Who We Are
Health Ascent Associates is a full service professional consulting organization that operates to improve community health and wellbeing through cross-sector partnerships. We advance health equity, culturally responsive practices, and evidence-informed decision-making guided through the lived experiences of populations served. We focus on upstream determinants of health to improve systems-level outcomes and organizational capacity. Incorporating a place-based framework, we work to understand how people’s physical and social environments create conditions influencing health. Our passionate and experienced team supports our partners in facilitating strategic action plans to achieve sustainable, lasting, and equitable outcomes.
Our areas of expertise include:
grant writing and management
program evaluation
organizational assessment and development
financial management and budget development
change management
community outreach
community relations
community assessments
board development and management
Our Commitment
Community Engagement
With a focus on fairness, justice, participation, respect, transparency, and trust, our organization seeks to be inclusive and intentional in engaging members of the community who represent those desiring better health and wellbeing.
Culturally Responsive Approaches
Our organization strives to understand, appreciate, and gain knowledge of different cultural practices and world views in order to effectively and appropriately communicate with people of other cultures. We do this through having an open attitude, self-awareness, and awareness of others.
Strategic Action
Looking forward and driven by vision and mission, we achieve an understanding of current state and work with our clients to achieve a vision of future state which will drive decision-making and use of resources to reach goals.
Founder and CEO
Dorothy Cilenti, DrPH, MPH, MSW
Dorothy Cilenti has worked in local and state public health agencies in North Carolina for more than 20 years. She has managed large, complex health organizations that deliver a multitude of direct services and has facilitated partnerships with numerous community organizations. She previously directed a perinatal substance abuse program in Raleigh NC, and served as local health director in three NC counties. She also served as Deputy Title V Director and Deputy Director in the NC Division of Public Health. She has served on many local and nonprofit community boards. She has facilitated partnerships with hospitals, mental health organizations, community health centers and free clinics, Smart Start agencies, law enforcement, domestic violence agencies, local civic clubs, schools, and religious organizations. She has served on national, state, and local boards, including the NC Healthy Start Foundation, NC Public Health Foundation, Our Children’s Place, and local Healthy North Carolinians Task Forces. She has served as principle investigator for more than 25 contracts and grants totaling more than 30 million dollars, ranging from training grants to public health systems research awards. Dr. Cilenti is currently a clinical professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health where she directs the National Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development Center and the Maternal Health Learning and Innovation Center.