About us

Vita Valens’ mission is to advance research to improve the emotional wellbeing of older adults in the New York City area. We conduct and support research to develop equity-based solutions and programming to foster connectivity and emotional wellness. Vita Valens advances, raises awareness and shares discoveries that contribute to existing best practices for engaging and empowering older adults in their own health and wellbeing.

Our purpose is to expand upon the existing knowledge base and develop best practices for engaging older adults in their own health care and empowering them to lead the healthiest and happiest lives. Vita Valens provides support to older adults through a variety of existing programs and efforts. Key areas of focus are increasing access to health information, programming and interventions to address social isolation and loneliness, and facilitating connections to health care services, preventative care, and benefit specific resources.

Vita Valens works to improve older adults’ physical and emotional health and wellbeing in New York City. We believe that providing genuine and compassionate connections and community are a core value in providing health support. Through our programs, older adults can experience a revived sense of self, purpose and connection.

Adrian Stiles Photography - @adrianstilesphoto

Our Team

Lily Weinraub

Lily Weinraub is the Director of Programs at Vita Valens. Through her professional career, Ms. Weinraub has worked to advance health through programmatic and policy efforts. Ms. Weinraub formerly worked on NYS’ DSRIP program, a Statewide effort to reduce avoidable hospitalizations, improve health outcomes, and advance value-based care models to create a higher quality health care system. She is passionate about health equity and creating a more supportive system of care to better meet the needs of the population. Ms. Weinraub has an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BA from Tufts University

Ece Agalar

Ece Agalar is a Research Associate at Vita Valens. Ms. Agalar has experience working with vulnerable populations from various backgrounds in healthcare settings. She has experience working with providers delivering care to the Medicare and Medicaid populations. She is passionate about health equity and creating systems and infrastructures that will allow for the innovative delivery of care. She worked as a Research Fellow at Northwestern University for two years. Ms. Agalar has a BA in Political Science from Northwestern University.

Our Board

Jeffrey Fan

Jeffrey Fan is a Partner at 1585 Healthcare, an investment firm focused on investing in businesses that facilitate the delivery of quality healthcare to older adults and other vulnerable populations. He was formerly an Associate at The Carlyle Group, where he evaluated and managed investments in energy projects and companies. He began his career in Leveraged Finance at Barclays covering the Technology, Real Estate, and Gaming industries. At Barclays, he was involved in all aspects of the deal execution process for leveraged loans and high-yield bonds for clients such as Avaya, Brookfield, Dell, GoDaddy, and Iron Mountain. In 2018, Mr. Fan was a summer associate in Finance and Strategy at Blizzard Entertainment, a premier video game developer and publisher. Mr. Fan graduated with a BAS in Computer Science from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (M&T Program). He also has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Julie Kim

Julie Kim is a Partner at 1585 Healthcare, an investment firm focused on investing in businesses that facilitate the delivery of quality healthcare to older adults and other vulnerable populations. Formerly, Ms. Kim was a Principal and fund COO at The Carlyle Group, where she was responsible for the operations of the structured energy fund family. Prior to Carlyle, Ms. Kim was an associate in the Project and Structured Finance Group at Morgan Stanley. She began her career in Equity Derivatives at Morgan Stanley. Ms. Kim graduated with a BS in Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also earned a BS in Management Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Peter Faroni

Peter Faroni is an Advisor to 1585 Healthcare, an investment firm focused on investing in businesses that facilitate the delivery of quality healthcare to older adults and other vulnerable populations. Formerly, Mr. Faroni was a Founder, Managing Member and General Partner at Madryn Asset Management, a healthcare-focused investment firm, where he led the firm’s investment activities. Prior to Madryn, Mr. Faroni was founding member of the investment teams at Visium Asset management and CRG (f/k/a Capital Royalty). Mr. Faroni began his career at Morgan Stanley where he worked in the Special Situations Group and Structured Solutions Group within the Fixed Income Division and Global Capital Markets, respectively. Mr. Faroni graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Mathematics from the Middlebury College.