior to launching HH with her co-founders, Dina was the Vice-President of Community Programs at Big Apple Circus, where she was responsible for the implementation for BAC’s Clown Care program and other initiatives that brought the joy, wonder and magic of classic circus arts to children, families and seniors in pediatric hospitals, nursing homes and other community venues. She was responsible for a staff of over 100. Before joining BAC, Dina served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the administrations of both New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, with a particular focus on communications and public affairs. Dina has more than 30 years of progressive experience in education, public policy, and the nonprofit/philanthropy space. She lives in Brooklyn, NY and is married with two daughters.

Jon Luongo

Artistic Director

Jon Luongo, Artistic Director, has devoted thirty years to honing his artistry as a musician, juggler, clown, and compassionate leader in healthcare. Jon earned a BA in Theater in 1993 from Oberlin College, where he co-founded the Plum Loco Circus. He busked across the country, performed and taught circus arts in Seattle, then began performing with Big Apple Circus Clown Care in 1997. For seven years, Luongo supervised healthcare clown programs, first in Seattle and then in New York City at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2005, after graduating with an MS in Child Life from Bank Street, Jon joined the medical team in day-to-day treatment plans and coping support for children as a Child Life Specialist at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center in Manhattan, and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. At Maimonides, he started an evidence-based program in radiology that supports children as young as four to complete an MRI with no anesthesia. He has also published, lectured with the Association of Child Life Professionals, and hosted workshops on the benefits of using “loose parts” — artful use of what’s at hand — to help children understand and construct meaning around their experience of illness and health. As an artist, innovator, leader and collaborator, Jon envisions possibilities within and beyond the healthcare setting, ensuring that Healthy Humor helps transform systems and spaces that harm rather than heal.

Skyler Sullivan

Director of Training and Education

Skyler Sullivan (they/he) has been a Red Nose Doc since Healthy Humor was created in 2016 and was a Clown Doctor at the Big Apple Circus before that, first at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and now at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital-Stanford. Skyler, aka Dr. Fancy, has also been a perennial favorite as Biscuits at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, the summer camp founded by Paul Newman more than 35 years ago for medically vulnerable children, throughout his tenure with HH, serving as Camp Coordinator for the past two years. They helped launch several Red Nose Docs programs, including Stanford Children’s. Skyler is originally from Hartford, CT, and started off studying music and theatre, earning his BFA at Emerson College. After meeting legendary mime Tony Montanaro, their path changed to physical storytelling and clown, eventually landing him in San Francisco where he worked with the S.F. Mime Troupe and trained at the Circus Center. Skyler is also an actor and was the on-set acting coach for two P.B.S. shows: Sesame Street and The Electric Company. He worked with such companies as Bread and Puppet and The American Mime Theatre and continues to perform in local productions. They were Director of Education at Diversionary Theatre in San Diego and also served as a Drama and Movement teacher at the Walden Center and School in Berkeley, CA. Skyler holds an MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College and is a graduate of the International School of Comic Acting/Commedia Dell’Arte in Reggio Emilia, Italy.