Suzanne Lagarde MD, MBA, FACP
Dr. Lagarde serves as FHCHC’s CEO providing comprehensive health care to over 38,000 patients annually. In this role, she oversees a staff of over 350 who provide care at 18 locations throughout southern CT. In her 13 years at the helm of FHCHC, she has overseen considerable growth, with the addition of several new clinical sites and new clinical services. Under her leadership, FHCHC has been nationally recognized for its high quality care, being honored with HRSA’s Health Quality Leader Award for the past 8 consecutive years.
Trained as a gastroenterologist, Dr. Lagarde was a founding member of CT Gastroenterology Consultants, a large private practice in southern CT, where she worked for many years prior to her current position. For most of her clinical career, she served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale University and attending gastroenterologist at Yale New Haven Hospital. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in mathematics from Fordham University and obtained her medical degree from Cornell University. She acquired her MBA, specializing in Healthcare, from Yale University School of Management.
Dr. Lagarde is a founding member and past president of Project Access-New Haven, a non-profit which provides access to specialty care for the uninsured. She has devoted her career to improving health care for the underserved. Following Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Lagarde obtained a license to practice medicine in Mississippi. For 5 years through 2012, she travelled quarterly to rural Mississippi where she donated her services to the indigent patients of a large FQHC, Coastal Family Health. In acknowledgement of her many contributions, she has received numerous community service awards, among them the “Healthcare Leadership and Innovator Award” from the Connecticut State Medical Society, one of the medical society’s highest recognitions. She has been honored with the American Cancer Society’s Lane Adams Quality of Life Award and the Mary Wade Outstanding Leadership Award. She is the 2025 recipient of Cornell University Medical College’s Special Achievement Award, given annually to one alumni “with notable achievements in medicine or related fields that significantly advance healthcare and medical science,”
Dr. Lagarde advocates for the underserved at both city, state, and national levels. She has served on many key committees, including the Steering Committee of CT SIM (State Innovation Model) charged with healthcare reform in the state of CT. She currently serves on the Medical Assistance Program Oversight Council (MAPOC) for the state of CT, the agency with direct oversight of the Medicaid Program in CT. She has served on the Ambulatory Care Accreditation Advisory Council of The Joint Commission, the sole representative of FQHCs nationwide. She is a past chair of the Board of Directors of The Connecticut Hospice in Branford CT an, is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Community Health Network (CHN), the Ambulatory Services Organization (ASO) for CT Medicaid medical. She has served in various leadership roles at Connecticut’s Primary Care Association, including Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Board.
