As a woman of Cape Verdean and Native American descent, a Community Health Worker (CHW), certified patient navigator and survivor of a rare chronic disease, Denise designs and collaborates on local, state, national and international initiatives to advance the leadership of CHWs and Community based organizations and roles in COVID-19 response and community recovery, pursues equity, and improves clinical and community integration to address the social determinants of health and well-being. She envisions a culture of health where individuals have self-determination and dignity, where communities meaningfully contribute to system design and governance and where societies eliminate structural barriers to well-being. 

She served as the inaugural Executive Director of the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) from 2019 until 2025. She is a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care Program in Global Primary Care and Social Change, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader and an Aspen Institute Healthy Communities Fellow. 

She co-founded the Community-Based Workforce Alliance and the Vaccine Equity Cooperative during the COVID-19 pandemic to elevate racial equity principles and community engagement best practice with Health Leads, Health Begins, Partners in Health, Last Mile Health, CHAP and others. Her achievements include the development of the first ever National CHW Policy Platform, first National CHW Awareness Week, first National CHW Awareness Week celebrated in over 30 states and acknowledged with a 2023 Congressional Resolution. She is currently partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to publish original research that developed a definition and framework for CHW Sustainable Financing.